bathrooms Archives - Emily A. Clark

Peel & Stick Wallpaper: Powder Room Picks

Oct102018

I’m following up my post about peel and stick wallpaper for kids’ rooms with more pretty patterns that I think would be perfect for a powder room. There are several reasons I think wallpaper is a perfect option for a powder room. They’re small so less paper is required, and they can handle a “big” pattern since there won’t be much of it. And if you have a really open floor plan, you can still do something special with a powder room since it’s its own space. It doesn’t necessarily have to flow with everything else. Go crazy. Pick the zebras. ;)

Katie Rosenfeld

Kids’ Bathroom Renovation: Subway Tile + Chrome

Nov152017

If you’ve recently been through a bathroom renovation, you probably know that even the smallest decisions can often become the hard, keep-you-up-at-night design dilemmas. I still have a few finishing touches left to do, but the boys’ and girls’ bathroom renovations are complete, and I wanted to show you a couple of the details I chose.

Like most people, we were working within a budget and with the mindset that this renovation will (hopefully) take us through many years. For those reasons, and because the house is pretty traditional, it was important that my design decisions were fairly classic, giving us the biggest bang for our decorating buck. But, boy, is it tempting to do something really bold and maybe even a little over the top in this crazy game of “Pinterest one-upper.”

I eventually decided on two classics: subway tile and chrome. There are so many good patterned tiles out there right now and beautiful brass fixtures, but. . . These are our kids’ baths. And again, I didn’t want to invest in elements that I would be “over” in the next five years. But just because you go classic doesn’t mean you have to predictable–right?

shower curtain // garden stool // bamboo shade

In the girls’ shower, I opted for a 3×6″ white subway tile with a navy “stripe” going all the way around. (Those tiles are 1/2″ x 6″, from a local tile shop.) It looks more black then navy in the photos but definitely reads more blue in person. I wanted to stay away from doing too much black and white since that can sometimes look a little more retro than I wanted.

Finishes can be tricky, and I know brass is all the rage. But, I just feel like simple chrome–especially for a kids’ or guest bath–is here to stay, especially when paired with mostly white. It’s a combo that always works. My designer friend Rebecca recommended the Cassidy shower head by Delta Faucet and I loved the oversized design and shape right away. A more modern design in a classic finish is a nice compromise. (I still used brass touches–drawer pulls, mirrors, lighting–and will show you that later.)

The shower head is adjustable, by the way. It took me a couple of weeks to figure that out. . . ;) And, in case you’re wondering, I’ve snuck in a few showers in the girls’ bathroom and you do get plenty of water.

Hope this helps some of you who are knee-deep in renovation decisions. What bathroom design elements do you consider “classic?”

SaveSave

Accessorizing Our Powder Room

Nov42016

Our powder room is almost finished, and I’m working on adding a few accessories and art that will pop against the “faux” grass cloth wallpaper I used.

powder room accessories

Side note: The exact paper I used is no longer available from Wayfair but you can find more options here.

Here’s how I plan to pull the (tiny) space together and add some color:

powder-room-accessories

wallpaper // garden stool // topiary // hand towel

rug // emperor art book // blue & white jar // red planter

Blue and white pieces (obviously) will be paired with a few framed prints from this coffee table book on Chinese emperors that I found online. This is one of those decorating decisions that left my husband (and possibly several of you) scratching his head, but I’ve been obsessed with the idea since seeing this photo on one of my favorite Instagram accounts. The colors are just too good.

photo source: Pencil and Paper Co. on Instagram

Another side note: If you also get an itch for some Chinese emperor art and decide to spend an hour of your good time when the kids are in school scouring Ebay and Etsy, you’ll quickly find that the good ones are pricey. It finally donned on me to search for a book instead and frame the pages. I ordered this one without knowing what was in it, but the cover was pretty. There were just enough colorful emperor pictures for my project, and the book cost me a whopping $5. I’m putting them into these frames.