Guest Feature with Gemma - The Bathroom

I am super excited to share with you a new Feature on the blog , called 'Gemma does Housework'. I have been friends with Gemma going on a few years now and we hit it off immediately. We share a common interest of organising, cleaning and decorating even though our tastes are quite different. I LOVE Gemma's home, even though I am not brave enough to decorate that way myself, I can still appreciate it for all its worth.

Gemma has this infectious, chatty , crazy personality and she makes you smile and talk non stop, whenever you are with her and I think that shows throughout her home. 

She is a beautiful Mum to 4 little strawberry kiddos, aged 6, 4, 2 and 7 months  and you could nearly say she has a case of OCD. I miss our catch ups, the flowing coffee, conversations and sharing shopping wish lists!

In the world of Instagram (because it does feel like a world of its own these days! ) she is insanely popular, and once she started sharing a few cleaning pictures, the requests started rolling in. 

"how do you clean ....?"

"How do you store ...?"

You get the picture! To make it easier for all, her posts were given their own hashtag ie: #gemmadoeshousework or #gemmadoeslinen (because her linen collection is super gorgeous!)

If you are in the world of Instagram, be sure to follow - Gemmahealymaver but for now, I am excited to share some tips and tricks from Gemma. These posts will be every Friday, and will cover different areas of her home and life, enjoy 

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Hi all! I'm excited to be contributing to Liz's blog and sharing some of my posts from the insta world. 

Life is a little crazy in our home, with 4 young kids but I have a love for decorating, chucking stuff out and a serious shopping addiction! 

But for now, lets talk bathrooms!

TOWELS||

 I absolutely love IKEA towels for the kids. They have one particular pattern each and there is no swapping. They have two sets each, best!

I also use matching IKEA bathmats and hand towels which are washed more often due to amatuer hand washing skills.

By giving each child a different pattern, they know who's is who, and as they get older , I know who has left their towel on the floor! ha

I use these IKEA GRUNDTAL hooks on my towel rail. They are perfect for hanging multiple towels and the hand towel at one end ( because I can't stand the thought of the kids drying their hands on bath towels). And the best thing about them? The kids can hang their own towels easily and neatly. The IKEA towels have a loop tag in the perfect spot. I also have over the door hangers on just about every door in the house, this is wear our youngest, Hattie, gets her towel hung.

SHOWER|| 

I clean my shower WHILE I shower each Saturday. I have tried just about every product over the years, bleach, shower wipes, enjo and I am back to the good old Bleach.  I use a bleach gel and an IKEA long handle brush. Doing it while you are in the shower is seriously the best, so convenient. Scrub , scrub , scrub all over, leave while you shower then rinse ( I love my hose shower head for this . I then put the bleach all over the drain and around the inside of the drain and leave until my next shower. Super easy!

The worst part is around the shower doors, around the hinges etc. Why so many grooves? I just use the scrubbing brush and wipe with a chux. My shower screens aren't sparkling but they are always clean as. I then bleach and scrub the outside floor tiles and bottom section of the screen. Then rinse off with a chux. The shower is the one thing that needs to be done weekly, maintaining is really easy but cleaning a filthy shower is hell! 

So these are the four products that my bathroom would die without. Bleach, wipes, brush and chux. I literally wipe down the vanities a couple of times a day, whenever in or passing them. I am totally wasteful and use a tissue to spot clean, I wipe the bench top and sink with one dampened tissue. 

The kids are constantly educated about washing down their toothpaste and soap etc and I am always on my poor husbands case, but hey? It has to be done!

On a Saturday, after I do the shower , I bleach the sink and wipe down the bench top with the chux. EASY. 

I use a Viva towel and windex on my mirrors. I end up doing them multiple times a week. All of these jobs are quicker to complete than a cup of coffee, no joke, so easy! I love these IKEA baskets for all of the products that get used daily, and these over - the - cupboard door hooks for the hand towels. I store these cleaning products in each bathroom and every bathroom should have tissues and a bin (mine is in the end cupboard). Just like every kitchen sink must must must have antibacterial soap. Just sayin'  ;)

BATH TOYS||

Ever wondered what a whole roll of toilet paper plus a bath full of water and 3 kids equals? THIS!! ARGH and you can just imagine the state of the kids. Oh dear!

Anyhoo I was asked about bath toys, so here it goes!

We have had many different bath toys over the years. The Tupperware buckets and boats have been loved and stashed (buckets in the bath spell bathroom flooding). BOON bath toys would have to be my favourite. But at the moment we have 2 things, Schilech animals and Barbie dolls. They seem to work perfectly together.  Any toys that fill with water like rubber ducks or squirting toys with small holes, they spell mould. I love the look and function of this VARIERA waste basket from IKEA. Oh so cheap to replace!

CLEANING BATH TOYS||

I like to fill the bath with hot water and Pinocleen and leave the toys and basket to soak overnight. Obviously keeping the door closed and empty first thing in the morning for safety purposes.

And toilet paper? Yeah I suggest you keep that well away too! haha

HAIR STYLING||

I stash one brush (a wet brush, if you don't have one, google and order NOW!) and a wide tooth comb, a water spray bottle and some dry shampoo spray in this handy IKEA basket, hung with the Grundal hooks. 

HAIR ACCESSORIES||

So as you can see, we aren't too big on hair accessories. My girls hate clips, traditional headbands hurt their heads etc. This is the top drawer of the vanity, using the IKEA SKUBB storage boxes to organise.  One box per item and one box of toothbrushes. These are the Target ones, use for a little bit and chuck. All the kids have their own colour.

So thats about all there is in the way of Bathrooms in my house. I could babble on for ages , and not achieve much more but this is the way I do things here.
Stay tuned for next week for my Linen storage.  Thanks for having me!

Gem x

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Wow, how cool is Gemma's bathrooms?! Loved this post and I am certainly inspired to give my bathrooms a good once over. I hope you have liked the first Gemma Does House Work feature, its nice to be able to bring you a little something different. Everyone does things in their own way, its a matter of finding what works for you. And this certainly works for Gemma !! Its gorgeous, and SPOTLESS!!

L x