Tag Archives: bathroom

Decorating a Small Powder Room in the Sumptuous Style

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Many old houses have very small powder rooms in them that can be decorated so that they look very luxurious. Bold colors, busy patterns and sparkling accents can make even the smallest of rooms look very luxurious.

One key is to paint the walls a dark color such as chocolate, midnight blue or a dark cherry. The darker the room the more regal it seems. Flocked wallpaper, especially if it is a pattern flocked with gold or silver is also very rich looking. Just make sure that it does not look too old fashioned as sometimes this sort of effect can make a room look quite old. Black and white flocked wallpaper can also look great if the designer has a flair for the contemporary; Vivienne Westwood makes a few nice wall paper patterns that look great in a bathroom.

Lavish wall sconces dripping with large crystals gives powder rooms a very opulent feel.

Go for shiny nickel and gold plated mirrors and side tables. Silver wastebaskets also give the powder room a more glamorous feel. Pounded metal also looks quite luxuriant. The idea is to mix gold and silver accents. Use bowls and perfume flacons filled with soaps and pot pours with silver bottles and other touches for a very rich effect.

Towels that are white look much more luxuriant than ones that are patterned. Get the thickest nicest hand towels you can find; the large the pile the better. Ones lined or striped with gold or silver detail can also be quite impressive.

The most elegant of bathrooms do not have much clutter. Look for bowls or cups made out of old sea glass or metal. White china also works in this type of bathroom but it is not as chic. Blue glass or red glass accessories make this type of room look impressive as well.

If you do have a bit of clutter then look for antique style jars with copper tops as are found at anthropologie. Anthropolgie also makes a great soapdish that is silver and shaped like a serving tray. For the ultimate in luxury you can creatie nstant ambience by adding a chest in a dark cherry wood.

One way to add instant ambience to a powder room is to put dimmer switches on the lights to change the mood. Nice smelling candles in black or white glass jars, such as the ones made by Diptyqe Paris, are also a fashionable way to add glamor to a guest powder room.

How to Decorate With Knob Finishes That Coordinate Well

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When choosing knobs and drawer pulls you not only have to consider their durability and practicality of the material they are made from, you also have to consider how the knobs are going to fit in with your overall decorating scheme.

For instance, ceramic or wood drawer pulls would probably look old fashioned in a big, flashy metallic kitchen in a condo. This type of décor is much better suited to aluminum, nickel or stone knobs and pulls.

The finish, which includes the color and the texture of the piece is your first consideration. First of all you need to note whether or not the color of the pull will match the rest of your décor. A choice of color might be obvious when it comes to choosing plastic or wooden drawer handles but it might not be so obvious when it comes to figuring out what type of metal finish is best.

As a rule of thumb remember that the more textured and two-toned that a finish looks on a drawer pull, the heavier and weightier it is going to look. This is why drawers and cupboards that are made out of wooden slats often look good with a pull that is two toned or heavily textured. If the cabinet or light in color it might look good with a heavily textured fixture.
Drawers and cabinets made of natural wood can also bear the weighty look of a two toned or heavily textured pulls especially if they are a more golden colored wood such as oak or maple. Usually black fixtures with a rough surface look great wooden kitchen or even on the drawers in an all-wooden library.

Perhaps the trickiest color of drawer pull to deal with is bronze. Depending on what color you place it against it can either look stunning or ghastly. For instance, bronze pulls just don’t look that distinctive when placed against veneered wooden surfaces but they look great when affixed to a cabinet painted a glossy pure white or black.

The types of pulls that suit either light or dark woods are ceramic or glass. Go for glass pulls if you are looking for a Victorian or antique look. White ceramic pulls look best on lighter woods and in rooms that are painted in lighter shades such as lemon yellow or a leafy green.Novelty plastic pulls look best when they are placed against a glossy bright primary color or white.

Copper and wooden pulls are not recommended for steamy bathrooms and humid kitchens. Copper oxidizes and wood cracks and retains bacteria. Perhaps the best type of fixture for a bathroom is stone, plastic or metal.

Always remember that the definition of good taste is sometimes “form following functionality” even when it comes to choosing something that seems as a minor as a pull for your cabinet door or drawer.