apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I always think a black toilet seat gives a real old-fashioned look to a bathroom, it can look great.

I'm dealing with how to decorate two all pink bathrooms (toilets, tub, tiles, and sink!) in an un-updated 1962 house and finally realized that black toilet lids will make the pink toilets look a little more classy. Funny thing is I could only find non-white toilet seats at the smaller hardware stores because both Lowes and Home Depot only carried white ones!

I agree, idon'tdobeige: I got a black toilet seat for that reason -- I'm in a pre-war bldg. and it goes great with the 1920s subway tile etc.

home body: I got mine in Bed Bath & Beyond

Funny, I just did the same thing in my all blue bathhroom that came with my house. Blue tile walls, blue tile floor, blue tub, blue sink, blue toilet, blue, blue, blue!
I've decided to accent this room with black: black toilet seat, light switch, blind, chandelier and towels. It really works to tone it all down.
Just wish I could find the toilet tank cover in black too....
Maybe I'll spray paint it?
In my previous bathroom, we had a wood toilet seat that me and the guy carved our initials into with "TLA".
Awww....

jalexa - sometimes the toilet tank sweats when it's warm outside, so paint might not stick well. I'm considering (with the pink version of your same problem) of making a tray to fit on top of the toilet in dark wood. Wouldn't hide the toilet, but might place the focus elsewhere.

I always associate black toilet seats with schools and other similar institutions. If I had one, I'd probably want a sink with a foot pedal to turn the water on as well.

Does anyone use those matching rug/toilet seat covers? I need a small rug in the bathroom but can not abide those toilet seat covers.
A friend just put a fleur-de-lis decal from
http://www.toilet-tattoos.com/
on her toilet seat cover. It looked (surprisingly) cool.
I'm not sure I care for all those toilet tatoos but it's an interesting idea.

I want to hear others' opinions on toilet seat covers too.

Are they outdated?

heres my toilet seat

http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=1454VDGXQ&i=1133830

i thought it was ingenious. It reads "p in the bowl and not on the seat, flush when you are finished, close the lid and wash your hands, and stop reading this because you are about to fall in".

I wonder if the wood is more difficult to clean with regular bathroom products?

Toilet lid covers? Yes, I think they're outdated. At least, if you're talking about those horrid fuzzy things that cover the lid and match the rug around the base of the toilet and the bath mat and towels.

I'm just against 'dressing' things unnecessarily. I lump in toilet lid covers with toaster cozies, doilies everywhere, and plastic wrap on furniture.

zhenpoo, where did you get that? it's fantastic!

i'm sure that lid is brown and it looks great with that pretty blue tile.

We did this in our house and I say hooray for black seats with white toilets.

i found it in 1 of those awful shops that sells everything for under £20 in the UK. u can get plastic ones with razor blades in and stuff, there is a huge variety of toilet seats out there.

"I want to hear others' opinions on toilet seat covers too.

Are they outdated?"

They're not just outdated - They're disgusting.

Here's a nice Cherry toilet seat at a reasonable price:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/183-1846235-3382441?asin=B001AHB9JS&afid=yahoossplp&lnm=B001AHB9JS|Foremost_Premium_Wood_Toilet_Seat__Cherry_Oblong&ref=tgt_adv_XSMG1060

And a rather elegant walnut-stained one:

http://www.signaturehardware.com/product3921?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=shoppingdotcom

(This is giving me ideas for my own bathrooms...)

Tell me why I want to highlight the toilet? If you're looking for an accent color, why not go with colorful walls or linens?

Slowdown: Toaster covers (or "cozies," as you call them) keep the accumulated dust out of the toaster that you use three or four times a week. (Mmmm... scrumptious toasted dust!)

Sorry, I just looked at the "Toilet Tattoo" website...

http://www.toilet-tattoos.com/prodlist.asp?idCategory=22

um, yeah. I'm just not cool with a toilet seat cover that requires sparkly stickers.

i think the black looks stylish and sophisticated. toilet seat covers on the other hand.....they just look plain awful and they collect germs and stuff. not good to have.

Jane: I knew that, but honestly, I still think toaster covers are not that practical. Wiping the dust off the toaster everyday (or other day) is not hard and part of my usual clean-up of the kitchen. I guess if you don't use your toaster very often, a cover might make sense. Though if you don't use your toaster very often, maybe it should be kept in a cupboard?

IIRC, my parents bought a wooden toilet seat once years ago and it was quite nice and yes, you can clean them with standard bathroom cleaners like you'd w/ a painted one or plastic ones.

I recall the padded ones w/ vinyl over foam. Nice but easly damaged IMO.

Personally, I like colored bath fixtures, it makes a statement on a bathroom.

Once went to an estate sale at a home a few years back and they had chocolate brown fixtures in the main bath, I believe the home was built in the mid to late 70's and it was quite nice for the tub was a drop in for a tiled surround it even had a bidet and the toilet to match, and the sink or sinks, I forget and it was quite spacious too with brown tile and brown/gold I think and perhaps another color for an accent. If memory also serves, the kitchen had a yellow 3 bowl enameled kitchen sink as well.

I hate two-toned toilelts, but that's me, not you.

homebody, has Home Depot given them up? I saw a display there a year or so ago with toilet seats in a number of styles and colors. Some you had to special order, but you COULD get them there. (Including black.) (We had sand beige fixtures and ordered a seat...)

Funny, I recently went with a black lid in our full bath - I just removed the old lid and spray painted it with that black matte paint that bonds to anything. I am digging the effect with the rest of the b&w theme...

I like the black lid. You can see more toilet seats at http://toiletseatsplus.com

I came across this post while searching Google images for "black toilet seat". Risky search, I know. But, I was glad to find more than a few pics here at AT :) It helps me to see that other home owners have thought black seats on white (in my case, cream) toilets might look good. As someone mentioned, I'm hoping to give our pottie a more sophisticated, vintage-y look. I thought the black seat with the cream would look great. I need to trust my instincts more - until I feel comfortable just doing out-of-the-box things like this, though, it helps to see pics from others! :)

BTW, I agree - the seat above isn't black. It looks like a dark metallic finish to me. Maybe a deep bronze?

Thanks!
Jacci

Or - wait! It might be oil-rubbed bronze. Wow.