Finally Finished...

Happy Fathers day!!!

So it's been a while, sorry about that. Since finishing uni for the summer I've bagged myself a really exciting internship with artist Gillian Arnold (which I'll ramble on much more about soon), and despite it being amazing and really inspirational it is unfortunately taking up most of my days, hence the lack of LD presence on the social media scene.

Today I'm back though to FINALLY share with you our FINISHED - yep you heard me, FINISHED bathroom! And how excited I am to do so. So kick back after chilled Fathers Sunday with a full belly and cuppa in hand and enjoy this post as much as I am enjoying sharing it with you. I only wish I had before pictures ( no idea how we missed that bit, I think Craig was just so eager to rip the tiles off the walls!) so I will briefly help you conjure and image in your mind...

...Think pale blue and yellow STRIPEY wall tiles, complete with large blue bow motifs FROM FLOOR TO CEILING ON EVERY INCH OF WALL, complete with a yellow painted ceiling. There was only a corner bath, toilet and sink with built in cupboard underneath in here previously. That was pretty much it - old school as you like.

I wanted to create a grown up, laid back room that would make me want to never leave the bath tub. Nothing majorly structurally went on in here, but here is a quick run down of what we have done:

- Ripped off wall tiles (much to Craig's delight)

- Knocked out a small cupboard that was in the hallway and blocked up the door to create enough space for a shower cubicle.

- Moved the corner bath from right hand corner and replaced it with a new one directly under the window

- Moved toilet from under the window to right hand wall so that the toilet and sink sat along one wall creating more space.

- Used an old free-standing pine unit to house a countertop basin- replaced the wooden knobs with white ceramic ones from h & m

- Tiled behind shower cubicle - shower and cubicle were new additions

-  Created an oak shelf to sit on top of boxed in bath pipes
- Painted the walls in Abigail Ahern by Craig and Rose 'Overtly Olive'
- Replaced old yellowy vinyl flooring with new black and white vinyl

Voi la...

The wall colour felt really quite dark when it went on and stood mainly alone, but plenty of lighting and the white touches brighten it right up. (Look out for a post soon on lighting tips.)

I love this alternative style chandelier from John Lewis, I wanted a feature light above the bath and this adds the touch of black that I was looking for. It also casts really gorgeous shadows...

All of the accessories here are from h and m. Plants and pots all Ikea.

 We sourced this lovely reclaimed radiator from a salvage place in Tynemouth, it came fully finished as in the picture.

The mirrors were complete bargains from TK Maxx! I liked the idea of not going for the typical one mirror above the basin and using two means I get to have my own at the perfect height for me, and Craig gets his own too. We are toying with the idea of hand painting 'his' and 'hers' in black scroll above them - haven't quite decided on that yet!

We sourced the shower, basin, bath and toilet from James Hargreaves in Stockton. I couldn't recommend them enough. We looked around loads of bathroom places and they were either totally overpriced or seriously bad quality. The stuff we got from them is really good quality which is obviously totally important when it comes to the technical stuff! They had a nice showroom too so you can sit in the baths and try them for size rather than just picking from a catalogue - don't judge me if I'm laying in it it needs to be comfy, right?

I was really keen on using marble in the room somewhere as I knew it would bring a touch of timeless glamour. These beauties were from Topps Tiles, placing them in a herringbone pattern adds a touch of needed pattern to the blocks of wall colour. Again the lightness they provide the room with lifts the depth of the olive paint colour. Despite wanting gold/ copper fittings, I was talked out of them by Craig. I do wish I had put my foot down on that matter though but it was going to work out more expensive so I gave in. That is probably the only thing I regret about this room- maybe in 15 years when we do it all again!!!

So there is still some finishing touches to add, I want to hang some art, get some rugs and add a little stool by the bath but for now I'm so happy to this room pulled together. It is EXACTLY what I wanted it to be. I hope it has inspired you to take a few risks with your own bathroom, even if just a lick of paint.

I'm off in the tub!

XOXO

P.S if you didn't catch the last post on bathrooms, click here to head on over. Please feel free to comment, would love to hear your views or about your own bathroom projects! Don't forget to follow LD on Facebook and twitter if you don't already!

Battling with bathrooms...

Good morning world, well actually I think I have missed the morning today I am quite behind the usual Sunday morning schedule - since hand in at uni I have not really stopped and I think it has finally caught up with me.

Anyway I'll quit winging now and get back to the blog, I realise I've lost touch a little in the last few weeks but the truth is I actually have no excuses. I have simply been busy living. Which sounds ridiculous but seriously life is time consuming isn't it? When I was busy with Uni work the little things would go out of the window, like mopping my floors and ironing, and now I have no stressful deadline to work towards, somehow I have upped the anti in completing the day to day jobs stakes, and quite frankly it's neither exciting or rewarding so I'm intent on applying myself to the things that make me happy and feel productive - like blogging. 

So today we have the bathroom guy in finishing off what we started around two months ago. I'm not complaining as he is a friend doing us a favour, which is brilliant for saving up the pennies, but it does require a dose of patience. I'm so excited to share this reno with you guys, although I am a little gutted that we don't have proper before pictures as this room has had a good overhaul. Hopefully it will be done within the week so I'll pop up a 'Voi-la' post then, but in the mean time it has made me do some reflecting on the bathroom journey.

Bathrooms are hard. Period. 

They can be so standard can't they? Like seriously when we started looking I just felt completely uninspired. We shopped around the usual bathroom places, the majority of which actually made me feel quite nauseous and frustrated at the time we were wasting. They were full of the same plastic-y looking fixtures and fittings that sparked no lust whatsoever. Why are bathrooms like this? I mean I get that they have to be functional of course, but would you kit your bedroom out in white clad plastic units? Didn't think so.

Fuelled with strong hatred for standardisation (I've never really been into standard- just you ask Craig) and armed with new insights into design, I made it my mission to design a bathroom that looked like it belonged to us. It's a hard thing to fight is standardisation, because unless you have the audacity to question the norm, it's so easy to be swallowed up by the sea of what seems to be the only possibility.

I'm telling you this, YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN POSSIBILITIES.

The bathroom designer from the standard bathroom showroom will tell you that you couldn't possibly  put those extra large taps over a sink, and the bathroom fitter will tell you that you need fitted cupboards for all of your essential bathroom items. 

SOD THEM. 

YOU KNOW HOW BIG YOU'D LIKE YOUR TAPS TO BE AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT YOU CAN WHITTLE DOWN YOUR BATHROOM CLUTTER IF IT MEANS YOU CAN HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FREE STANDING UNIT TO HOUSE YOUR SINK.

Your bathroom does not have to look like every single other bathroom in England. It is simply another room in your house. Treat it like you would your bedroom or your living room. Fill it with all of your favorite things, hang pictures on the wall, house it with accessories and furniture. 

MAKE IT A SPACE THAT YOU NEVER WANT TO LEAVE.

Clearly this is a subject I am passionate about (sorry for the rant I told myself this would be a short post), I feel I have a lot a personal experience in this department - our bathroom guy even told me I shouldn't be painting the walls the colour I have! But it has really opened my eyes into bathroom design, I feel it's such a shame when you visit a lovely home with welcoming decor then you visit the bathroom and it looks just like every other bathroom you have been in. 

I'll follow this post up with pics and a write up of exactly what we have done in our bathroom, but in the mean time get shopping for some lovely homely pieces for your own bathroom, dig out some artwork and hang it by your shower, and fall in love with your bathroom.

Happy Sunday

XOXO

P.S if you really are going to shop, H & M have some fab cheap accessories, as do Urban Outfitters and the gorgeous online shop MiaFleur