It doesn't take much to change the look of a room, especially a small space like the bathroom in our feature photograph, courtesy of Kohler.
The steel-blue, monochromatic colour palette is elegant and understated. One can safely assume this room would be expensive to replicate. The designer paint colour, matching wallpaper and window treatments could easily break the budget. There are, however, many ways to create a similar designer look for a fraction of the cost.
Mainstays: There are a couple of things you don't want to scrimp on. A quality bathroom fixture, like the Archer vanity with top-mounted sink, is important to the functionality and look of the room. You'll want to ensure that whatever budget you do have is used to purchase high-quality fixtures that will stand the test of time. The second mainstay is good flooring. These two bastions are hard to replace if they give out, so save yourself a headache down the road and purchase durable, quality fixtures and flooring for your bathroom.
Bargain shopping: Now, the rest of the room can pretty much be knocked off for a fraction of what the original designer space would have cost. You just have to be clever and shop accordingly to find the deals that will give you an affordable facsimile of the designer room.
Start with colour: The main focus of this room is the monochromatic colour scheme. Matching the paint, wallpaper and window treatments is difficult when you're on a budget, but it can be done. You may not necessarily find items to reproduce the steel-blue palette in our feature room, but you can have a similar look with just about any colour you decide on.
It's easier to match paint to fabric than it is to find fabric to match a paint colour, so start with the window treatments. Be open-minded about the colour, says because you might find a great fabric on clearance that could work beautifully even though it wasn't your first colour choice. A buttery yellow, celery green or soft rose monochromatic colour scheme can be just as stunning as the palette in our feature photograph. Also, if your windows aren't as large as the one in our feature photo, you're more apt to find great remnants in the clearance bin of any fabric store that will work. If a shower curtain is needed in your bathroom, use the same fabric as on the windows and create a decorative outer curtain using simple grommets.
Once you have your window fabric, you can go to the paint store, fabric in hand, and have them colour-match the fabric. Now you have two of the three items needed to produce your designer room.
The third facet is the matching wallpaper. You're not going to find striped wallpaper that exactly matches your paint and fabric, so don't even try. You can, however, produce the same look using your paint. After you've painted the entire room the original base colour, you can either take the remaining paint to the paint store to have them lighten it a few shades or add some white acrylic craft paint to it until you get the desired lighter shade of your original colour. Mask off the desired striped pattern and paint every other stripe with the lighter shade. Voila! Stripes! If there is enough of the lighter colour left, you can use it on window and door trim to give them a little extra drama.
The details: The expensive moulding and trim in our feature photo can be copied using various clever means. Purchase less-expensive lengths of trim in lieu of pricier items like the dental moulding around the mirror and dado. Once it's painted, it's going to look just fine. If you can find a mirror that has a textured frame (like wicker or bamboo), you can paint it out to match the space and you will still end up with a great, textural-framed mirror. If you have a flat-framed mirror, you can still add visual texture by creating a stencilled pattern using the two tones of paint, gluing textural items like wooden beads to the frame, which when painted will add a little pizzazz to the plain frame.
You'll pay less for shorter, end pieces of trim, which can be used to frame other small items like photo frames. Because you're going to be painting the trim the same colour as the walls, you can get away with using trim made of various woods if it will save you money. The wide baseboards can be replicated using simple 1x6 fence boards and capping them with a simple quarter-round trim. The faux panels on the wall around the vanity can be replicated with simple flat trim, or you may even find actual picture frames at a thrift store that could be installed and painted to produce a similar look.
A few other expensive but necessary details in our feature room are the luxurious drapery hardware and curtain holdback. These two items alone can break your budget, but they can be replicated for less than their original price. A less-expensive wooden curtain rod can be used instead of the steel rod seen in our feature room. Find something that can be used as a finial. Old newel post tops from a salvage store, round wooden balls from a craft store, trailer-hitch balls, even decorative wicker balls could work. Once the entire rod is painted in one of your two chosen palette colours, you will have an elegant look for an affordable price. Instead of using expensive curtain rings, create tab curtains from your window material. The holdback can be made from vintage glass or porcelain door knobs, simple decorative hooks or other unique items like a small birdhouse or wreath attached to the wall with a length of dowel.
Creating drama doesn't have to be expensive. Use your keen eye to find items that can work in place of expensive designer pieces. Use inexpensive fabric and paint to create overall visual appeal and throw in a few unexpected touches to give the space personality.
connieoliver@shaw.ca
