How To Decorate Your Powder Room
So, your Powder Room! This expression feels very American, in Ireland we’d probably say ‘downstairs toilet’ or ‘guest bathroom’ or, if you were my Mum, ‘the blue loo’ (which she designed around a Mason style ‘porcelain’ lavatory, with blue tiles etc.). And in France it would probably be called 'les toilettes des invités' ("guests' toilets" - I've never understood why it's in the plural!).
Whatever you want to call it, you have to think about and design this space!
Generally, in terms of function, not that much goes on in this space - you have the toilet and a wash-hand basin (WHB as my Dad would have said) and a mirror. Possibly a cupboard to store the loo roll. And good, preferably quiet, ventilation, for obvious reasons! And that’s about it. So the functionality here can seem pretty basic!
Although, one thing I’m very particular about in bathrooms (and kitchens) are the faucets or taps. I always specify the Grohe make, and preferably the professional versions. Yes, indeed. There are professional versions of Grohe taps, which are much better quality than the ones that non-professionals can buy, for example, in Leroy Merlin.
How do I know about this? In our second apartment that I renovated in Paris, I had specified a beautiful Italian tap, with a simple curved spout directly coming out of the wall. It was for a basin in a (very small!) guest bedroom. Once, a guest accidently knocked the tap, a plastic component in the tap broke, and we couldn’t turn off the water! Mayhem at midnight!
When we eventually received the replacement part, I asked the plumber which taps he recommended, he said ‘professional Grohe’. And second best is professional HansGrohe. The professional ones don’t have any plastic components inside, so they don’t break. Yes, I know, it’s not fair. Absolutely agree!
I have to say I don’t like seeing the pipes in a powder room or in a bathroom. Functionality should work but not be seen! Although if your theme is inspired by the Centre Pompidou - you probably want all supporting pipes to be on show, and most likely painted bright colors! In any case, I usually hide the pipes in casings, behind or at least under the basin unit. This also helps with acoustics, for the powder room and also for neighboring rooms, as flowing water can disturb people sleeping in nearby bedrooms.
For this reason, also make sure your contractor installs solid, not hollow, doors on your powder room. Actually, I always specify solid doors everywhere when renovating. The hollow versions are certainly cheaper. But a door is a door, and should block not only sight but also sound for the occupants to be comfortable!
Once you’ve understood the functionality (and know about the taps!), we turn to aesthetics. As this is a relatively small space, feel free to go slightly mad with the aesthetics! First of all, decide on your theme - Victorian? Underwater sea world (like the one I designed at my coworking space The Hub, see photo)? Minimalist zen? Cabinet de curiosités? Display for your collection of postcards from all over the world?
Again we start with the biggest pieces in the room. If you’re doing a complete renovation, you can choose the style of your toilet and WHB according to the theme you’ve chosen. For example, for a Victorian look you could find a toilet with a decorative reservoir attached to the wall above the cuvette (bowl in French), with a chain for the flush! And a WHB on a stand or a ‘carved’ leg which hides the pipes. Or for a minimalist look, clean lined, rounded white porcelain, with the WHB and toilet matching each other.
If you’re not doing a complete renovation, don’t worry, you can still really reinforce your theme with the decoration. Start with the walls - what would your theme say that you should do with them? In a powder room, you don’t need much tile on the walls, it’s just necessary as a backsplash behind the basin to protect the wall from water. Wallpaper is fine in Powder Rooms as there is no steam, but I wouldn’t recommend it in a bathroom, depending on the size and ventilation of course!
In terms of paint color, I don’t like white paint, as it can be visually aggressive. And in a Powder Room or a bathroom off-white paint doesn’t look good with the pure white of the ceramic basin and toilet, as there’s not enough of a contrast. So I find it’s best to go a bit further down the color wheel - for example with pale beige paint if you’re going zen.
Or for wallpaper, what about underwater fish wallpaper for the submarine look? Textured striped wallpaper above a dado rail and solid strong color below for Victorian? Dark, deep blue to show off your postcards?
Once you’ve decided on your walls, go to the next biggest part - the floor. I would always recommend tiled flooring in a powder room, due to the presence of water. If you want to soften the look, there are some great parquet style tiles available now, which really look like wood, although make sure the installer varies and turns the tiles to avoid a repeat pattern appearing. Colored tiles are also great for powder rooms and can make a surprising splash of color or a contrast to the walls.
Next, choose a mirror. The size, shape and frame of the mirror will greatly contribute to how far you go with your theme. So a large, rectangular, ornate dark wood frame will reinforce your Victorian theme. A round mirror with a simple black frame could look like a ship’s porthole for the underwater theme. And just a plain circle of mirror stuck to the wall could echo the curved simple lines of the toilet bowl and basin in a zen powder room.
Then you can add the accessories and decorative touches. The loo roll and towel holder can also reference your theme. You can add plants (if there’s a window) or fake flowers to soften lines. And then whatever frames or other decorations you want to include.
Hope this helps you decorate a ravishing powder room! As you can see, this may be a small room, but it’s just as fun to design! Enjoy! And if you’d like some help, give me a call!