Monday, February 15, 2010

A throne room fit for an empress...



I've had this gorgeous Hoffman Empress Garden Fabric for about a year now. I love everything about it...the regal peacocks, the lotus blossoms, and the golden accents. I've almost turned it into pillows, tote bags, pajama pants...you name it. Since it was so pretty, I've kept putting it back, hoarding it for just the right project. The other day it occurred to me that this fabric would be just the thing to jazz up our boring upstairs bath.




Above is the before pic. The shower curtain came with the house, and I actually really liked it. In our last house, we had a pink and brown bath, so I just threw out the same rug and hand towels. I also put the basket from a former nautical-themed bathroom above the toilet (it holds the very important back-up TP rolls). Everything was functional, but there was no theme, and I wasn't loving the brown and yellow color combo.

I decied I needed to work in some jewel tones, and that peacock print is just loaded with 'em. I was really tempted to frame up some of the fabric, hang it on the wall, and call it good. Being that I had blogged about framing fabric twice in the last month, I figured that I should step it up a notch and actually sew something.



I ended up using most of the fabric to make an extra layer for the existing valance. I also made some matching tiebacks, and Louie and I "blinged up" the tassels with wired strands of beads and silk ribbon bows.




I swapped out the print of Venice with some soft water lilies by Monet. I prettied up the basket with tassel trim from my stash. I rolled up a towel and tied it with a pretty bow to put atop the basket (it is still full of TP, but now it looks like it holds fancy guest towels).

I did go ahead and splurge on some new handtowels and a bathmat (on sale at Sears, but they are so very plush and nice). I added the Sis Boom Ann Flower Mural embroidery design to two bright pink hand towels.



Here is a closeup of the design, which was expertly digitized by Heather Kite of Frou-Frou by HeatherSue. I love how the motif ties in with the feathers and the blossoms on the shower curtain.




I still have two other walls to decorate, but I'm going
to have to sit and think about them for a bit...
(sorry, couldn't resist throwing in just a little potty humor)!

8 comments:

Heathersue said...

Wow! You really added a lot of pizazz to your bathroom without breaking the bank! I love that fabric you used! I used to have a picture of Venice over my toilet, too. What's up with that? LOL! Thanks so much for the shout-out!!

Tami B. said...

Love it! The splashes of color are so fun!

Faye Lewis said...

That shower curtain is fab and so is your other decor.

Cathy said...

Wow Carla...I loved your curtain before but now you really rocked it out of the park!!! I LOVE the color and how you made tassles and special appliqued towels....Heather's designs came out so beautifully! And what a great idea to use a basket to hide the extra tp! Good idea...gotta keep my eye out for a basket like that! Very pretty...can't wait to visit and try it out it person!!!!!!

Tabitha said...

That really spices the whole bathroom up I love it! I really love the embroidery, makes me drool to get a machine that I can do that with lol

Nicole said...

Carla, can you come to my house, check out my stash and my bathroom and give me a custom treatment?
Your bath looks fab!

rosie/the fabric shopper said...

What a huge change with a small amount of fabric and alot of skill! Tha was quite a successful makeover :-)

Jennifer said...

Are you kidding me???? You just blow me away every single day!!