Accessorizing the Bathroom

 

Of all the hotels that we have stayed in, probably my favorite bathroom was in Hotel Yountville, in California's Napa Valley area. It's rustic glamour fixtures and finishings offered instant comfort after our drive from the airport.

 

Beautiful accessories such as a lantern, petite metal trays of cosmetic luxuries and hand towels tucked-away in a lovely basket. These are small touches that one could easily add to their own home.

 

 

I like the idea of arranging small soaps, lotions and potions on a metal tray; especially when guests are expected. Placing a tray or basket of towels on the vanity is a welcoming and luxurious touch.

 

 

 

I especially like the blending of polished metal and iron finishes (or oil-rubbed bronze would work). Mixing two finishes looks far more interesting than having everything match in the same finish.

 

 

~Will you be sprucing-up your bathroom this weekend? Or is it already gorgeous like this one?!~

 

 

The Perfect Bathroom Light: Finally!

I've been winging about finding the perfect bathroom vanity light for one of our bathrooms for far too long (I know). The finalist was the least expensive (Of course). It was on clearance through my go-to lighting store, Signature Lighting, here in Calgary. This elegant three light torch fixture fits perfectly!

 

 

 

 This is where I get ready each and every morning. I was important for my bathroom to be just right :)

 

~Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?~

 

Mom's Bathroom - Part Deux

A few years ago I refreshed my mom's main bath with some new accessories. But now the time has come for another update. This bathroom is next on her list of renos, but in the meantime, I came up with a new look to modernize it a little until that happens. 

It's a very light room so we anchored the eye with some darker accessories and art. I worked with accessories and art that my mom already had (with the exception the shower curtain purchased from Target) that weren't already being used elsewhere so, this new look only took took about half an hour to put together!

Before:

After:

 

Hope you have a great loooong weekend! 

Next-up is Andrew's bar cart...Stay tuned!

The Nine Million Dollar Bathroom

OK, well, $8,988,000.00 to be exact. A luxurious home just outside the city limits that is currently for sale has the same vanity as in one of our bathrooms. Suddenly, I am a little more accepting of this overly decorative fixture! So, we have decided to keep the vanity but now I must change out the light fixture again. (I am not implying that our home is comparable to this one in any way!) :)

This first image shows the light fixture we inherited. It probably looks the best of the three. It looked a bit tired and was a little too big though. I should have a least changed it up to something similar....

But then with a new vanity in mind, I chose the fixture in the image above from Forte. It's a beautiful fixture but just won't work with the current vanity that I'm going to keep....

My attempt to make the light fixture 'work' by replacing the light covers has not been a success. At the end of all this I will have spent more money than necessary. However, the thought of having the same vanity as a nine million dollar home certainly softens the blow! Oh, if only!

The Perfect Blue

When we last left off with our main bath, I was searching for the prefect soothing light blue paint color. I wanted something that resembled the color of the water when the bath tub was full. The color we inherited was a tobacco brown (see photos below) and was much too dark for the space.

 

Another color reference for me was the shower curtain which is full of pretty greys and blues. I made my way to our local Farrow and Ball dealer, Maria Tomas, over my lunch hour one day and found myself walking back into the downtown core with a gallon of Farrow and Ball's 'Skylight'. I knew from the painted sample board at the store that the color would be perfect.

 

 

(Remind me to change the chrome electrical plate to a beige one, wont you?)

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful weekend!

Bathroom Break

Each of our bathrooms has some nice finishings including Turkish marble and limestone but they need some help to make them look current and luxurious. I've always liked the look of a pale blue bathroom; relaxing, tranquil and classic. I think this could be the way to perk-up the main bathroom. Contenders for paint color are Farrow and Ball's 'Cabbage White' (Andrew's fave) and 'Pale Powder' (My fave and always a sure-thing).

Farrow and Ball's 'Cabbage White' on paper sample contrasted by 'Hardwicke White' and 'Blazer'

Farrow and Ball's 'Pale Powder' on jug contrasted by 'Teresa's Green'.

Our other bathroom (shower room actually) is generally nice but looks a bit like a spa designed in the '90's. I'm going to attempt to streamline the look and tone down the whimsy by changing-out the vanity fixture to a more contemporary antique bronze fixture by Forte (there are no pictures of in on the Internet anywhere!). Depending on how the new vanity light looks, I may change the vanity fixture to something more current like the Tena vanity below from the Home Depot.  Speaking of the vanity...Can't you just imagine it re-purposed as a liquor cabinet?

Tena vanity combo from the home depot

If you have any ideas or inspiration, please send them my way!