The Many Wall Treatment Options for the Powder Room

While taking photos of our powder room for the Spring decor post, I found this little space awkwardly plain and incomplete.  So I took a photo with a weird angle:

Spring decor in powder room | Classy Glam Living

Ya, weird, isn't it?  You can barely tell it's our powder room.  Like I mentioned in the post, it's not fully decorated.  Even though we've changed out the builder's boob light and plain white pedestal sink to a beautiful vanity the first week we moved in...

Powder room update | Mirrored vanity cabinet | Classy Glam Living
Powder room update | Mirrored vanity cabinet | Classy Glam Living

Something's still missing...  some art work maybe?  But more notably, some kind of wall treatment.

We already have plans for the walls of our powder room, but just need the time, much like any other projects around the house.  In case you're looking for wall treatment options for your powder room, here are the different combinations to choose from:

Change of paint colour:

Paint + wainscoting:

Paint + bottom tiling:

Wallpaper + wainscoting:

 Mirrors in panels:

Whole wall panelling:

Whole wall tiling:

Whole wall of wallpaper:

The Perfect Bath

The Perfect Bath

The possibilities and combinations are endless, and can be as unique as one wants.  Do you see a commonality in the examples above?  They're all in soft tones, much like the rest of our house.  My vision for this small powder room is to incorporate a soft and classic look; one that matches the ambiance set by the mirrored vanity.

Well, if you know the Mr., you'd know that he loves his trims and mouldings (see our Completed Projects from the old house and you'll see what I mean).  In fact, the first thing he had arranged before we moved in was to have the whole house outfitted in crown mouldings.  If he can have his way, the whole powder room would be trimmed and panelled, like the whole wall panelling sample photo above, which HE pinned!

Not that I don't love the architectural detailing, but I think we can do something a little unexpected in this small break-away space, especially when we plan to add wainscoting to the ground floor...  eventually.  

Recently, DIY Mommy posted a beautiful wallpaper for her powder room on her Instagram account.

Please pin from original source.

It prompted me to look at wallpaper choices again!  Seeing how beautiful her powder room turned out, it also gave us confidence in our choice of wall treatment for the powder room - wallpaper with wainscoting.

Choosing a wallpaper pattern can be even more daunting than choosing a paint colour.  Have you seen a wallpaper album?  No biggie, I've narrowed down the options to a manageable size.

Given the decor around our house, a classic pattern like damask or lattice would be a safe go-to design.  However, I want to push the envelope a bit and go with something that's outside of our "comfort zone", yet still classic and timeless.

For a small space like a powder room, a large repeating pattern works better than smaller geometric pattern, which could be dizzying.  I'm loving these large-scaled patterns, inspired by nature:

Animal print:

Structured fern:

Branches and swallows:

Nautical knots:

Shimmery chinoiserie:

While I love the tone-on-tone patterns, I also love florals that give the otherwise monochromatic powder room some colours.

Florals and birds:

Floral mural wallpaper:

I'm totally in love with the colours of this large floral mural, but sizing may be a problem unless we have it customized to our walls with wainscoting ($$$$).

Once again, the choices are limitless even when we narrow down the wallpaper style and options.  With a small space such as the powder room, we don't need as much wallpaper and that gives us some flexibility with the budget.   

Now the question is, do we want to tackle this ourselves, or hire professional help?  What was your experience with wallpaper?

Powder Room Touch-up for the Holidays

Powder Room Makeover for the Holidays | Classy Glam Living

By:  Sherina So

With the Black Friday hype soon to pass, it also marks the start of the holiday season.  Gatherings with families and friends will be at full force in the coming weeks.  Have you been browsing Pinterest for the latest trends in holiday decorating and tablesetting?  Take a peek at my design board for winter and holiday accessories for the living room.  Aside from the living and dining rooms that will be obvious destinations for your guests, there's another room they will most certainly visit during the gathering - the powder room.  It's a small space that is usually neglected, but you can easily touch it up with some holiday decor to enrich your guests' holiday experience at your beautiful home.

I've put together a short and easy list of powder room touch-ups that will show your guests how thoughtful of a host you are!

Holiday-themed Soap and Lotion Sets

fruits passion soap lotion.jpg

This is by far the simplest way to add any holiday glamour into your powder room.  Let the holiday infused scents of the soap and lotions put your guests in holiday spirit.  This set from Fruits & Passion even comes with a ceramic plate, so all you need to do is just unwrap the package and voila!  The powder room instantly looks much put together!

Create an Area for Holiday Display

If you have a pedestal sink with minimal space on it to put anything, a small display shelf would be a safer place for guests to place their belongings on.  An elegant glass shelf would easily blend in with any existing style. 

If you're blessed by a spacious  powder room, a small side table would complete the space.

source:  joss & main

source:  joss & main

PILLAR CANDLEHOLDER AS RING AND BRACELET HOLDER

ring holder.jpg

I love mercury glass decor!  It adds the bit of glam and sparkle to any vignette, so it's especially fitting for the holidays!  I saw this mercury glass pillar candleholder, and thought it would be an awesome ring/ bracelet holder for your guests in the powder room.  It's an interesting use for a candleholder, and takes up just as much space as a regular ring holder,  It also gives some height to your display surface mentioned above, and also to the holiday vignette...  see below.

Creating a Simple Holiday Vignette

A holiday vignette doesn't only belong to the entryway or entertaining rooms in your house.  You can quickly put one together in the powder room on the display surface.  All you need are 3 simple items:  a display container for interesting ornaments, holiday art piece, and of course, something green.

Display container  

A simple and popular display amongst decorators is to fill a small apothecary jar or cloche that's proportional to your display surface with some beautiful holiday decor.  Similar to this idea.

image via eab designs

image via eab designs

This small present lantern has some cute holiday details and is a good size for the display shelf.

source:  Pier 1

source:  Pier 1

It would be a great spot to display your collection of novelty ornaments and tie in with your holiday decor theme colour.  Canadian Tire has a new CANVAS line of holiday decor.  These are some of my favorites.

Novelty Ornaments from Canadian Tire CANVAS line | Classy Glam Living

In place of beaded garlands, you can use string lights as filler inside the container.  These battery powered string lights from Pier 1 would give your simple decor much added drama.  

source:  Pier 1

source:  Pier 1

Framed art

If you're a hoarder of celebration cards like I am, you'll probably find a beautiful Christmas card in your stash.  Simply put it in a frame as an art piece!  This is a cute and understated winter themed frame that would go with any of your decor.

source:  Pier 1

source:  Pier 1

If you're a purger and don't have stashes of holiday cards handy, these holiday foil prints add more sparkles and glam to your powder room.  You can never have enough sparkles and bling during the holidays!  

source:  SS Print Shop

source:  SS Print Shop

Holiday Greeneries

No vignette is complete without something green.  These mini wreaths are just the right size for a simple display.  If it's too plain for you, just add a bow with a ribbon of your choice.  Either just lean it on the display surface or hang it with 3M command hooks on the wall. 

source:  Anitque Farm House

Monogrammed Fluffy Towels

Indulging your guests with fresh and fluffy towels complete their holiday experience in your powder room.  Instead of plain towels, how about a set of monogrammed hand towels?  These designs look elegant and sophisticated.  They'll make you look like a professional party host!

I'm usually not a fan of themed hand towels, but this design with a subtle nod to the Holiday season has a sophisticated air to it.  I think this may just be my choice for the holidays!

Source:  sewsewcutesewing

I hope you have found this list of quick powder room touch up helpful and inspiring.  It's a space that we all tend to forget, but could well be the easiest to tackle in preparation for guests over the holidays.  It's little details like these that your guests will truly appreciate your effort in throwing them a holiday party at your house.  They will come out of the powder room all refreshed, after having indulged in your holiday spirit and be ready to party on!  Perhaps you may want to decorate your guest bathrooms also, in case some guests have too much fun and decide to spend the night!

What else would you add to ready your powder room for the Holidays?

Our Recent Trip to Chicago - Home Decor Edition

Chicago Trip - Home Decor Edition | Classy Glam Living

We were on a much needed R&R trip (read Rest and Retail therapy ha!) to Chicago last week.  Of course, we just couldn't help but also checked out some decor and home accessories along the way.  Here are some snippets of our trip, home decor edition.

With the Mr. being a beer lover, where else would be a better place to go on our first night in town than Hofbrauhaus!   It's a German micro brewery/ beer hall - the place to be for a guys' night out!  Aside from the beers and sausages, I was impressed with the hall's great ambiance, high ceilings, casual air mixed with traditional architecture and large windows.  I wasn't even bothered when the guys around us were paddled in their butts as they ordered rounds of shots (a tradition, as we were told by our server).  Our friends pointed out this remarkable wall of locked beer mugs.  All of them have beautifully crafted distinctive details.

We always love wandering into Z Galleries - we can easily get lost in the store for hours if we didn't have little man with us.  The furniture pieces, home accessories, and artwork are all curated to our liking!

I always love single seat cushion sofas, like this one below.  No one would need to sit on the crack between seat cushions.  Also loving the curved legs and detailing on the sides of the chrome coffee table.  We're on a hunt for a bar cart as well, and this one is a mix of classic contemporary.

Z Galleries Chrome coffee table and bar cart | Classy Glam Living

Love this dining table vignette, and that thick giant silver mirror tray.  It looked stunning in person, and the thickness of the rims screamed elegance.

Silver Mirror Tray | Z Galleries | Classy Glam Living

The Mr. said, the office would rock this trunk style architect desk.  It has a darkened mirror top is an intelligent touch, such that it doesn't compete with its chrome sides.  This is such a cool piece!

Chrome Trunk Style Architect Desk | Z Galleries | Classy Glam Living

Speaking of the home office, a group of these deer and moose antlers in gold and silver would definitely make a statement for our nook area.

Gold and Silver Antlers | Z Galleries | Classy Glam Living

This bench was placed with the dining table at the store, but I think it's just the perfect piece for our foot-of-the-bed bench.

Rustic wooden bench | Z Galleries | Classy Glam Living

During our raid at Neiman Marcus, we also stopped on the home accessories floor.  I finally got to see in person this jaw-droppingly gorgeous Cheval bar cart by Jonathan Adler.  Loving the regality of the sculpted horse head finials at the corners and the lucite detail on the handle bar.

Jonathan Adler bar cart | Classy Glam Living

And this crystal decanter set with simple lines would go nicely on any barcart!

Neiman Marcus crystal decanter set | Classy Glam Living

For my love of all things agate and geodes!  That huge gold-rimmed geode platter glams up any dinner parties!

Neiman Marcus agate collection | Classy Glam Living

This collection of crystal vases and giant obelisk (at least 2.5' high!) will for sure create a statement on a console table.

Neiman Marcus Crystal vases and obelisks collection | Classy Glam Living

Knowing that we're foodies, our friends brought us to Eataly.  The interiors were nice and bright, desserts were delicious, walls of cheeses and cured meats were impressive, and the espressos...  to die for!

View from 2nd floor Eataly | Classy Glam Living

The eatery on the second floor of Eataly has industrial style standing height tables.  The marble tops of the tables elevate their utilitarian look.  A lower version of it may work as our powder room vanity, with a bowl sink on the marble counter.  Those slots under the marble top can be storage for hand towels or bathroom tissues.  Funny, the inspirations I got even at eateries!

Marble top standing tables Eataly Chicago | Classy Glam Living

It sure was nice to reminisce about our Chicago trip...  the fun little boat cruise on the Chicago river, the food and drinks, the shopping, and of course having great hosts during our trip!  The trip sure did serve its R&R purpose!  Now back to the grind....  and daydream about our next vacation!