Way back when, somewhere in the mists of time, you may remember that I started making over our en-suite bathroom. Yes, that was almost a year ago and it is still far from finished. I blame the fact that no-one but us sees it so it's easier to forget. Embarrassment is a great motivator I find. But I had a short list of things I wanted to get finished before the baby arrives and getting this space finished was way up there.
I had already painted the walls and shower grout (yes really), but there was a LOT still to do. I think what put the brakes on it was me wanting some custom storage in here. It's a decent size as en-suites go, but the layout means there isn't anywhere that free-standing storage will fit. The shower is in the corner with the toilet and sink on either side, there's a radiator on the wall next to the sink and then there's a window in the other wall which means the only blank wall space is right next to the door. Currently we're using a tallboy type unit we brought from our old apartment (where it actually fit in a much smaller room) but the only place for it to stand means it juts out into the doorway. Not ideal.
So I had planned on some built in storage, and I was pestering my husband to try and make something like this out of some pallets he brought me home one day in a super-romantic gesture.
He gets me, he really gets me.
But time dragged on and that just wasn't happening, and in the meantime I had a chance to really think about what I wanted in there, and I realised that while I loved the look of aged pallet wood for it's industrial vibe, too much of it would probably make the space a lot more rustic-y than I wanted. Practically every bathroom I pin has a lot of black units, gold fixtures and white tile, with splashes of industrial style wood, so while I still wanted to use the pallets it would have to be in a much smaller way than I had previously planned.
So, what was the obvious solution? The shelves I wanted over the toilet! I had found some great minimal/industrial shelf brackets in Sostrene Grene for less than €5 a pair, so Gavin threw those up for me and cut a few lengths of the pallets to size and roughly sanded then to serve as the actual shelves.
May I suggest if you do this you actually attach the shelves to the brackets instead of just balancing them there with the intention of doing it "later"? This is definitely not because we neglected to do this straight away and I lost a couple of plant pots and an amazing candle in a pretty spectacular collapse, nearly scaring the baby out of myself in the process. Definitely not.
So there you have it, quick and easy industrial look shelves that are adding a lot of interest to an otherwise blank bathroom. I do love a shelf over a toilet for displaying pretties and adding height....not so much for storage cos that messes up the look! Priorities right?! I do have a plan for storage that will mean I can afford to "waste" space on decor though ;)
We're working on finishing up the rest of this room in the next week or two so I should have a decent reveal for you before long. I have the mirror, the lighting and all the decor items, so the only thing really holding us back is the biggy...the storage. I've decided that a much better idea space-wise is to remove the old sink and try my hand at turning a dresser into a unit with a sink on top. I'm in charge of prettifying the dresser and ordering the sink and tap, Gavin is in charge of removing the old sink and cutting holes in the dresser for the new sink fit. Wish us luck!!!!
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