How I Gave Our Bathroom Some Wow Factor With Wallpaper Direct
I don't want to moan (but I'm going to, you just know that don't you) as our bathroom when we moved into our Manchester house was perfectly fine. It had been renovated fairly recently with a new bathroom suite, tiles and flooring and it's a very modern design with dark grey slate tiles, dark grey wooden style floor and it was painted plainly in white.
The bathroom in the house particulars when we bought the house... just plain grey and white.
But that word I just popped into that last sentence there is precisely why I didn't like it. It was PLAIN. White and grey with NO PATTERN and NO COLOUR. I mean, that's not going to go down well in our house is it?! I am a lover of pattern and colour and I don't really do ordinary.
My husband Steve liked the bathroom. Everyone that has come to visit our house liked the bathroom. But I didn't. And I wasn't resting until I'd done something about it, let me tell you.
This image from C.P. Hart and their House Of Hackney collaboration didn't help matters and to be honest, I had to hold myself back from booking a whole bathroom renovation so that it looked exactly like this. THE BATHROOM DREAM.
One big factor in not investing in the whole look above was quite a big thing - BUDGET. Over the last year, we've redecorated the whole house and since the bathroom has never been a priority (apart from to me, obviously) we just didn't have any budget left to do anything dramatic to it.
So without being able to change the flooring, tiles or bathroom suite, I decided wallpaper was what was going to bring in some pattern and colour. Wallpaper is a fantastic option if you want to make a bit of a statement in a room, but don't have the budget to make dramatic changes. My motto with wallpaper is to go as bold as possible so that it really does make a focal point in a space.
I worked with the wonders that are Wallpaper Direct on sourcing my chosen wallpaper and they very kindly sent me two rolls so I could create a feature wall. Not one to do things by halves, I of course went for a very bright, very pattern-tastic tropical inspired wallpaper by the fantastic Matthew Williamson (I also have one of his wallpapers in our living room which you can see here).
I love this Sunbird wallpaper and I chose it as I thought the colour would fit well in the bathroom with the shimmery silver background working with the chrome details already in the room.
I also wanted to change the remaining tile-free wall from plain white and took the light green out of the wallpaper pattern and picked a similar paint with Dulux's Willow Tree. The calming green next to the bright wallpaper works really well and they really compliment one another.
The next plan for the room was to accessorise, accessorise, accessorise! I wanted somewhere to keep toiletries, towels etc and found these scandi ladder style shelves on Wayfair which fit into the space by our bath absolutely perfectly, almost like they'd been made for it! They have just the right amount of shelves and get wider as they go down, making the top shelves perfect for accessories and the bottom shelves ideal for all the bulky essentials!
We sprayed an old retro round mirror chrome and decided to hang it on the tiles with strong command strips and of course, it fell off with an almighty crash. Steve and I jumped out of our skin and were pretty surprised it didn't smash the sink on it's way down to the floor off the wall! Lesson learnt there - pay for someone to come and hang a mirror on the tiles properly rather than being impatient and wanting it up immediately. After sourcing a new round mirror from Dunelm for a bargain £20, we booked our local handyman Ben and he came and fitted it properly onto the tiles for us.
Other accessories included a glass pineapple tray from Homesense and pineapple candles from Primark (obviously, had to get a bit of pineapple action in there didn't I), a black wire basket from H&M Home, plastic baskets from George Home, faux plants and rattan plant pots from Ikea, coconut shell candles from Primark and a large candle from Next Home.
I recycled a few objects out of other rooms in the house, including the grey Marks & Spencer geometric side table, jars and pots and candles.
Originally I'd wanted to create a hanging plant wall like the one below in a cafe at Stockport's Etherow Park, but due to having a fan and speakers wired into the ceiling, we weren't able to do this which I was very disappointed about. Instead, I added a real palm in a lovely Cactus embroidered belly basket from Seat Threads onto the floor and a hanging macamre plant holder from Bloomingville at Trouva with a faux Ikea plant in one corner of the ceiling. This way I was still able to add a bit of greenery to the space and I think it looks great but I have to say, it's not quite the tropical look I was hoping for.
On the textile front, I was very kindly sent some gorgeous Moroccan style teal coloured towels from Christy, which really add to the boho feel of the room. The towels are gorgeously soft and feel such good quality - so much so that when guests came to stay recently, they asked if they could actually use them as they thought they were too good to use! I also added a grey and white striped tassel bath mat which I brought back from Marrakech last year.
So, what do you think? For not a lot of money, we've really made a difference to what was otherwise a pretty plain and dull space. It's my own little tropical paradise now and it will definitely do for the time being... until I can actually have the full C.P. Hart / House of Hackney bathroom treatment!
Here is what we spent and how you could do the same for just over £450!
Dulux Willow Tree emulsion paint, £20
Wayfair Ladder Bookcase, £88.99
Dunelm Black Round Wall Mirror, £20
H&M Black Storage Basket, £18 (sold out so find similar for £12.99)
George Home Storage Baskets, £6
Bloomingville Grey Planter Hanger, £23
Ikea Artificial Plants, £6 & £8
Ikea Plant Pot, £4.50 each
Pineapple Candles, £2 each from Primark (find similar from H&M for £4.99 each)
Palm Plant £7 from local garden centre but find similar for £12 from Ikea
Bathmat £7 from Marrakech but find similar for £15 from Etsy
TK Maxx Pineapple Glass Tray, £5 (sold out)
Primark Coconut Shell Candles, £3 each (sold out)
Ikea Plant Pot (hanging), £0.50 (sold out)
Totalling = £228.49
I was sent the following...
Matthew Williamson Sunbird Wallpaper, £73 a roll x2
Christy Petrol Casablanca Bath Towels, £15.40 x2 and Hand Towels, £8.40 x2
Next Pomegranate and Black Lily Candle, £12
Cactus Belly Basket, £35
Totalling = £240.60
BATHROOM UPDATE TOTAL = £469.09
*This post was in collaboration with Wallpaper Direct and I was gifted items to include from Christy, Next and Seat Threads. As always, I only ever work with brands I love and want to showcase on this blog!*
