What is it about the tiny creative projects that draw your attention away from the bigger urgent ones? The water heater is leaking and the outdoor shower is ugly. Hmm… Shower it is!
When you buy a new house there are so many things you want to do, so many ideas firing as you move from room to room. “Cordless blinds, throw pillows, accent chair, fresh linens, area rug, a new lamp…” It wasn’t any different when we purchased our beach house on St. George Island.
Formally known as A Serene Sunrise, the rental house was as boring and bland as its name would imply, and this was true for the outdoor shower as well. But now that we renamed it Beach, Love and Happiness, we have to add some fun and warmth and beachyness so she can live up to her new name!
Of the multitude of updates we plan to make, a quick one that came to mind every time I walked out the front door was the outdoor shower. Living in Georgia if you look up outdoor diy shower ideas you’ll see a hose zip tied to a deck rail. While that might get the job done when you need to rinse your feet after coming off the Chattahoochee River, it’s not going to cut it at the beach where you can swim year around – especially when so many SGI rental houses have a pool. So as a new Saint George Island, FL beach house owner I thought, “Outdoor shower with hot and cold water? Woohoo!” This was something special.
On the other hand, the shower enclosure itself was booooring.
I mulled it over a bit, and over the week had a few swims at the pool and spent some time on the beach as well. Going into the house with sandy wet towels and bathing suits wasn’t ideal. Actually it was messy and gritty and annoying.
Sandy towels drop sand everywhere. Every step you take you’re leaving grit that you will find later. As a newbie to Florida I learned wet beach towels take a really, really long time to dry because of the high humidity.
“Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.” ~ Sarah Kay
Outdoor Shower Ideas
To make an immediate change, we decided to add towel hooks and a bit of color to the outdoor shower. A place where our guests can dry their beach towels and bathing suits outdoors, and spare the house the wet and sandy towels. After all, you’re on Island Time now, leave the towels out our for a while so the sun and the wind can do their work to dry and batter the water and sand out of them.
Outdoor Shower Makeover
I shot a fast rough coat of sea foam spray paint over them, but I think it’ll wear off pretty quickly. I recommend you skip that step and just let that premium stainless shine through.
Once they dried Steven installed them with stainless screws (at the beach you must use stainless to get more life out of anything exposed to salty air).
- 5 hooks were placed at the top level about 10″ apart
- 4 hooks were placed on the bottom level staggered by about 5″ increments from the hooks on the top board. If you do this remember to stagger them or your towels will overlap and won’t dry.
- The 10th hook was installed by the door to pop a towel on while you take a shower. So handy!
