"Sometimes there's poetry written right on the bathroom wall.” - Ani DiFranco

I have been recently very annoyed by the stark white walls of my upstairs bathroom. The entire room – bath surround, sink, floor, up to about waist-high on the walls – is covered in vibrant Pepto-Bismol pink tile. So when I painted the ceiling and upper walls, I chose a fairly bright white semi-gloss. The ceiling is about nine feet high, though, and the upper walls and ceiling comprise a lot of wasted space.

I recently bought brackets to put up shelves over the floor cabinet that holds washcloths and handtowels, the apothecary jars of Q-tips and cotton balls, my bath salt collection, and other assorted bathroom junk. I hung the photos of the boys in the bathtub on the wall opposite the tub, over the two towel racks. I have a lovely little etched-glass and mirrored medicine cabinet over the sink, and some botanical prints in weathered green-painted frames for the awkward corner wall, right over the chrome bar for the hand towel currently in use.

BUT I have a giant expanse of high white wall behind the toilet.
It needs some artwork.
OR SOMETHING.

I looked into ordering vintage soap ad posters, but decided that was too cutesy. Especially in a Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom.

I can’t have the boys draw me something because I already have their crayoned schematics of my kitchen framed and hanging on the kitchen walls, and fingerpaintings hanging in the front hall over their coat hooks. Too much of a good thing and all...

I am not interested in generic pastel paintings of flora, fauna, and fields, and the posters from Carnevale in Venice in '95 and my repro of Marc Chagall’s Paris opera house ceiling are already displayed in my living room and upstairs hallway.

So I turn to my Internet friends, like I do in times of doubt and trouble.

I spent a peaceful hour the other morning sipping tea and shuffling through dear Suse’s lovely photos on Flickr. (It was almost as good as actually having coffee with her – almost.) I was entranced by her seemingly effortless and evocative shots of everyday items – she makes the ordinary so lovely: a stack of vibrantly dyed washcloths, a round basket with soaps in it, that resembled a little bird’s nest, a translucent amber bar of Pears soap.

I fell in love with a photo of her armchair by the fireplace, piled round with books and school papers, which I want to hang in my bedroom because looking at it makes me feel cozy and warm and relaxed, much like I imagine I'd feel in her house.

And so I emailed her: why don’t you have more photos of your bathroom?

Her mudbrick house is so cozy and charming, and she has such a way with little touchs of handmade beauty – her soft stuffed Christmas trees, her knitted gnomes, her nature table. I will bet her bathroom is definitely photo-worthy. Or at least some of the bathroom-type stuff in her bathroom is photo-worthy, and would look simply fabulous enlarged just a bit, framed in a simple frame, and hung on MY bathroom wall by way of decoration.

I think I need about three more bathroom-type shots, Suse, to accompany the soap, the basket, and the flannels.

Could you get right on that?

Thanks, dear!