A while ago I wrote about wanting to improve how the house looks a bit. A lot of this comes down to tidiness and decluttering and all that (I do try, it isn’t terrible!) but it needs some homely touches too. And most of that needs to come from things which can be pretty as well as functional and a few well chosen accessories.
Max is always complaining about the lack of mirrors in the house (we have 1, in my bathroom, so high up I have to stand on tip toes to see in it) and that the girls really need some. They really do, they all check how they look in the door handles 😆 :blush: So I’ve done a bit of saving up and collected some ideas on my Pinterest account, having had my juices squeezed by the lovely bathmat from Next on there (no, this isn’t sponsored!) I’ve actually bought it, and the Homebase soap dish, but I’m rather struggling with the big things. The bathroom currently has nasty racking (with a hamster in residence) and a load of clutter. I want to replace it with this vanity unit, or a similar one from Argos, but so far the only two things I like are out of stock. So I’m wondering about being funkier, with something like the cubes in that image, but I’m not really finding anything I like. It only needs to hold cleaning stuff, shampoo, fresh (ha!) towels, spare toilet rolls etc.
Somehow it isn’t going well; my idea to encase the radiator in a cabinet to produce a shelf with a mirror above it is being thwarted by the bath-radiator-door space being slightly too small to take a ready made one without compromise (butchering it or a door which doesn’t open totally) and I’m getting so frustrated with not being able to pull it all together. So if anyone can find me the perfect cupboards, since I’m failing to Google in a way that produces affordable and desirable, I’d love you forever.
I’m in such a hurry to do the pretty crafty accessory bits, stick up tile stickers and Fimo wall decorations and goodness knows what. I’m never a completer finisher at the best of times, but this time I’m struggling to even start and I WANT to finish!
Have you tried Jali? I know that you can design things in different sizes on their website & they make it up in MDF & you paint it etc yourself … no idea of prices or anything though, just that I know someone who had a radiator cover from them & it was fab.
The do look nice. If it wasn’t only for a bathroom, I’d be happy to pay for those (if I actually had the money!) but it’s a bit much really. Our house is so new that the alls don’t hold shelves well, so a cabinet is a sort of ‘best way’ for a supported shelf they can have below a mirror. DH is butchering one a bit but I think we’ll have to live with the door not opening all the way back. Won’t really matter, I guess.
Would these be any good? http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7190061.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=tsid:11527%7Ccc:%7Cprd:7190061%7Ccat:home+and+furniture+%2F+modular+bedroom+furniture+%2F+children%26%23180%3Bs+modular+furniture+%2F
(wow! Long link!)
I like those, but Argo furniture makes me a bit dubious really, as we have it in the girls rooms and it isn’t the best. I fancy something a bit funky, like in the middle pc on that pinterest screenshot.
OMG you only have 1 mirror! How is that possible with so many girls in the house?
Can’t help with where to get stuff – I’m very unimaginative and always have the same fallback position to one shop.
Question- do you need to keep all of that stuff in the bathroom? Do you have a utility room which could take some of it?
How is Max at DIY if you have problems with dimensions?, or you could get a joiner in to do something bespoke? Have you tried free cycle or any local auction houses? Some of the bigger charity shops do larger furniture from house clearances so you may find something at a decent price.
Another question – having never had them, do hamsters like being in a bathroom?
lol, they have door handles, what more do they want???? 😉
I know, I know. Luckily they are not terribly image conscious yet, but times are changing, hence the need to improve things 🙂
Max is okay at DIY, we both just hate it. I only needed one ready made one to be 5cm narrower or another to be 5cm taller!
As for the bathroom, it’s on the third floor, so a long way from the utility. It’s also nearly as big as the kitchen and utility put together, so the ideal place for the stuff required for cleaning and servicing it really. Its a stupidly big room. People always say “oh it’s so nice to have a big bathroom” and to me it just seems a prize waste of space. The little girls use it as a playroom half the time!
So dim question, if the room is big, why are you trying up squeeze the mirror behind the door? Is there not space for a unit elsewhere and one of those tilting mirrors screwed directly onto the wall so all can see into it no matter what height? Or a full length mirror either freestanding or screwed to the wall.
Ash, it’s a bit of a funny shaped room, having roof shape built into it. I want a radiator case on a bit of wall to give them a hairbrush, bobbles, cleanser shelf. It’s ooh, too complicated to explain really. Everything will fit, but things keep being slightly wrong. the biggest wall space is between the toilet and the door, which just makes it useless for everything but a full length mirror but it’s the hair and face one they need. There isn’t even room for one above the sink because of a velux window.