A River Runs Through It

I can't shake the image of this South Hampton guest house from the March issue of House Beautiful. I really, really love that they used river rocks to create the mosaic pattern on the floor.

Tom and I are planning an outdoor shower to be built off our patio (to be constructed this spring) and I have often thought about doing a river rock mosaic on the floor of the shower. I am now convinced.

Here is a shot of a bathroom floored with river rocks. One thing which is different about this is how they set the glass shower enclosure directly on the floor - no threshold necessary. This is a very "California" concept to me.

coastal living

I like this color palette from Home Depot for the outside shower...

Have any of you been reading Lulu deKwiatkowski's Blog, "Trail of Inspiration"?! It is very good, especially if you are a big LuluDK fan (like I am). Her recent post about her artist brother, Conrad, featured his work with stones. I gravitate to the colors in this one. Read her post here.

As with any good thing in life, sometimes people get carried away. Below we have an example of River Rock gone wild - and hideous. Use river rock sparingly, it will make a much stronger statement.

I have missed the blog lately. I plan to be back more consistently. Hope you are doing well.

xo Christina

Bathroom Brainstorming

I love powder rooms. In my opinion, they are the most fun room in the house to decorate.
Their size makes them such a fun place for pattern and surprise since you don't spend that much time inside them. Why not have a little fun?
We will eventually redo our downstairs bathroom this is my latest brainstorm on the topic.

Here it is (in a pic from when the previous owners lived here):

The space is pretty cramped - not too much clearance for a light- the door opens onto the toilet and you have to shimmy in towards the sink to shut the door. I think I would switch the door so it would swing toward the window. As you can see the radiator is sort of charming, in an old-house kind of way. I could box it in to make the bathroom a little more formal, but I sort of like it. Maybe I could paint it a fun color like navy and do all the woodwork in the same color. Also, our house is a cape so although I am tempted to go dramatic and big (my other bathroom brainstorm which I will save for a later date), something clean and nautical might be fun, and more appropriate.

Here is one scheme I am throwing around in my head:

This wallpaper by Ralph Lauren:

This flushmount light (Alexa Hampton for Visual Comfort):

Some kind of traditional looking pedestal sink:

Splurge on some fixtures (these are Waterworks):

Redo the floor in a pattern like large hexagons, herringbone or maybe just standard squares set at an angle:

In some kind of natural material like travertine:

Typically, in a small bathroom like ours I like to use a large rectangular mirror to enlarge the space. I am having a hard time finding some for this post so maybe a really large scaled round or fun shaped mirror would do.

This red color is fun with the paper (pottery barn):

This one is great- by Patina, I could custom color this any color - maybe navy would be cool... it is also large in scale.

For window treatments, I think I would do simple linen cafe curtains with a metal rod and small rings. I would choose a cream color to match the wallpaper background and then do a fun trim at the bottom.

Do you have a fun bathroom you fantasize about redoing?