my diy bathroom curtains

When I last shared photos of our bathroom with you all (just prior to us moving into the ramshackle farmhouse), it looked a little bit like this:

I'm still sad I don't have a full before shot - without the new tiling, new vanity and new toilet. But here is what the bathroom is rocking these days...

...some new grey gingham curtains handmade by me, a new mirrored door cabinet above the sink (from Bunnings care of some Christmas vouchers), crisp white towels, a hand towel ring and the faux-timber lino has been put back in place. Trust me, that stuff looks a thousand times better in photos than in real life, it has a horrid soft sticky vinyl texture and we plan to rip it up (one day) and polish the original boards beneath. I also want to put a gooseneck light above the mirror cabinet but need an electrician to do this as apparently this light isn't 'earthed'. Whatever that means.

But back to the curtains.

Because our new vanity, toilet, towel rail and tiling was all very white and modern I wanted to bring some country charm to the sterile space. I originally planned on making the curtains in a blue toile print but we decided we would like to paint the walls (the not tiled above the picture rail parts) in a dove grey, and somehow repair the original sash window as it is currently painted shut. Enter the grey gingham fabric I found on special at Spotlight, actually a quilting fabric.

There really was no method behind my curtain making madness. I simply measured the window, added about half the width again to accommodate for the fullness when gathered and made two panels, with double hemmed sides and bottom. The top of the curtain panels I made a little casing for the rod to slip in, I used the original piece of dowel that was already there and just spray painted it white. Trusty Mr M then screwed in two curtain tie hooks (also from Spotlight) and I used some random pieces of white grosgrain ribbon as tie backs.

The hardware in the bathroom is now a bit of a mish-mash of silver. The towel rail which was put in just before we moved in was obviously in keeping with the new modern style (read: not our style at all). The toilet roll holder seemed to be a different style again. We wanted another towel rail to go behind the door as well as a little hand towel ring, we got both in a style more befitting of my country chic bathroom I had envisaged (see below right). I wanted to get another towel rail in the same more traditional style we liked to replace the modern one, problem is the traditional towel rail style isn't the same length as the super-sleek modern one (see below left) so we can't just simply replace it due to the holes in the tiles. Dang. It's the little things that annoy me!

But it's also the little things that make the difference, like just putting some of our sweet camellias in a little vase on the vanity. Now when I walk from the kitchen to the bedroom down the hall I catch a glimpse of them. All in the detail.

Images by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella