The Upstairs Loo

If you know me personally, chances are that you will have heard my horror stories regarding the upstairs toilet in our house. If you don’t, be thankful that you only have to endure the blog-appropriate version! I’m not sure how long the room had been left the way it was, but the basis is that it was stained with what I’ll refer to as ‘waste’ and it absolutely reeked. It’s fairly hilarious to look back now at how awful it was and it’s also quite amusing to think that I actually cried at the state of it. At the time though of course, it was far from funny.

BEFORE:

It took a very long time to clean the room but we got there (I will spare you the gory details of how we did). Soon it was time to think about putting our stamp on it, making it look good and transforming it into a room that we actually liked. As a lover of all things maritime, I came up with the idea of a nautical theme for the upstairs loo. As Darren was really keen on each of the designs I was toying with, we agreed that the room would become my little assignment.

The first thing I decided was that I wanted to paint the walls light blue to represent both the sky and the sea. Next I chose white tiles to be fitted to a halfway point to liken the shape of the room to the hull of a boat. I also opted for laminate flooring to give the illusion of a boat deck. Once the final plumbing horrors had been rectified, it was time for the fun part of buying accessories. I chose everything from Dunelm Mill’s bathroom range, including a tumbler and hand wash dispenser with beach huts on, nautical canvasses, decorative lighthouses, a porthole mirror, a beach plaque for the door and striped hand towels. I got a bit too excited and even bought a themed light pull! I was determined for everything in this little room to contribute to the nautical theme and more specifically the idea of being on a boat. Our finishing touch was a model boat that Darren found from Matalan. He fitted it to the wall and we both thought it looked awesome – as though another little boat was sailing away in the distance. Focusing on our boat themed loo enabled us to forget how the room had previously looked, and today it really does look brand new.

AFTER: