Attic24

The Bathroom :: Ta-dah!

 

Oh my, I do so enjoy writing my Ta-dah posts, such fun! And now come to think of it, this might possibly be a first homey sort of a ta-dah type reveal I've ever done too, as I'm usually presenting crochet projects to you aren't I? So extra special feelings of excitement in the Attic today, as I've been really, really looking forward to sharing this with you all.

It's been a looooong time coming I know, we've really taken our sweet, sweet time pulling this little room together. If you've been bobbing in to see me in the Attic for a while, you may well remember when we first started the work :: it was way back in January when my grouchy-but-super-efficient Bathroom Workmen arrived. Like I say, a long time coming.

Right from the word go, I had a vision for my bathroom, had a whole big idea going on with myself about how I wanted it to look and feel. I happen to be very good at visualising, and could see the room soo clearly in my mind.

I was thinking fun, colourful and jaunty with a bright, seaside-holiday vibe.

Bunting and stripes, boats and beach huts.

Walls the colour of aqua seaglass.

And do you know what? I actually made it happen just the way I imagined it.

And I have to confess I really am ever so pleased with it. Keep finding reasons to go in there just for the pleasure of gazing around and ahhhing quietly to myself with the sheer joy of it.

So shall we have a look at some Before and After pictures???

Ok.......only if you promise not to be too horrified by the Before pictures, they are pretty rotten.....

:: Before :: (yeeeeeuuuugh!)

:: During :: (oh-crikey!)

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

:: Before :: (yuckety-yuck!)

:: During :: (oh-noooooooooo!)

 

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

:: Before :: (rotten!)

:: During :: (oh-my-gosh!)

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

 

As you can see, for such a small room, there was a surprising amount of work to be done.

We had previously replaced the boiler so that we could do away with the water tank (which was housed in the yucky green cupboard).

This then meant that we could demolish the yucky green cupboard, creating enough room to fit in a full length bath (instead of the daft yucky corner bath).

The shower was then relocated onto the opposite wall, making way for a lovely chrome towel warmer on the wall where the old shower used to be.

We kept the same toilet and basin to save a bit of money (changing tarnished brass fittings for shiny chrome ones).

The tongue and groove paneling was removed from all around the walls (oh, I was soooo glad to see the back of that!), and replaced with simple square white tiles.

And lastly we had new flooring laid, and the walls and woodwork repainted.

Now can you remember this old bathroom cabinet? Remember me asking your advice about what colour to paint it??

Shall I show you how it turned out??

Ok.....

....take a look.....

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you like it??

I do.

I really, really do.

And do you remember my crocheted bunting?

Sorry this is not a very good picture of it, but it does look really lovely hung above the door.

I must make some more for other parts of the house, it's one of those insanely satisfying projects which comes together really quickly and seems to generate lots of fun in the process.

And talking of fun......do you like the stripy-pompommed little blind I made last week? Jaunty and jolly, don't you think?

Both the fabric and the pompom trim came from the fabulous Deckchair Stripes company, which I am quite in love with. That website does fluttery things to my heart.

Well my lovelies, I think thats all for now.....hope you've enjoyed peeking into my bathroom today.

I thank you as always for sharing it all with me, I appreciate it very much.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Bathroom update

Progress on anything in our house is always slow. We take our sweet, pondering, indecisive time here at Attic24. The bathroom is a prime example. The refurb began in January and should really and truly be completed by now, but we have ground to a halt. The issue currently undergoing hot debate is the windows. We need to replace the windows before we can decorate, and yet we are unable it seems to decide on what exactly we want to do with the windows. Currently we have single glazed wooden windows, with the top opening about 1/3 of the way down. We want to have double glazed ones fitted but cannot decide whether to re-instate Victorian style sash windows (wooden, double glazed, sliding up and down), or have wooden, double glazed top-openers made.
Its a big decision because it costs a hellava lot of dosh to buy new windows. Thousands and thousands. And we want to get it right. So for now we are sitting and scratching our heads and having a jolly good ponder.

However, besides the walls and the windows being unfinished, the rest of this little room is giving me a lot of pleasure.
I am really, really enjoying some hot deep bubble baths amidst lots of shiny white ceramic.
I am enjoying sparkling chrome fixtures.
I am enjoying fluffy new towels warmed on our new chrome towel radiator.
And I am enjoying a new wooden toilet seat.

Oh, and I'm also huuugely enjoying Multicoloured Stripes and Pompoms.
We had our new flooring laid a couple weeks ago...it's a cushioned vinyl which looks like worn whitewashed planks and I happen to think it's rather nice. Makes me think of beach huts and driftwood, of summer days by the sea.
Our old bathmat was plain white and I felt everything in the bathroom was starting to look very bland and well....white. So I googled "striped bath mat" and found this stripy pompom edged beauty...isn't it funky??!!

I get rather a thrill from standing on it whilst wearing my new socks.

And here we have more Stripy thrills destined for the bathroom, courtesy of the Deckchair Stripes company. I heard about this company via Janet Bell, and I was immediately smitten. Their website is a colourful, glorious celebration of all things jaunty and stripy. Take a look at their interior stripes page and feast your eyes on all that scrumptious stripyness!

You can order up to five samples of their fabric, which of course I had to do...and of course I am now pondering and scratching my head and trying to make yet another decision. Its hard work this decorating business! Which stripes should I go for? I want to make a blind for the window and possibly a little bit of something else...
Oh, and as well as gorgeous stripy fabric they also sell this adorable pompom bobble fringe, oh my heart skips a beat when I look at all that colourful bobbly pompom stuff! Love love love it.

Another current love of mine is this particular shade of summer blue. Today in fact I am wearing a jumper this colour, and I've been painting some bits and pieces too. It just sings to me of summer skies, of lazy, relaxed, warm days. Wonderful.
You can see above I've painted a shelf already for the bathroom (although we've not put it up yet).
 

The bathroom walls are currently painted in this shade of aqua, the choice of the previous house owners which I happen to like quite a lot. But as many of the walls had to be replastered when the bathroom was being pulled apart, it's in desperate need of re painting. I'm thinking of choosing a similar shade of aqua but a little paler :: sort of a seaglass colour, if you can imagine that.

Now maybe you could help me out with yet another decision here?
Above photo is of the current wall cabinet, stained a horrid green by the previous owners. Rather than sling it out and replace it, I figured I could repaint it and put on new knobs, kind of give it a new lease of life.
But what colour to paint it?
Bare in mind there is a lot of white already in the bathroom...the suite and the tiles (all around the room to dado height, and to ceiling height above the bath) are all sparkling, shiny white. The floor as you have seen is a distressed white. Walls (above dado/tile height) will be seaglass aqua.
So should it be sky blue to match the painted shelf?
Or white?
Or another colour entirely?
Any input gratefully received.....
....thank you so much :: I love the idea of using you (in the nicest possible way) to make my decorating decisions, a sort of Global Colour Selection Panel.
:o)
xxxxxxxxx

 

Bathroom styling

House renovation is never going to be an easy ride is it? It's never going to be enjoyable whist one is living through it, is it? I am trying my very best not to get irritated by the noise, mess, chaos and inconvenience. As the bathroom is the first room to be given it's bright new makeover, we still have a long way to go, and I know that there will be a great deal more noise, mess, chaos and inconvenience to contend with before the year is out. And I also know it will be worth it.
My two grouchy bathroom workmen have in fact turned out to be extremely hard working and professional, and are doing a wonderful job. They simply don't appear to like female chitchat very much. The first day I was quite put out by them. But now on day four, I am saying okeedokee, I get it now, I am not taking it personally. I am choosing to either be out of the house dilly-dallying with friends, or ensconced up here in the Attic, and I am doing OK.

So far, as is the norm for us, we have really given the whole bathroom makeover very little thought. Not a lot of research was done, we have flown it a little (well honestly, a lot) by the seat of our pants. We have used a local, independent supplier for everything, and went for simplicity above all else. The  bath and shower were selected in rather a hurry from a catalogue. Tiles are plain white squares, no fancy bits. Taps (also chosen in a hurry from a  catalogue) are chunky chrome. So far so good, I think it's going to be great. Simple, clean and basic, but great.

Do you know, it suddenly occurred to me this morning that very soon the fun part of renovating  this little room will begin, the bit that I can start to get excited about :: the Styling. And I expect by now from the pictures on todays post, you have got an idea of which way my bathroom is going. Its not going to be classic, or sophisticated, or traditional, no no no, that's not my style at all. No, it's going to be light and bright and fun. Of course! And it's going to have crochet in it. Haha, no kidding, I already decided that every single room in my house will eventually have some crochet goodness within, and that includes the bathroom. So I've started  making some little triangles to create a mini string of bunting flags, and quite honestly I am getting huge thrills out of this idea.

I have been very inspired by the artwork of Janet Bell, who's paintings I absolutely adore. So I've decided that my bathroom is going to be very much decorated along these lines. The above picture is a greetings card I bought just before Christmas, and is titled "harbour by day". Aren't the colours just beautiful? I love the clear shades of turquoisey blues she uses in her work, and the sight of bright jaunty boats, beach huts, bunting flags and harbourside houses just fill me with joy. And oh how I do love to be filled with joy! I hope eventually that every nook and cranny of my house will give me this feeling. That's my hope. That's what's keeping me going through the noise, mess, chaos and inconvenience.

And talking of inconvenience, right now I really do need a wee, so I must be off. A quick dash to the supermarket to errrm, well, to use their facilities. Byyeeeeee!

xxxxxx