TOILET FINITO

Snow. Yay!

Let it snow

A touch of the white stuff is the perfect excuse for slacking off DIY or anything else. Schools out. Cancel those trains. Call out the gritters. Everything grinds to a halt if so much as a flake falls. Although quite a few large flakes fell across the rooftops of Chi recently, the flurry lasted almost as long as a wine gum.

As the only way to keep warm is to continually move about (heating’s for the rich) then it’s back to El Boggo for what I hope may be the very very last time.

With the templated pine-board primped to an inch of its life, time for the moment of truth. And breathe. It now sits proudly on top of the back-to-wall loo unit, fabulously covering all our bodged handiwork as I hoped it would.

Painted panel fits perfectly across all units

Stand back to admire the end result. Definitely passes the ‘Fusspot’ Test. All units brought together in perfect harmony with a piece of painted pine. Who’d have thought it!

Almost looks like one whole ready-made unit

Plenty of space for all that toilet themed reading material, knick-knacks and the regulation potted plant beloved of interior designers showing off room layouts.

Add finishing touches

I guess it’s time to show off my poopy palace in case anyone out there wants to copy the idea for themselves. After all, the best ideas are those you’ve nicked or should I say ‘borrowed’ from elsewhere.

Anyway, if you did fancy a toilet like this one then here’s how to pull it all together. On the left-hand wall, there’s a vintage wooden mirror rescued from a charity shop for a second life in our heavenly haven. I toyed with the idea of a large circular mirror as these appear all the rage in bathrooms of today but felt that the lovely geometric design of this old boy would fit in better.

Given a second lease of life

Keeping to that geometric theme, a couple of gold metal hexagonal shelves fixed to the wall space next to the mirror. I think these shelves co-ordinate well with the gold shapes on the wallpaper. You can find similar ones on Ebay or Amazon for less than £15, in different colours too. Not suitable for very heavy objects as the frames are quite flimsy but you could use it to display a small potted plant.

Gold metal wall shelves

Gold coloured vintage style light-pull handle purchased from Ebay. Nice and solid to hold. Goes well with the other gold-coloured fixtures.

I like the solid feel of this light pull

Splash out on a few special items for a touch of decadence such as these wonderful swan loo accessories I bought in a sale from Anthropologie. They were the closest things to flying cranes I could source but look fabulous on the wall.

Anthropologie Swan towel holder

The only thing that’s a pain, is the toilet roll holder which does stick out quite a way from the wall and thus has a tendency to catch on your arm as you sit on the throne. Would have been a better design with the bar positioned closer to the wall.

Sticks out way too far from the wall

On the right-hand wall, a couple of framed Metropolis posters. You could probably also get away with some nice oriental themed artwork to go with the flying crane wallpaper design or some Japanese style bamboo wall fans. Be as creative as you like with your wall space, you don’t have to follow the herd.