Pondering Bathroom Touches

Photo by Eric Roth

Hi everyone, I hope you've all had lovely weekends and for those of you affected by the Queensland floods, I hope the clean-up phase has been going as well as can be. I had an enjoyable day yesterday pottering around the house, trying to work some more on my 'beginning of the year tidy-up' which I am hoping to have done by the end of the month. However, I got a bit side tracked with the decorating side of things in our ensuite.

As I blogged about a while back, our ensuite was renovated a few years ago but is still lacking some small touches. While I did lots of sorting and scrubbing, I spent time thinking about new colours to introduce, playing around with potential items to display on top of the vanity and trying to decide what sort of curtains I want in this room.

There are two things I am undecided on - towels and artwork. We are definitely over our blue towels and in need of something fresh. I'm thinking of a combination of pale stony grey (or perhaps white). Am I crazy? Does white get too dirty or is it easy to clean white towels and bath mats with a bit of good old Napisan? What is your experience with towel colours?

I'll be sure to share some photos of our ensuite once I find the fabric I'm after (something light with a subtle self-stripe), have bought new towels and have hung our artwork...

Day-Spa Treat

Yesterday, I finally used a gift voucher to a day-spa my sister had given me months ago for my birthday. I enjoyed a back, neck and shoulder massage after not having treated myself to one since I was pregnant with Grace. Needless to say I came away feeling very relaxed.

Whilst there, I also did my best to soak in the decor and tried to determine which elements of my tranquil surroundings I could recreate at my own house to give our bathroom a 'day-spa feel'. I came away feeling not only relaxed, but also inspired to add a few special little touches to our bathroom when I get a chance.

Have you ever been treated to a spot of day-spa style pampering?

Image #1 unknown

Image #2 Mark Lanning Photography

Homely One House Tour - The Bathroom and The Laundry

Today is the final post of my House Tour series and we are down to the laundry (which is off our family room) and the bathroom (in between the nursery and spare room). At present, the most dated room in our house is our main bathroom. It has the same unattractive tiles our ensuite used to have before we renovated it. Down the track, we hope to completely renovate this bathroom in a similar style.

When we moved in, our laundry was virtually empty (except for the laundry trough) and had absolutely no storage whatsoever. Our cleaning products lived in a box on the floor for at least a year! We installed some simple Ikea cabinets and now everything is hidden away. The laundry is now in desperate need of window treatments (for privacy more than anything).

And so, that is the end of my little Homely One House Tour. Hope I haven’t bored you all too much. I will share progress around our house as I tackle different projects and hunt for items we need. Thanks for all the feedback you’ve given me. I’ll be back to posting about all different homely topics as of tomorrow.

Homely One House Tour – The Ensuite

Sorry for the boring pictures - our ensuite is still a work in progress plus it was very tricky trying to take photos in such a small space!!

Thanks to everyone for all your ideas and feedback on my kitchen post. The second hideous space in our house that has been made-over is our ensuite. Previously, it comprised of dark brown mosaic floor tiles, eighties looking wall tiles, a cream toilet and shower screen and a dated vanity which was literally falling apart inside which meant that all our toiletries were ‘on display’.

Here’s some before shots….

As with the kitchen, we kept to the original layout (which was probably the most functional option in this small space anyway). We went for a semi-frameless shower screen, new chrome fittings and a white vanity and toilet. Our wall tiles are simple white ones and the floor tiles are dark grey.

At the moment, the only colour in this space is provided by the blue towels. However, I am thinking of eventually changing from blue to hits of an icy, aqua green. As with the kitchen, the ensuite now needs some homely touches so I am on the hunt for some artwork and some odds and ends to display in order to finish off the room.

The old mission brown security screens will one day be updated, but in the meantime, I am going to look into window treatments which should hide them a bit. However, I’m unsure which option to go for in a bathroom. Whatever I choose will also be used in our other bathroom and laundry. I like the look of venetian blinds but have heard they can be a pain to keep clean. What type of window treatments do you have in your bathroom that you would recommend?