Time was that bathroom accessories didn’t stretch much beyond a tooth mug and a loofah. These days you’re looking a little old fashioned if you don’t have a Jacuzzi and a champagne fridge. But Make it and Menders poo-poo such conspicuous shows of consumption. Instead we opt for clever little ideas that deliver delightful bathrooms with the minimum of outlay and the maximum of ingenuity.
Save money and wallow in luxury – top tips for accessorising your bathroom…
1. Declutter before accessorising - Less is more and that particularly goes for bathrooms. Piles of cleaning products lined up by the toilet, almost empty bottles of shampoo and shower gel all higgledy piggledy round the bath, a leaking tube of something for chafing on the shelf above the sink… You get the picture.
So before you refashon or restyle your bathroom:
- pour all the shampoos, shower gel ‘dregs’ into single bottles and recycle the empties
- old drugs in the medicine cabinet should go back to the pharmacist
- check sell-by dates on everything and safely dispose of items which are out of date
- put the anti-chafing cream, along with other sundries, in small boxes or baskets*.
* The gift boxes that toiletries come in (particularly at Christmas) make great bathroom containers. Cut out pretty pictures from magazines to paste over brand names. Make boxes splash-proof by coating with a thin layer of UPVC glue. You can also paint boxes pretty colours using unwatered-down poster paint that’s been mixed with UPVC glue.
2. Clean thoroughly first – Popping some dried flowers in a vase and then carefully positioning it on top of accumulated dust is not going to achieve the look you’re after. Start with a blank canvas (and that includes removing anything curly).
3. Choose a theme – What are you after? Shabby chic? Beach hut meets beachcomber? Victorian opulence? It’s better and easier to accessories to a theme, otherwise you’re liable to end up with something that just looks like a junk shop with a toilet in the middle.
Here are some themes to get you thinking…
Before you get started - a plain bath with no accessories. It’s worth stripping back to a ‘blank canvas’ before you get started.
Clear everything out (as much as possible) and get a real feel for the space and its possibilities. The clear out will also allow you to give the bathroom a deep clean and deal with any DIY issues such as regrouting.
>> Bathroom makeovers – everything you need to know
Victorian opulence theme – you can have real fun with this one. Candles are great bathroom accessories and can give a real feeling of luxury. This is a bathroom designed to spend time in, which is why we’ve added the book stand.
You can buy wonderful bath trays with candle holders and book stands built in, but we made this one from a standard bath tray to which we attached two candle holders and an old recipe stand. The whole thing is held together with shop fine wire which has been dressed up with beads and shells.
Beachcomber – anything that reminds you of the sea and family beach holidays works with this theme. Small plain glass vases can be filled with pebbles and shells. In fact, it’s a great way of displaying all the shells that children usually want to bring back from holiday.
Pieces of driftwood can be added. You can bring you towels and bathmats into the theme by selecting whites and blues. See ‘New towels for old’ below.
Havana style – Just imagine that somewhere outside your bathroom window lush palms are swaying and the breeze carries the scent of exotic flowers.
Cheerful voices waft up from your garden where guests await your arrival, the ice chinking gently in glasses of planters punch. Cane and rattan furniture are ideal for this look. And a nice lush pot plant.
New towels for old?
Threadbare towels don’t look great and tend to leave a lot to be desired in the drying department but Make it and Menders would never just throw old towels away and buy new ones willy nilly. Larger towels can be cut down into hand towels and guest towels. Even the threadbare bits can be re-used as kitchen and bathroom cleaning cloths.
If you’re thinking of buying new towels consider going for responsibly sources cotton or bamboo towels, rather than cheaper ones that may use suspect dyes and poorly paid employees working in less than ideal labour conditions. The Natural Collection has a good selection of fair trade towels.
As well as Fair Trade and unbleached cotton towels think about buying bamboo. Bamboo is easier to grow and doesn’t require the pesticides that are normally used when growing cotton. Bamboo makes a mighty absorbent towel and is very hard wearing.
Whatever type of towel you buy, the important thing is to go for good quality and choose a well known supplier with a good reputation, such as John Lewis or Scotts of Stow. These are more likely to source their products responsibly.
