Another retro trend renaissance: hello pink bathrooms

Pink bathrooms are a trend a-brewing, I'm telling you, and I've been eyeing them longingly for a while. 

I thought it might just be me, but then these much maligned blasts from the past started popping up all over Pinterest. (Though not especially looking like this one, below, even though it's incredible.)



Then I visited the beautifully designed Bill Granger restaurant in Clerkenwell (read

Wednesday Question: gold taps – well, would you?

Gold taps were to 80s interiors what a Lamborghini is to inner city driving. A bit showy-offy for the sake of it.

So who'd have thought they'd be reincarnated all these years later in such pleasing way? It's a quick post from me this week as there's lots going on, but here's a run down of the new way to do gold taps. The trick is to mix them with a utiltarian back-drop and play down the flash.

Bathroom gets some love (apart from the ugly storage bit)

The bathroom was in need of some love. 

It was looking a little cluttered and untidy around the edges.



















But the real motivation was the paintwork...











Hmmm. So it got a weekend transformation. The paint looks white in these photos, but it's a lovely shade of a white-that's-a-little-bit-green – a Dulux mix. 



I was shocked to discover that B&Q had stopped selling

Before & After: a dramatic transformation of the downstairs loo

Would anyone ever describe their house or flat as finished? 

Eight years after moving in, I'm finally getting around to painting that bit of bare plaster, tidying up those wonky shelves and changing various unsatisfactory light fittings.





And of course my tastes have changed since I first moved in, so there's a fresh round of updating too. So sometimes it's good to wait a while until you're

Hinge sprucing #cheaphometricks

We've just redecorated the bathroom, and you can see from the cracked paint below how badly it was in need – but that's a story for another day. 

Because today I just want to focus on one tiny change we made to the room that cost just a few quid, a bit of effort and – in my opinion – has given our bathroom door a bit of a new, design-y lease of life (plus it's a more positive DIY story than last

Real homes: when DIY goes wrong

It was meant to be a cheap, quick way to give the shower room a spring spruce-up. 

We had a leak in there, and while I was shopping for grout and silicone to fix it, I was dazzled by the grout reviver on sale nearby (everyone else gets excited and over-shops at DIY stores too – right?). A sparkly new bathroom for just a few quid? Yes please. Only things haven't gone quite to plan...





This

Object of the day: HAY's S&B yellow bath mat

My bathroom doesn't have much colour in it, and as there's so much colour around the rest of the house I like it that way. 

But it could remain a pale, calming space and still handle a cheer-up with one of these sunshine yellow bath mats by HAY.



£18 from Clippings

And if you're feeling yellow even more than this, these anaglypta-ish bathing brights might appeal too (and if you can't find

On the fifth day of Christmas... Anthropologie monogrammed soaps

If you thought you couldn't afford anything in Anthropologie, try these. 

One – or two? – of these beautifully (and differently) packaged, bright soaps each bearing a lone initial could be a good gift for that extra person at your festive dinner table you don't know that well.







You know, a distant aunt, a relative's non Christmas celebrating foreign friend, a stylish waif and stray,

A bathroom cupboard makeover for £30

We have a lovely, very tall, cupboard unit in our bathroom that holds all our towels and other bathroom gubbins. 

It was actually two units (a wardrobe and drawers) from Ikea that my handy husband stitched together and, hey presto, perfect height storage...






Alas, a joyous union MDF and steam do not make and so after a few years the doors got blown and warped and generally looked pretty

Can a towel be joyful?

Towels. Can you get excited about towels? I have just discovered I can.

Mine, for years, have been all white – when I first got matching towels I felt like I'd arrived. It was possibly the most grown-up thing I'd ever done around the house.



Then, a couple of years ago I radically introduced some dark green ones to go with the plant in the bathroom (and to hide the mascara I seem to get on

Bathrooms have feeling(s) too...

Hello, it's Abi here – sorry for the radio silence but I've been a bit ill and then went off to Marrakesh for a week (expect a post on all things Moorish soon). 

So, after Kate opened up the proverbial can (excuse the pun) when she posted a much-debated picture, it got me thinking about bathrooms. 




You can buy this original, 1956 Briggs Bathroom advert from Arcanium Antiques on Etsy 

What's the most provocative thing in this picture?

As I've mentioned recently, I've joined the world of co-habitation. Because he's moved into a ready-made house, rather than us finding somewhere jointly, decisions about furniture, re-painting or what to put on the walls could have become unfairly loaded (or just unintentionally insulting).

But it's been great. I'm enjoying changing things around together – and want it to feel like our home, not

Two dogs in a (wood-panelled) bath

Yes. On one hand it's a shamelessly gratuitous photo of two cute Jack Russells in a bath. And more so because the one on the right is Reggie, and he belongs to me. The other pup is his special lady friend, and she's called Pepper. And the reason it's not entirely gratuitous...

...well, it is really. But taking the photo (which I did for this story about how Reggie and Pepper got so dirty)