Tuesday 20 October 2009

Mirror (s) in the bathroom







Our bathroom started life as another bedroom which had to be passed through to enter our bedroom and the only loo was downstairs, off the kitchen - a long and chilly walk on a winter's night. With no building experience whatsoever we created this room using a wooden frame, plasterboard, glass bricks and a Victorian door salvaged from a skip. Three walls are painted in Farrow and Ball's James White with a feature wall in deep chocolate brown.

When we removed the old Anaglypta-type wallpaper from the back wall the plaster fell away with it to reveal the original brick fireplace, it had been back filled with rubble and the mess it created was appalling. The bricks were scrubbed down, re pointed and coated in PVA glue to make them waterproof. We used a wall of vintage mirrors to reflect the light from the glass bricks on the opposing wall. The brass Buddha coat hooks were from an Indian street market and the Japanese kimono was a jumble sale find.

The roll-top bath is a repro; we'd have loved a cast iron original but it would have been impossible to get one up our narrow staircase. The shower was built to fit around a large shower tray found in the clearance section of a DIY superstore and the wood-effect tiles were also clearance bargains. The salvaged Lloyd Loom cabinet is used for towel storage and the Roberts radio was my Grandpa's. The bullfighter print was a wedding gift given to my parents' in 1966 and the metal swallows were a car boot buy.

The Victorian mahogany mirror above the sink was already in the house when we moved in and the antique glass bottles are part of our huge collection, some dug up in the garden and others from boot sales. The willow is another boot sale buy and the rose canvas a gift from a creative friend.

1 comment:

  1. You have impeccable taste! I can't wait to hear more renovation stories. xx

    ReplyDelete

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Lots of love, Vix