Together with her husband, one Essex-based interior and fashion designer decided to transform the en-suite bathroom in their four-bed 1930s house in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea.
With a budget of £5,000, inspiration from Pinterest, and a little plumbing assistance from an in-law, she was able to turn a drab white washroom into a moody masterpiece, with expensive-looking marble touches.
Before
‘The existing en-suite bathroom was completely white and looked dated. I kept seeing dark bathrooms on Pinterest with blue walls and amazing marble vanity units. There was no way I could afford one of those, so I tried to find other ways to achieve a similar look,' explains the homeowner.
After
'We did much of the work ourselves to save money and learned a lot of new skills. It’s pretty much the same layout as before, but we had to move the shower to a different wall and put the taps into the wall for the sink – my brother-in-law is a plumber so he moved all the pipework.'
'We laid underfloor heating and installed coving, which we’d never done before. As an interior designer and previously having worked in fashion, I love shapes and colour. I knew the dark blue and curves would make the room feel inviting and dramatic.’
‘I saw lots of nice images with curves and arches on Pinterest so chose a curved shower screen,’ the owner says, explaining their thought process behind the design.
Get the look: Arezzo Arched Matt Black framed wetroom screen, £249.95, Victorian Plumbing. Luxe freestanding stone bath, £1,795, Lusso Stone.
Picking the paint colours
Ever the perfectionist, the initial paint purchase didn't meet the owner's expectations. But rather than settling for the shade for her en-suite bathroom colour scheme, she tweaked the tone by adding a lighter emulsion until she was satisfied.
‘I mixed the wall colour myself. I wanted it to tie in with the lighter blue of the bedroom. I bought a shade that turned out a bit dark - so just added white until I got the colour I wanted. I like adding different accent colours – mustard is a go-to,' she said.
Storage
‘The existing wall-hung vanities in our en-suite bathroom had really good storage inside,’ says the owner.
Wall details
‘I was worried the en-suite bathroom walls would look a bit plain and boring, so I used ribbed wall cladding for an extra bit of texture,’ says the owner.
Get the look: Oska matt porcelain wall tiles in Indigo, £56.10sq m, Mandarin Stone. Ribbed wall cladding, similar from CNC Creations. RAK Resort wall-hung rimless pan toilet, £219.95, Victorian Plumbing. Toilet roll holder, £25, Ferm Living.
Have you been inspired by this curvaceous navy blue bathroom?
