The bathroom is turning into our little pocket of serenity in the middle of the house. Our old bathroom was poorly designed; huge amount of wasted space and NO storage. None. Well, there was one shelf under the sink, where we could almost fit four towels. That was it. We always looked forward to redoing the bathroom, but as with much of the house, it was perfectly functional as was and therefore not a priority.
When first discussing an extension, we were considering going up and creating a “parent’s retreat” upstairs; bedroom, ensuite, walk-in robes and a reading nook. It quickly became apparent that the cost of going up was prohibitive, and the design possibilities limited due to the heritage overlay in our area. When R first pointed out that, really, all we needed was one extra room and that could be added on at the back, it was one of those “a-ha” moments. We did only need another room for the planned sibling. Oh, and a laundry. Definitely a laundry. But that was it. We knew that we probably needed to do some re-stumping and that there would be unexpected findings and therefore costs along the way, so starting with a less ambitious plan seemed the way to go. We also decided that by going with the more sensible option, we could actually lash out and get our bathroom done at the same time. Ooooh….bonus!!
Our builder recommended an interior designer who he works with regularly. First of all, a builder who works with an interior designer; I believe that in itself is a rare, rare thing. The people who design the things and the people who make them so often don’t meet eye to eye. Or just don’t meet! Patricia immediately cottoned on to our desire for storage and designed the bathroom accordingly. She put in storage everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Right down to a storage cupboard reaching behind the bath, space which would traditionally just be covered up. Now that the cabinetry is all installed, I feel almost dizzy with the prospect of having everything put away, out of sight. There is more storage than I imagined possible!
Choosing tiles was interesting. The ladies we dealt with were like wannabe interior designers, except that they had no clue when it came to colours and design. I kept trying to describe the blue of our bathroom, and she kept toning it down:
“Our bathroom is a deep blue” “Like a baby blue?”
“No, like a cobalt blue”
“Oh, like such-and-such blue”
“I’m not sure what colour you’re refering to”
“It’s like an eggshell blue, very lovely”
*headdesk*
The first lady could not be convinced that we wanted colour, actual colour in our bathroom. “But, you put the colour accents in with your towels, and vases, and candle holders”. No, we don’t. We want the accent colour throughout the bathroom, not just the towels. She kept steering us towards shades of sand and taupe and every “safe” combination of tile you can think of. Fortunately R has a very clear sense of what he likes, and has really good colour sense, so he wasn’t shy about asking for what he wanted and disagreeing with the tile lady when she tried to talk down at him and tell him that his suggested combination would clash. There were some beautiful blue tiles that caught my eye the minute I walked into the showroom. I tried asking about them, a couple of times, and kept being told that they were too expensive and really I should be looking at these small square mosaic tiles which we can make any combination of colours – only don’t ask for more than 5% actual blue because she will frown at you! As we were leaving the showroom, somewhat frustrated and irritated by her “assistance”, I pointed them out to R and mentioned that I really liked them. He immediately responded that we should have them. It’s not like either of us thought of doing a whole wall with them, just a feature line, which it turns out wasn’t that expensive after all.
The next encounter, at a different showroom, was with an assistant who was quite adamant that all the white tiles were the same white, just different batch numbers. Uh huh. Yeah, sure. I insisted on samples of each “batch” that I was considering. It still boggles my mind that she could stand there with me, looking at a wall full of white tiles, many different shades of white, and tell me they were all the same colour.
But in the end, we got all the tiles we wanted, avoided the barrage of beige thrust upon us and now have a bathroom that is so peaceful and serene and calming and *us*. And the blue tiles are definitely my favourite part – I still feel like I could stare at them for hours. It is also fully insulated and you can hear the silence when you walk in. There will be some lovely relaxing baths in our future.
The photos….. (which are mostly iPhone, hence the lack of clarity
House Renovation - The bathroom
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