INSPIRATIONS WHICH LED TO THE UPSTAIRS BATHROOM

I have to wait for inspiration, and sometimes it doesn’t come for what seems like forever.

I think sometimes I wish I was one of those people who moves into a new house and boom, everything’s decorated.  I just can’t do that.  I mean, I could but it would be a cluster-(you-know-what).

The guest bathroom upstairs is small.  Smaller than I’d like, but there it is.  It also seemed to sterile, so lifeless and cold.  Plain, plain, plain!

When a bathroom is very large, in my opinion, it can rest upon its huge honkin’ architectural laurels.  No need for feathers, those peacocks, no, no, no.

How to decorate a small utilitarian space without using fabric?  How to do this with only paint and pictures and towels?  I think that is easier for others and their bathrooms look very nice and inviting.

This one, like the powder room I did downstairs, needed more.

I came across this architectural fragment from Versailles; Marie Antoinette’s old stomping grounds.    If it’s good enough for Antoinette, then it should be good enough for me, no?  Oui!

I had seen cornices in bathrooms before, but only in magazines.  They were all cornices made of fabric and batting covering a straight or shaped board.  (Like the ones I used to make for ladies back in St. Louis years before).

When I saw this pic of a fragment, the lightbulb over my head cried, “eureka!”.  Or something.

I located an artist on Etsy who I just knew could do this kind of work convincingly.   I asked her if she was interested in doing this project and she agreed.  I painted this below just to show her the shape of the cornice and placement of the elements (I added a fleur di lis, of course!)

I went about preparing the bathroom for the cornice’s arrival.  Paint.  Color.  What to pick?  Well obviously it has to be drawn from the cornice itself, right?

So I pull out my trusty paint chips and we’re off!

Meanwhile, Amanda sent me a picture of what she had done so far.  I just had two very tiny little things I needed touched up and so I took pics of them with the  pointer showing what I needed done.

The cornice soon came and I ran upstairs to hang it up and put some linen curtains with it.  (These curtains shown may or not be the ones that I use).  

So here it is.  I’m so excited to show this to you!

I still need to do the other side of the room:  Light fixture (The one to die for, I have on order!).  Tissue box and wastebasket and etc.  Another mirror other than the one I bought?  And so on…..

Amanda, the artist that painted and sculpted the cornice can be contacted here:  http://www.amandawhited.name/

This is the linky to:  French Country Cottage – I submitted this blog post to her site.  Thanks to her for hosting such a great opportunity for all of us to share!   Feathered Nest Friday!  http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/