Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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An Epic Shower Curtain Fail

Well, it’s not really epic. More like Not So Bad Fail. Or No Biggie Fail. But we like to share our trials along with our triumphs, so here ya go.

We were in HomeGoods scouting night tables, rugs, pillows and whatever else wanted to come home with us when we spotted this baby for a mere 12 beans.

Shower Curtain Close Up

It’s a shower curtain.

Fun modern pattern? Check. In line with the gray & yellow color scheme for our guest bathroom? Check. On sale? Checkity-check-check. So we brought it home (our only purchase of the day, actually, but that’s another story) and threw it right into place.

Shower Curtain In Place

At first it felt like the perfect step it waking up the vintage yellow tile of yesteryear and making it feel more current. But then we looked down…

Shower Curtain Too Pattern

Something about the busy Scrabble-esque pattern on the floor combined with the gridded wall, combined with the semi-small-scale busy modern floral pattern just felt like too much going on. Oh well. At least we gave it the ol’ college try.

So we took it down, packed it back up, relieved our bathroom of its pattern-y overload, and returned it to HomeGoods (on the bright side, we grabbed some pillows for the bedroom while we were there – more on those later). We’re thinking we need to find something plain (like a white or soft gray waffle knit curtain) or something with a very simple or subtle large-scale pattern (tone on tone wide gray stripes maybe?) so it doesn’t compete with all that tile. But since we don’t have any overnight guests in our near future (knock on wood) we’re in no rush to hunt anything down tomorrow. Maybe we’ll even take our time and DIY something with a stencil or some fabric dye. We promise to share every detail when and if we do…

Psst- Wanna see something we don’t regret buying? Check out our BabyCenter post this week (with another Clara video, because we’re those people).

Comments

  1. Jessica says

    Sherry,
    Was this a shower stall sized curtain, or did you fold it in half? I am working with a stall sized shower and am trying to decide if folding a regular one in half to allow for a wider selection of curtains is a good idea or not. Thanks!
    Jessica

    Reply

  2. Heidi says

    Hi guys. Totally unrelated, but it looks like the link for the linen octopus pillow isn’t working in your sidebar.

    Reply

  3. susan says

    We have the same tile in our bathroom but no so much of it:) I actually found a Martha Stewart shower curtain at K-Mart that worked….go figure. Our house was built in 1978. susan

    Reply

  4. Julie M. says

    I agree, too much going on. I have that same yellow tile in my bathroom. Yellow is popular now, and there are some nice fabrics to coordinate, but I found a pure white waffle print shower curtain looks best. The bright white tones down the yellow, rather than calling it out and it just feels spa-like to have the waffle print. I got mine at Target!

    Reply

  6. Dena says

    I recently had hideous pinky peachy 1980s tile reglazed in my guest bath – on the floor, on the wall. If you wanted to unload the yellow, it’s an option. About $900 total to reglaze the floors and walls and strip and restore the original porcelain tub. Looks amazing. I used http://nospraytubs.com/ – SPR – and they did amazing work. Until we have the $ to rip out tile and the tub, this works.

    Reply

  7. Constance says

    Speaking of Epic Fail – I thought I would warn you (and YHL readers!) – DO NOT GO to the blog recommeded in earlier comments, “failblog.org” …

    This morning to got to my desk, went through my email, checked your blog and went to that site after seeing it suggested in the comments and BOOM – A LOT OF VIRUSES. I wasn’t sure if you would realize it b/c you have viruses-can’t-get-me Macs. Anyway, page 1 of the site seems to be fine, but when PC-users click to go anywhere else on the site it’s what’s called an “executable” which means you just clicked downloading big-bad viruses. Long-story short, my laptop just got back clean from our IT Dept. Yeesh and may YHL readers avoid a similar fate.

    Reply

  9. Karla @ {TheClassyWoman} says

    It was actually a pretty good match. Like you guys, I have two bathrooms like that from 1960 and we can’t afford to renovate them. So, I’ve been trying to tone them down with a shower curtain, etc. and try to find things that work. One is the light yellow and the other is a bright blue. The wall color was my toughtest challenge. Can’t wait to see what you come up with, will give me some ideas too. :)

    Reply

  11. Nicole says

    Love that you connected your blog post on YHL to the bath post on BC! :) And I have to agree…we had the tub and it was a no go. We also have the sponge from Target and LOVE it. Our baby has enjoyed many happy baths!

    Reply

  13. stephanie says

    I thought it worked! It was bold, but the scale of the floor tile, wall tile, and curtain all seemed different enough that it could work. But, definitely find something that works for you:)

    Reply

  14. Anna says

    Thank you so much Sherry for taking the time to respond to my question about write-offs and taxes! Your help is much appreciated!

    Reply

  15. Jen says

    Oh…too bad it didn’t work, it was a pretty shower curtain! But yes…there was a lot going on.

    Even if you do go with a simple, plain-er shoer curtain, you can jazz it up in a non-busy fashion by sewing a thick strip of fabric or ribbon that matches or coordinates with your tile at just the bottom, top and bottom, or all the way around. Then you don’t have a Wall Of White (or Grey) there, but it still isn’t going to give anybody a conniption fit. ;)

    Reply

  16. Lisa says

    I don’t see it on the Target website, but I saw a grey waffle weave shower curtain on clearance at my Target yesterday for less than $15. Might be a good option to coordinate with grey walls. Good luck finding something you like!

    Reply

  17. Amy says

    Hey Guys –

    Question … not related to the shower curtain, but rather, how may I ask, did you get those 1×1 inch tiles on the floor so sparkly clean? I am lucky enough to have the same tiles (in cotton candy pink) in our hall bathroom and can’t for the life of me make them look half way clean, much less sparkly. Do tell :) ….. Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Amy,

      They were like that when we moved in. We’re so lucky this house was so well taken care of for the past 50 years! Maybe try googling around for “cleaning vintage tile” for tips though? Or you could scrape out the grout and redo it so it looks like new!

      xo,
      s

  20. Leslie says

    I know this is an old post, but while I was reading it a pop-up came on the screen (from Scorecard Research). So I thought I would let you guys know.

    Love your blog! :)
    -Leslie in So Cali

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Leslie! Sometimes those pop-ups are actually something on your computer’s end, so you might want to try clearing your cookies and cache in your computer’s browser so that you don’t get them on other sites too.

      -John

  21. Sarah says

    It’s actually pretty great, your just missing the blue bath mat to pull it all together, like a loop rub. Something solid, the color of the background of your curtain, and large so your check tile is more like a border instead of the canvas. Add some matching accents such as a soap dish and toothbrush holder and fun stuff on the walls. I think it’s totally do-able, but your just not done yet. I’m from a really old town in flordia and have a TON of experience with ugly, quirky bathrooms.

    Reply

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