Who doesn't love to win a competition ! I do, but my hubby might not agree. I recently won a bathroom takeaway, instagram giveaway for a gorgeous tap. You can read the post here. This resulted in a mini makeover of the bathroom.
I've been promising my husband he can start to take things easier now that pretty much all the DIY work has been completed on the house. So he wasn't best pleased to find out my new tap would lead to a new sink and of course I wasn't going to be satisfied with just a basin and pedestal combination. Oh no , I've had my eye on built in wooden cupboard vanity unit for some time .
The photo above shows the entrance to the bathroom as it looked for the last five years. When we moved into the house twelve years ago, the bathroom and kitchen were in urgent need of attention. We were on a very tight budget and the bathroom was run down, dirty and full of dangerous broken wall and floor tiles. Not an ideal place to bathe our six month old twins. My husband did an amazing renovation on a tiny space, including removing an old cupboard to give us more space. Our home is 1930's art deco style and for a relatively large house, its surprising how tiny the main bathroom was. We managed to squeeze a little extra space by also moving the door and bringing light into the hall by building a glass brick wall instead of just blocking up the original doorway.
View through the door into the new look bathroom. I found the pretty canvas above the window in a local budget store and think it fits perfectly with the artwork in the hall painted by local artist Linda Bartlett.
Here it is, the new look sink and tap. I am, as always totally in awe of the skill of my husband. He never fails to deliver exactly what I ask him for. I think he has made a wonderful job of combining the basin and tap with the wooden unit. Previously, we had a third toilet in this room but we were having problems getting someone to plumb it in . Not only because of the cost, but also the logistics of plumbing it into the original main cast iron waste pipe. So we decided, as we have two other toilets already in the house, we would remove it and give a feeling of more space in the bathroom. With four men in the house, most of whom are looking like they will be over 6ft tall, it seemed like a good option.
I am so in love with this sink ! Its modern, a great size and has a flip top plug waste. No more hanging rubber plug.
The tap compliments the sink beautifully. The boys all love the waterfall feature too. My husband was worried that there would be lots of water splashed around on the wooden counter, but it seems that the three boys are now at an age that they really appreciate how hard he works on our home. They are all certainly making more of an effort to keep the bathroom clean, so result !
Opting for a wooden unit to place the sink on, not only gave me more much needed storage space, it also meant the wooden floor we put down five years ago could be replaced. Although the solid wood floor had lasted well in the bathroom, I really felt it was time to go back to tiles, again we picked these up in a local DIY store for a song. They work really well with the wall tiles and I am thrilled to bits with the look.
Love, Love, Love how hubby has cut the cupboard into the back wall. Seriously, its insane how amazing my husband's carpentry talents are. I keep telling him, we should both give up the day jobs and go into business together. I reckon we could be the next Chip and Joanna Gaines !
It took me a while to find the perfect unit for the sink. After searching through the internet, local vintage stores, second hand and charity shops I found the cupboard at a local clearance store for just £99. It's solid wood and really well made. I decided to change the wooden door knobs for ceramic ones to give a bit of character and to tie in with the towels and other accessories.
Love new towels.
New towel hooks. The wood and chrome match perfectly with the rest of the room.
A wall mounted shaving mirror not only looks great, and can be used for shaving (the men of the house obviously) but can also swing out so we can look into it and see the back of our heads in the main mirror on the other wall, as you do ! Vital for number one son it would seem.
There we are, finished and all thanks to a tap won on Instagram !
Post written in collaboration with Bathroom Takeaway - All words and views my own.
