Up until this point in my life, I've kept pop culture in my home contained to bulletin boards or the Velvet Elvis I've had in the bathroom of every home I've lived in since 1990. I got it on the side of the road in Coralville, Iowa.
When we moved into our house in Chicago, friends of ours got us this amazing street art depicting dead R&B and hip hop artists - prominently featuring the late, great Aayliah.
Then as I was packing up my apartment I realized I also had this great framed movie poster (with autographs!) from my favorite movie, The Breakfast Club.
I was seeing a trend and I started putting all my pop culture themed items together. Since "Velvis" had been living in my bathroom for 20+ years, it seemed only right to keep him there. The idea that Elvis lives on....my Aayliah gone but not forgotten and The Brat Pack being legendary pop culture figures and I had my idea: I would make our first floor powder room into our "Legend's Powder Room." I told Craig and he laughed, which in our marriage-speak means I had the go-ahead!
Our powder room is tiny: perfect for a themed room. I put together all of the pop culture items I had books, magazines, art work, magnets.... Magnets! Since I have limited wall space in my powder room, a big board I could put magnets of "Legends" on would be the perfect way to pack a lot of people into a small space.
My Velvis turned 25 not too long ago and he still had his original wooden frame. I decided he needed a new frame. We had our"Aayliah" reframed the year before using a big gold frame. I decided an ornate gold frame for Velvis was only right for The King. These gaudy frames also gave me the inspiration to use a gaudy, gold frame with my magnetic board, too.
Etsy was my first stop to find my magnetic board with the gold frame. As it turns out, these are popular for weddings - so quit a few shops had options for me! When I decided which one to get, I then picked up a few magnets to get my collection started. I also found a great canvas painting of Baby Biggie Smalls - another rap Legend who was a favorite of mine.
I dug out my Elizabeth Taylor memorabilia - tribute magazines published after her death and autographs that we given to me as gifts. As I was working on Elizabeth I thought about Michael Jackson. They were good friends who I always got a kick out of. I made sure to order an MJ magnet. Little did I know I had ordered a treasure! This is what I ordered:
And this is how it arrived
Look at all the little perfectly hand cut out Michael Jackson's!!! I couldn't let them go to waste so I started re-thinking how I might display Michael in my bathroom. And then I had it. I'd put the little MJ's together with my Elizabeth Taylor autographs - BFF's immortalized together forever! On the top of my toilet.
Now that I knew I was really going ahead with this room, I started thinking about all kinds of "legendary" things. When I ran across hand towels from Missoni on Gilt in their legendary print, I snatched them up for my powder room. I randomly ran across a fake religious candle with Kurt Cobain on it - perfect! I decided to use gold and shiny black as the colors for any accessories I bought like the soap dispenser, waste basket, etc. One day I was just minding my own business when, look what I found. A CROWN! Surely I needed this for my powder room.
I liked my Biggie painting so much that I ordered another painting by the same artist. Legendary NYC and Marilyn Monroe depicted...and what's that I see? A butterfly?
The possibilities are endless in this room. I've really run with it. I've added an autograph book and pen - along with a note encouraging all my guests to sign in.
I even had personalized guest towels made (this may belong in my "Stinkweed" section)
So there you have it. A little room with a lot of personality. We entertain a lot so I'm really hoping for some great autographs!
This may be my favorite room of them all! :)
ReplyDeleteI really love it, too ;-) I have soooo much fun in such a tiny space!
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