Name: Happy Homemaker ("HH")
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Amount Spent: $250
No Interview. HH has a cough.
Slideshow:
The Pitch:
Slam dunk. The rental agent knew he had us at "stained glass window."
As you enter the bathroom, the gently mottled green leaves command attention, leading your gaze toward the central flower motif and the simple geometry of the striated grey-lavender-green border.
The pebbly glass barely moderates the strong northern light (so bright it was hard to take accurate pictures) -- not that we're complaining! A wide grey marble windowsill offers a perfect spot for Vogue / The New Yorker / Real Simple magazines and fragrant candles -- for early summer, there are some vases, a piece of white coral, and an Alvar Aalto vase ($4 yard sale find) heaped with seashells.
This second-floor room overlooks a row of gardens, and the window is often cracked open for ventilation and calling down to neighbors.
As with our kitchen in the Kitchen Contest, the bathroom was one of the deciding factors to rent this brownstone apartment, with its generous proportions (6' x 10'), sensible layout, soaring 11-foot ceiling, a shabby-chic round pedestal sink (thankfully paired with new toilet and shower tub), exquisite window and tile work -- an incredible combination of late Victorian charm and modern utility.
Glossy white paint highlights the wide baseboards, beadboard paneling (along the shorter wall), and elaborate moldings around the window, door and ceiling. Along the length of the room, creamy subway tiles (with lightly crazed finish) are topped with sublime seashell-and-ribbon tile (our super-nice landlord painted the walls and ceiling in our choice of pale robin's egg blue, to pick up the color in this tile).
The floor is composed of large white octagonal tiles accented with small white squares.
Since we are renting (and we appreciate the room's inherent character), the most major change was installing a handheld shower fixture (Target, $12 on clearance). It's only two of us -- we don't use very many personal products, and our daily items are mostly stashed in the medicine cabinet.
A milk-glass ice cream dish holds soap, and hefty Ralph Lauren-ish etched crystal tumblers corral toothpaste and brushes ($3-5 each at Williams-Sonoma winter sale). A few built-in shelves hold excess stuff and Costco-size items like mouthwash, which gets decanted into a smaller bottle for the medicine cabinet. A Starck Ghost chair ($180 eBay grab) is handy for holding clothes, doing pedicures, etc.; the clear polycarbonate does not contribute visual "weight" to the airy room or obscure the sink's elegant lines.
Otherwise, there is definitely room to put a shelf / cabinet / bench for people with greater storage needs.
I definitely advocate the shower / tub combination -- great for romantic soaks, washing dusty feet and pets, cleaning oversize pots and platters, filling and emptying mop buckets. Love lathering up with long-lasting, mammoth green bars of soap from Bliss ($5 at occasional sales) -- cut them in half first, or they really will break your foot if you drop them in the shower.
Obligatory 30-something Asian female paean to Hello Kitty (bubble bath) -- Kitty-chan and I are the same age. Other knick-knacks include rococo white-and-gold plaster mirror ($18 flea market pick) and silicone animal toothbrush holders on the toilet tank.
Having viewed many places during our apartment search and visited a disheartening number of open houses since then, we feel extremely fortunate to have landed such a pleasant, sunny and voluminous-feeling bathroom that evokes the genteel, dignified spirit of the house, yet does not compromise on function.
For instance, although a claw-foot tub would be de rigueur here, I am actually very glad to have a contemporary enclosed shower tub, since we manage to spray water everywhere. My big wish would be to have more interesting lighting (either an elaborate chandelier or something fairly modern) rather than the Home Depot "boob" light there now.
Also, I'd love to hear suggestions for wall art that can stand up to moisture and dust -- considering something like aquatic-theme plates or enamelled tin trays.
SOURCES:
eBay, second-hand finds, Target, HomeGoods / TJ Maxx / Marshalls trifecta (which carry Pottery Barn / Restoration Hardware-type items), Bed Bath & Beyond (fun Jonathan Adler wares and surprisingly good customer service).
TIPS:
1. Simplicity and hygiene go hand in hand. I really dislike bath mats and window curtains (but prefer a shower curtain to glass shower door due to issues with residue build-up and grungy stuff growing in the door tracks). Everything (including decorations) must be hand- or (better yet) machine-washable.
2. Yes, it's toxic, but Tilex Soap Scum Remover deals a TKO to the nasty grittiness around the tub. Just spray -- no need to scrub! On a weekly basis, I spritz a bleach solution around the sink, shower tiles, grout and curtain liner to treat/prevent mold (plastic liner is still going strong after six years). Also, after you get out of the shower, be sure to stretch out the curtain along the rod to dry properly.
3. No better decoration than a fluffy furball who insists on his very own photo shoot!
Cheers!
"Happy Homemaker"
I guess the bathtub doesn't insist on photoshoots nearly as persuasively as the dog (or the window)!
Can I come live with you? You'll never see me, I promise ... I'll just live in your FABULOUS bathroom ...
This is a beautiful, beautiful space. It looks so peaceful and calm, it makes me wish it was a bedroom! Love the window, the tiles, the dog! It's not something that would typically be my style, but it's pulling on my romantic strings ;)
The bathrrom generally looks great, but the cute pooch is not a design element...
Philippe Starck Furniture... I dunno... Fighting my unilateral opposition to that pretentious Knucklehead...
No, that's NOT Hello Kitty! in the tub...
Computer, set auto destruct sequence, fifteen minute silent countdown, authorization Picard-4-7-Alpha-Tango.
I like the overall impression (and am a big fan of that iced-aqua color for bathrooms) but I get a sense you are undecided about whether to go all-out high style with the space (as the Louis Ghost chair would indicate) or with something cutesy/campier (as the Hello kitty-ish things would indicate).
I'm guessing maybe it's because the room itself has so many givens (as part of a rental), like those be-ribboned shell-tiles...
yikes, why is everything in bold?!?
That window is gorgeous. And I'm guessing all the cartoon characters are because you have a kid.
This bathroom is very charming. It certainly has alot of personality. It's a keeper. Much better than your kitchen. Sorry.
Beautiful. I've never been thrilled with the Ghost chair until now. It looks perfect in your bright, lovely bathroom. Your kitchen and bathroom look like they are from two entirely different apartments.
This is really lovely, especially the stained glass though overall not a style I'd choose given other options. When you rent you have to accept some things for what they are. I can't help noticing the height of the mirror/medicine cabinet. In the photos it looks quite high or the sink quite low. I'd probably have to stand on a stool to shave in that mirror. I like the whimsy of the Hello Kitty items to offset the elegant formality of the rest of the room. Don't over do it though like that poodle fetish we saw during an earlier contest.
Hmmm... "kitchen and bathroom look like they are from two different apartments"... how do we feel about that?
Victoria, I don't think we had any rental kitchens from Park Slope in the contest. I'm also pretty sure no one went by the moniker "Happy Homemaker" in the kitchen contest.
i really like this one! i never liked the ghost chair either, but it really works in this space and looks awesome. this bathroom is so old new york... if i was redoing a bathroom i wouldn't choose those tiles, but they're so charming in here! i would definitely get a chandelier (or one of those west elm shell hangy things) in there.
patrick, you button-pusher... ;)
you bet your Margarita! :)
Beautiful!
I'd suggest SCHOOLHOUSEELECTRIC.COM for some reasonably priced light fixtures. Or REJUVENATION.COM for un-reasonably priced light fixters.
I like the collection of objects on your windowsill.
Perhaps putting similar objects in shadow-boxes might be a possibility for aqua-themed decor. NOt moisture resistant - but moderately inexpensive.
X - I was the one who made the kitchen and bathroom observation. If you scroll thru this entry there's a link to her submission for the kitchen contest. I just wouldn't have matched those rooms together for some reason. The bathroom just seems so classic with the tile work, great moldings and the gorgeous window and the kitchen seems newer yet lacks the care demonstrated by those kind of architectural details. This bathroom could be found in a victorian house, a brownstone or a modern loft and I don't think the kitchen could morph so easily. Or, choice B, I went out last night and am lack-of-sleep delirious.
HH-
I laughed out loud at your half-bar of Bliss soap comment (so it won't break your foot if you drop it in the shower)!!
Sorry we didn't get to hear your voice on the audio, due to cough. Caused, no doubt, by Tilex. ;)
x-
I made the comment about the kitchen b/c a link took me to it...... and no, it doesn't look like it is the same aparment. It just doesn't work.
i think the ghost chair looks great. you just inspired me to consider that for MY bathroom. its a similar color, but not quite as big as yours!
I like that Ghost Chair in there because it alludes to the history of the space but keeps it modern and fresh. (Not to mention that chair is water-impervious.) I also like how the ornateness of the coral relates to Victorian detail in an entirely different (but equally interesting) way.
I'd like to see more of these gutsy style choices and non-literal Victorian references, giving the space even more modern character.
If I were Phillippe Starck and I saw this particular use of his Ghost Chair (I don't know what he would really say of course, but) I'm pretty sure I would point at it with one hand; clutch my heart with the other hand and say, "See? That's exactly that kind of thing that I've hoping that somebody would do with it!"
This is a good one. Nothing heavy-handed about it. It's cozy and elegant at the same time. Might be best to forget about art and instead focus on getting a slammin' ceiling fixture that can do double duty as lighting and art. It'd be a shame to clutter it up by putting stuff on the walls. Maybe a large body length mirror leaning against a wall. I'd like to get clean in this bathroom.
Very nice! Aside from the fun Japanese pop touches, in feels like it's camera-ready for an issue of Real Simple. The use of Starck's Ghost chair is great. (I've got the La Boheme stool in my bathroom for a similar purpose--usually for handtowels, but great as a seat for clipping toenails. Ha!)
I think replacing the light fixture is a good idea. But I don't think you'd necessarily have to go full-on mondern contemporary. I would look at options at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn, and then find a similarly-styled piece at Home Depot for a 1/3 of the price. (You are in a rental, after all. So, no need to special-order some ridiculously fabulous statement piece from Milan that would set you back a few grand, right?)
In term's of art... Given your affinity for Asian pop culture and the cool muted tones of the room, maybe some images like Yoshitomo Nara's little girl paintings? (I believe that Robyn from the "coolest, smallest" contest had a source for someone who did small canvases replicating Nara's style.) Or you could even use a Nara postcard, framed with an oversized white matte and in a white frame that echoes the moulding found in the room?
I've got framed photographs and paintings in my bathroom. I basically have to shower with the door open and the two ceiling exhaust fans running so the humidity doesn't ruin them. (But I like having art in the bathroom, despite its impracticality.)
i love how fresh & clean this bathroom feels! great ice-blue paint color. i also like the white coral & stuff in the window (which is beautiful btw). although i've never particularly liked the p starck chair, somehow i don't mind it here.
hmm...not as thrilled about the cutesy animals, but then again i've never really understood "whimsy" in design. i also find the toothpaste & shaving cream a little jarring visually (in addition to the animals) in what is otherwise a serene, airy-feeling space. but overall i find it very appealing. oh, and i agree w/ the earlier post about maybe skipping the art altogether--i'm not sure it really needs it. maybe a plant instead, since you've got so much lovely light in there (grr, so jealous)?
I really have to say that the one element that *really* kills this space for me is the fussy "bow" tiles.
I know, HH you said it was sublime (and that's all that really matters), but it feels to me like landlord's misguided attempt at adding "vintage Victorian detail". I think it over-feminizes (uh-oh, am I going to get slammed for that?) the vibe and takes away from an otherwise gorgeous space. I think the proper British word (imho) for that tiel is "tweee", if I've got it right.
The modern Japonica and visible grooming aids (as sooj astutely notes) only *slightly* kill it for me, but only from a superficial/photo-styling perspective.
tiel = tile
Not to repeat ad infinitum others' comments, but perhaps consensus is helpful in the end?
Anyway, big plusses are the color (love it, will copy it) and the chair. My ex- would never allow me to buy one, and now he's gone, you've shown it can work, so bring on the Starck (oh wait, I forgot - I'll have to *pay* for it, so maybe not).
Minuses: shower curtain pattern (looks out of place to me), whimsical figures (I can take a bit of whimsy, but it's actually the colors that seem out of context), and - god, how picky - the shaving cream can, etc. They just really seem to detract from the overall message. In the past I've gotten containers to put my visible toiletries in - those which can be transferred of course, and this is impossible with shaving cream. Have you considered shaving soap and a brush? Very Victorian, you know... ;)
I would stay away from any sort of "art" that costs anything, becuase it *will* get ruined in a bathroom. Is it possible to have another mirror (or two, or perhaps just one long, horizontal one) with amazing frames taking the place of pix?
You inhereted a place with great bones, and I think the restraint really works here.
One last comment, after re-reading your statement, above -
Personally, I'd stay away from anything *too* literally "antique-y" on the walls - the bathroom has so much built-in Victorian-ness already, it may seem like an over-literal overkill.
Echoing the chair, and the reason it works so well - that is, it has "antique" lines, but is really about light and space and modernity - I still think a mirror or two might be in keeping with this theme, espeically considering the fact that your existing mirror is so small. I'm thinking in the light/white/silvery/pewtery/nickel-y family for the frame(s), perhaps something vaguely (just vaguely) "antique-y," something that looks as if it's a picture frame, that there "should" be "art" inside - but there is, in fact, only light and reflection. That way, the chair and the "art" can say the same thing - old but not old, there but not there, etc.
Congratulations on a stunningly beautiful bath!!
I love the brightness of the space and that window is an absolute jaw-dropper!! Love the lucite chair!!!
Very cute pooch!! You've got MY vote for this competion!!!!
VERY best of luck and best regards,
-Roberto Williams
Amen. Great bathroom. All of it. (andhe small jarring things, the Hello Kitty, etc., keep it from being a showroom space, which is good.)
andhe = And the
I love this room. (Before seeing this slideshow, I would have sworn to you that I didn't like the Louis Ghost chair. I have now revised my opinion; I think it looks splendid here.)
This window is fabulous. What I would give to have that! I suspect the shower curtain is a necessity to prevent unwanted tanning.
HH, you mentioned in your kitchen posting that you wish you has a sunny windowsill for growing rosemary, mint, etc. And someone else here in the bathroom posting mentioned that a plant would work well here. I think that marble windowsill might be your answer for hosting an herb garden.
Years ago, I lived in a wonderful old building on the second floor (southwestern exposure) and my herb garden was actually a huge planter on my bedroom windowsill. I had a couple of the scented geraniums in there for added texture (pineapple, rose) and it was real pleasure. Thai basil, spearmint, rosemary, Corsican mint, and two nasturtiums for color.
Oh - and I don't cook, but I like having herbs around... go figure.
HH, Imagine how wonderful your bathroom could smell if you brushed all the leaves of your herb garden on the windowsill before taking a long, steamy shower.
Heaven!
Hello Apartment Therapists --
Thanks for your kind comments and suggestions.
Gee, with all this hatin' on Starck, it's a good thing we didn't spring for the Big Kahuna's "garden gnome" stools! ;-)
To give credit where it is overdue, major kudos to our benevolent landlord, a retired architect with a solid design sense. His idols
are Mies and Louis Kahn, yet he had the smarts / decency to retain most of the historic details of the house (the only truly modern
thing in his own sophisticated quarters is the cherry-and-black granite kitchen). The single-family brownstone had been chopped
up into a boardinghouse when he purchased it in the 1970s (for 32k, argh!!), so it took considerable vision and sweat to
transform the place into an owner's duplex and two floor-through apartments.
Victoria and rr -- Obviously, there is an aesthetic dichotomy between the gracious bathroom and the user-friendly kitchen.
Whereas the loo was original to the house, the kitchen was created from a teeny bedroom or a dressing area / closet off the
former master suite. In this particular situation, I would have picked white woodwork, counter materials resembling black
soapstone or light grey marble, and more period-appropriate pendant lights. Clearly, for budget reasons and rental intentions,
materials such as green Formica, linoleum, moderate-grade wood cabinetry and track lighting were used. But as stated in my
Kitchen Contest entry, the current space is efficient, well-equipped, and easily cleaned (which would not be the case with my
preferred materials). And whether it hails from Boffi, Bulthaup, Ikea or Home Depot, any kitchen will eventually feel outdated
(stainless steel and fancy granite = Harvest Gold and Early American cabinets?).
As with previous apartments, I don't bother to fight the power of the existing decor. Taking my cues from the kitchen tiles (which
scream Al's Diner, poodle skirts and saddle shoes), I filled the space with cheerful colors and vintage-y kitsch. On the other
hand, we are minimalists in the bathroom; this financial / visual economy permits the extravagant window, tilework and proportion
to take center stage. Again, due to our tenant status, I have no intention of actually swapping out the lighting scheme -- not only
does our decorating slush fund usually get diverted to Cablevision, Cingular, and Con Ed, we (my husband, that is) have no
technical chops (he may be a wiz on the job with scalpel and laser, but can he re-sew a loose button? Noooo.).
Mia and paul -- My husband and I are the only kids in the house, discreetly reveling in arrested development. Need I mention our
living room tokonoma devoted to his mint-condition Transformers from his over-indulged boyhood and my shelf of souvenir
Sanrios from a bullet-train tour of Japan?
jimkk -- The medicine cabinet is indeed sized for someone north of 5'10" (in my Christy Turlington dreams!). I have to stand on
tippy-toes just to put in my contacts. But (sheepish grin) this actually works for me, since I try to avoid looking at myself in the
mirror. Does anyone else have this neurosis?? Mirrors are terrific decorative elements, and we do have a full-length one behind
the bedroom door (where I apply makeup anyway), but I would get pretty freaked out if I had to live with those "double the
room size" mirrored wall jobs. So the thought of placing a mirror right where I emerge dripping from the shower -- eeek, Todd!
sooj and Anne -- Houseplants give me heebee-jeebies (makes me think of old ladies shuffling about in housedresses and
worn-out slippers, with multiple cats milling about). I love all growing things outdoors, where they belong (or in a conservatory).
Forced bulbs or orchids might be okay, but I feel like such a failure then they go dormant and I can never coax them back. I'd
prefer not to cultivate edible herbs in the bathroom for hygiene reasons.
patrick (the other one) -- Agree with your insight and admire your own brave apartment re-do. The tiles are fairly girly / granny,
but I'm a huge sucker for marine-life objects, and you have to give props to the amount of sculptured detail, hand-painted artistry,
and the fact that they have endured for 120+ years! I'm certain they are original to the house, and have seen the same tiles in
another brownstone on Third Street.
pphillipp -- Call me thrifty, frugal or downright cheap -- many of the bathroom furnishings can be carbon-dated to my first
apartment. I've just been lucky to rent in places with white or blue bathrooms. So the shower curtain ain't going anywhere unless
it spontaneously implodes or we buy our own home. Right now, I rationalize that the gingham fabric echoes the perfectly square
tiles in the shower enclosure. Starting afresh, I might go for a large-scale toile or damask pattern, a lush blue terry cloth with white
Greek-key banding, or mod yet classic Jonathan Adler design (at BBBeyond, there's a nice blue-and-white repeating squares
pattern, but I yearn for his "Seven Deadly Sins" fabric).
And because he's always beating the clock in the mornings, it's just more expedient for my husband to keep his manly
accoutrements prominently displayed (his razor stuff, you gutter-minds!!). Not in our nature to change what works purely for the
sake of magazine-worthy visuals. So the Art of Shaving ritual is out.
In general, my wishful Met Home / Elle Decor sensibility is woefully overruled by my Budget Living limitations and quirky
pop-culture fetishes. For the photos, I was keepin' it real, going for a "warts and all, this is how we live" approach. If I truly
wanted to impress, I would have inserted a shaggable Jude Law in a towel, and cropped out the shaggy Shih Tzu!
This gal's got moxie! She disposed of my crummy advice in seconds! I like her!!
And ten more points for thrifty!
And just so you know - I DO like your bathroom, quite a lot!
(And not more exclamation points for me!!)
(Oh, and Jude Law in a towel - now I'm not going to be able to concentrate on *anything* the whole day.)
HH - no, you are not the only one who suffers from "mirror avoidance neurosis". i know exactly what you mean. it's a relief to hear i'm not the only one!
Yikes, sorry to rain on the gushfest, but maybe I saw different slides. The bathroom feels a bit mental institution-ish. Perhaps it's the toothpaste wall color and the wall-to-wall hard surfaces. Although, the ghost chair works well and is a highlight in this bathroom-- seems reverential with the classic window. But, I don't know. Guess my desire to be honest outweighs my pack animal tendencies.... Oh, and a bit fussy, I know, but the product placement? Go, Colgate!
If that's what a mental institution looks like, I've been totally missing out. I should have checked into Bellevue when I moved to New York instead of paying rent for a series of charmless rental bathrooms. To each her own, though.
Very pretty. I don't really like the clear plastic chair, but I do like just about everything else, including the color scheme, the window, and especially the molded clam shell trim.
shanna--
So brave! So honest! The rest of us lemmings need to be more like you.
HH,
No one should ever touch that window and it's trim! I dislike the accent tiles, but could never demo them.
No edible herbs in the bathroom? But you'll use toothbrushes that live atop of the toilet? You don't have to eat the herbs. Isn't there some green in tiles?
Silly rabbit, the animal brushes are just for visual kicks. Our actual toothbrushes are among the aesthetically offensive grouping of objects under the medicine cabinet (and I do toss the toothbrushes in the dishwasher once in a while!!).
Still, Jon B makes an excellent point about the weird self-imposed hygiene rules we all have about what's acceptable in a bathroom.
You mean I *shouldn't* prep food on the toilet seat....?
perhaps not for company
but pphillipp, funny you should say that...
There is a Lysol commerical running now that begins as the camera pulls away from a shot of fresh vegetables on what we think initially is a cutting board. Turns out to be a toilet seat.
It claims there are typically more germs on a kitchen cutting board than on the average (home) toilet seat.
You see everything I'm missing by not having a television??!
HH, I really do love this bathroom. It is beautiful and I wish every rental apartment was blessed with such a great bathroom. However, that makes me think that the owner of this apartment should be the one entering the contest. I get more excited about those that had to put a lot of personal energy into making their bathroom just right for them. But, don't get me wrong - I really do love the bathroom.
pretty, pretty, pretty.
The bathroom has certain amount of charm but starting the slideshow with 3 pics of your hairy mut is a bit excessive.
General tip: put the lid down on the loo seat before taking bathroom photos.
ok, so where did you say that cool lucite chair came from? I want one!!! or four!!!!
Beautiful Bathroom. Just saw the seashell and ribbon tile up close for the first time in sugar hill yesterday. Does anyone know where you can find it. I heard it also referred to as brooklyn seashell.