October is here and summer is on the horizon. It may feel early to think about next year, but good design and the building process take time. Projects that begin now will be ready to enjoy next summer, so if a renovation is on your wish list, it's time to get the show on the road.
Inspiration from the road
Hotels play a major role in inspiring home design, and bathrooms are one of the key places Mary-Ellen gathers ideas. From pink sinks in Japan and striking tiles in New York to stone basins in Bali, travel is one of her greatest sources of design inspiration. Beautiful lighting, unique vanities and natural stone are everywhere once you start looking.
The world really is your oyster, and colour is your friend. Colour is free, so why not use it? A bathroom is the perfect place to be a little braver and create something with warmth, personality and a touch of the unexpected.
Our top bathroom tips
1. Trim or no trim
Tiles have to stop somewhere, and the edge is what gives a bathroom away. If you're not taking the tile all the way to the ceiling, use a proper edge tile, a purpose-made piece with a finished edge, so the tiling reads as designed rather than simply stopped. It's the detail most people don't know to ask for.
Images: From Pinterest
2. The layout
Layout does more for a bathroom than anything you can buy for it. With the vanity beside the bath and the shower held within the wet area, the sequence is what makes a small room work.
Images: Hello Saturday Projects, Calm Colourscape - Villa Renovation - Mount Eden, Ocean View - Major Renovation - Takapuna and Country calm - New Build - Clevedon
3. Where to save
The quickest way to bring a bathroom budget back into line isn't a cheaper tile. It's fewer of them. Tile the wet areas properly, and paint or paper the rest. You spend where the water goes, and the rest of the room gets colour and warmth without the tiling bill.
Images: From Pinterest and Hello Saturday Projects, Calm Colourscape - Villa Renovation - Mount Eden,
4. The easy update
If the bones are sound, you don't need a renovation. A new vanity, a new mirror and new tapware will change a bathroom more than most people expect, and none of it touches the waterproofing. It's the update to reach for when a full rebuild isn't the right call.
Images: From Pinterest
5. Big tile, little tile
Mary-Ellen's approach is to mix the sizes: bigger tiles on some walls, smaller mosaics on others. It breaks up the zones of the room and creates interest, because your eye is led around the space rather than stopping flat against one wall.
Images: From Pinterest
6. Go bold in the powder room
The powder room is the one room nobody lives in, which makes it the one room where you can do exactly as you please. Deep colour, a patterned tile, a wallpaper you'd never commit to anywhere else. Small space, short stay. No reason to be quiet.
Images: Hello Saturday project Urban Oasis - NEW BUILD - Mount Albert and From Pinterest
Products we love
The Clay Round Hand Basin by Robert Gordon is handmade in Australia from high-fired stoneware and finished in a reactive glaze, so no two are quite the same.
We're also loving travertine and natural stone basins.
You deserve a bathroom you love
If yours has been on the list, this is your sign. Our calendar is close to full, and we have space for a project starting in October, ready for you to enjoy next summer. Supplier order cut-offs come around sooner than you'd think.
