To da loos: June 2011

"What is it?" answer

This little guy is not only cute but practical.

Has the little white puff on top of his head given you a clue?

Click to see more

Gorgeous feminine shower curtains

And it would be impossible not to buy this rug to go with them.

It is moments like this where it would be so handy to live in a castle with 25 bathrooms. I would buy all of these, and because I love colour so much I would get multiples and have them dyed in different colours (note, I would have them dyed cause I'd be living in a big castle so no getting my delicate little richie rich hands dirty! Ahhh what a nice dream). The "sculpted mums" (i.e. the big sexy flowers) would look gorgeous in light yellow or lilac. The "waves of ruffles" (the last one) would be spectacular in a soft ballet pink. At $118.00 a curtain it is a bit pricey diy project. However, if anyone has tried dying these to die for curtains please let me know. All curtains are available at (and images are from): anthropologie

Now you see it, now you don't

Anyone who has tried to get ready in a too tiny bathroom knows how frustrating it can be. Now there is a product that is trying to solve that problem. How are they doing it? With the disappearing shower. Ok, that's what I would have named it. Duravit decided to call it the OpenSpace shower, that's good too. So how it works is that the glass shower doors can be collapsed against the wall when you are not using the shower.

I think it's a pretty cool idea. The only problem I see is that when you need the space to get dressed just after you shower, the shower floor will be all wet. So either you will have to dry it or perhaps you can get a wooden mat to place over the shower floor to stand on. An option that I really like is that you can have the door mirrored, so not only does it hide the shower faucets, but provides you with a full length mirror. I would love it to come with 2 mirrored doors so the area can be a great dressing area. Find out more about this unique shower here:
Duravit OpenSpace shower.

images: Duravit

Black & white striped walls

Notice how the baseboards are also striped, giving the impression that the stripes keep going and going...Compare this to the second photo where the base boards are painted white. Which do you prefer?

Don't forget, when doing horizontal stripes, you need to decide this before you start painting. If you don't you could end up with your last stripe before the baseboards being white followed by the white baseboards so your stripe thickness with be thrown off. The easiest thing to do is after setting your tape, grab a pencil and write a B on the first stripe after the baseboards and work your way up to the ceiling. Double check it once to ensure that you didn't skip a stripe, it has been known to happen! This way you will end up with a perfect job. Oh yeah, and even easier is to buy striped wallpaper.

Note the combo of 2 different width stripes. Is it an optical illusion, are they really the same width? Who knows, but still I like the idea of using two different widths.

Compare this photo to the first one, they are somewhat similar so it will help you decide if you prefer horizontal or vertical stripes and whether or not to continue the stripe in the shower.

From thick to thin, horizontal or vertical, mat or glossy, black and white stripes always look chic and add excitement in both large and small bathrooms. A combo of one wall with vertical stripes and the other with horizontal stripes can also be nice. To keep it from making you feel dizzy it's best to seperate the two stripe styles with a big chunk of white space. For example, the white tiled shower in the above photo would be a perfect seperator.

If you want to get even more creative with your stripes, check out the Prada stripes in the previous post.

images: marie burgos design, apartment therapy x 2, lonny, elle decor, house beautiful, home klondike, unknown, the mark hotel, unknown

Prada stripes

The look of the season has to be Prada's delicious stripes. So why not grab inspiration from these stripe patterns to get your washroom in vogue.

Use it on:

walls

floor

shower tile

tub enclosure

vanity

or as an unexpected shot of drama: the back of the door

Break down her dress into 3 sections: top = walls, middle = vanity pattern, skirt = floor design. Wild and wonderful. For a subtle look keep the pattern design but use a softer colour palette such as light blue, creamy beige, white and then for the thinnest stripe a hit of sunny yellow.

Like the idea of a striped vanity but where to find one?

Ikea darling!

Grab yourself the Ikea Godmorgon (btw that means good morning in german) sink cabinet with 2 drawers in high gloss gray, take it to a body shop and have them spray on your stripe pattern. Or better yet, head to the nearest hardware store buy some cans of spray paint and painters tape and do the job yourself. btw, the legs are optional, so you can also have a floating vanity. I prefer a floating vanity, but the silver legs are also nice. If you opt for the legs consider painting them a contrasting colour. So if I used the outfit above, I'd paint the vanity green, blue & white with the high gloss grey as the main stripes, then the legs bright pink, or the top half of the legs high gloss grey and the bottom half pink - holy run on sentence!

So here's the vanity:

and here's the dipped leg idea:

Turn it into this:

Now use your imagination peeps - this chickie ain't no photoshop pro!

top drawer = shirt, bottom drawer = skirt or use just 2 colours and stick with the pattern:

The Ikea vanity also comes in high gloss white as seen bellow,
so let your colour combo choices run wild.

Ok, enough chatting. Back to the wonderful world of Prada stripes:

Here's an easy pattern to use:

Try flipping them around. Vertically is nice too

(#5 is my fav, she would make such a pretty wall)

If you got inspired by this post and decided to create your own Prada vanity or use Prada stripes in your washroom in any other way, send me some pics I'd love to see and will post them so everyone can enjoy.

images: ikea, harpers bazaar, fitfashionfoodie, zabigfatblog, geekpurses, fashionasasoulmate, streetpeeper, ridingsolonyc, primovida, high-heelfootinthedoor

Next post: the classic black and white stripe

ps. sorry for the somewhat blurry pics, am working on fixing that

pps. wouldn't it be cool to do a Prada vanity with the Prada logo stenciled on the side or made to look like handles, oh so many fun possibilities

Ever wonder what a caveman's washroom looks like?

From the site: "In Cappadocia’s magical landscape of fairy chimneys, in the ancient village of Urgup, is a unique hotel carved into a mountain cliff, the Yunak Evleri. This hotel includes six cave houses, 30 rooms dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries and a 19th century Greek Mansion. Yunak Evleri is an inspiring hotel – an ideal base for exploring Cappadocia’s elaborate underground cities, hidden cavernous churches and enchanting rock terrain."

This place looks like it's straight out of an Indian Jones movie, while the washrooms look like something you'd find in a NYC hotel. Fred Flintstone would definitely be jealous. How I would love to visit here.

images: yunak

DIY: Design your own bathmat

So you went to Ikea and bought a boring white mat. You put it your bathroom and started to yawn. You lost the receipt so you are stuck with it. But wait! With just a little work this little mat could turn into the trendiest most fantastic detail in your washroom.

Came across this great diy project.

I think it would be fun to make some unique bath mats. I'm not sure how the paint will hold up from stepping on it with wet feet (I think I've solved that problem a little later in this post). If anyone experiments please post a comment to let us know what paint you used and the results you got. Also would like to know how painted mats hold up in the wash. If you want the step by step instructions please visit the original site listed bellow. She gives nice easy to follow steps.

I think her grey chevron mat would look fantastic in a white washroom. images and diy instructions can be found here: while-the-sun-shines

Sure you could use paint, but another great and easy way to pimp your carpet is with sharpie markers. You can do finer details with the markers plus no worries about washing the mat or stepping on it with wet feet and could draw free hand so no taping or paint covered fingers either.

Here's some great ideas I found on the sharpie blog:

This was a drawing but I think it would be even cooler as a bath mat. Definitely my favorite. I'd place it right in front of the tub...

(could buy fabric dye to dye the top half of the rug blood red)

On a sweeter note:

This was Mother's day gift wrap paper, but would make a great mat for a teenage girl's bathroom. Remind her what's really important when she's looking in that mirror.

Some other design ideas: