How to Decorate Your Bathroom

Bathrooms, like kitchens, are expensive, so it is very important to get the layout correct. Once you have decided on the best plan for the room, you can turn your attention to choosing a theme or style in which to decorate it. There is now an ever-increasing number of decorative products available, everything from ceramic tiles to solid vinyl wall cover­ings and mildew-resistant paints, giving an unlimited choice when decorating a bathroom.

A bathroom can be classically chic, using granite and marble, or bright and sunny, a room to lift your spirits, even on the cold­est of mornings. Either way, before purchasing even the smallest item, you must be sure of the finished look you wish to achieve.

Blues can be used to create a nautical theme, and there are many accessories available to enhance this look. Or you may decorate your bathroom with plain white ceramics and a white suite, giving yourself the perfect basic scheme around which you can create numerous different looks over the years.

A small bathroom can benefit from an artistic approach. Make the room appear much larger by enlisting the help of a trompe l'oeil mural. Or transform your small, dark room into a Grecian palace or Victorian theater with heavy velvet drapes drawn back above your bath. Don't forget about any architec­tural details that may exist; exploit whatever you have to hand. When you think about it, decorating a bathroom can be as serious or as much fun as you like.

Ceramic tiles offer one of the most versatile wall finishes for the bathroom, yet this room proves paint can be equally as versatile. The roughly plastered walls have been given a covering of a soft cream paint, and this has created the base for a colorwash effect for the lower two-thirds of the wall. The height chosen for split­ting the color is very important. A wall is usually divided one third up its total height, but in warm climes, the color is usually taken higher up, as in this bathroom. The colorwash effect adds texture to the room, and contrasts well with the cool smooth­ness of the ceramic sanitary wear.

Ceramic tiles in a blue design sympathetic to the colorwash have been used to full height in the shower area. In such areas, you should be careful that the chosen wall covering is suitable for a space where water is constantly running on its surface: ceramics are the perfect solution.

White muslin has been used as a feature in the room, softly contrasting with the cream of the walls. Many people are worried about combining a white bathroom suite with cream walls, but as long as the white is echoed elsewhere in the room, it will work. Many Victorian-style bathroom suites are teamed with cream and black ceramic tiles. All that is normally needed is the addition of white towels or a wallpaper combining white and cream in order to tie together the whole scheme. Remember, too, that a white suite will always look crisper when teamed with cream, and the cream richer.

The exposed floorboards have been stained in a checker­board design, adding further texture and interest to the room. The purple squares are a deeper tone than the grey colorwash, adding tonal interest. Grecian style accessories complete the pic­ture in this stylish bathroom.