Monday, November 16, 2009

My Seventies Bathroom

The Seventies are back in many ways. Aren’t we crafters terribly into crocheting granny squares and such? Bell bottoms and block soles have been back and gone again but are not yet totally ridiculous. Or some arty underground fashionable people stick to them deliberately. Yet it’s the design period everybody says to hate. Those horrible colour combo’s, the giant wavy and floral motifs, free-form clothing designs… They’re absolutely not done anymore. I agree.

Yet I’m glad the cold black and whites of the Eighties have past as well. The Nineties brought colour back in, but still with too much modern straightness and chrome to my taste.

I like to mix up all styles and these days it’s absolutely allowed. Carefully dosed elements of styles we wouldn’t want to have full-on can add a fun quirky touch to your home. For me some of the Seventies ideas are absolutely the ones I love to hate. And the curbs provide me with a wide choice of style and design of all ages.

It all started in 2005 when my artist friend wowed at seeing a photograph of my mom in her home with her curtains in the back. They are a wavy motif in dark brown, beige and white and she still has them by the way. Then I knew what I wanted with my new bathroom in my freshly renovated apartment.

I remembered I still had a large piece of a curtain sample from my mom in the same style. Digging it up I found she had even already sewed the tunnel and bottom seam in. I really forgot what she had used it for, or planned to but maybe never did. So all I had to do was hang it up. The ceiling high window needed something long and narrow and this just fitted!

The egg yellow and terra brown are not colours of my first choice, but they make sense. Coming from my living room in natural wood, cream white, pale beige, wine red, soft orange and some black (Eighties leftovers of my own) you turn a corner to my half open kitchen which is in a soft yellow, cream and the same pale beige. Then at the end of this area in neutral colours comes my bathroom. Following the scheme the more pronounced yellows and browns are a welcome contrast with the reds in the living room. And I don’t live there you know, I just go there to do what I have to do.

Leaving the cold white tiles and dull granite floor intact the curbs provided me with just the additional elements to add to the colour and style.

First I found a handcrafted TP and magazine holder. I just love it how this is clearly a hobbyist's or craft class product, it must be totally unique! The brown and yellow match perfectly with the curtain, the orange makes a link with the orange (doors) in my living room.

Same counts for the giant artificial flowers. My curtains in the living are in the same red.

I keep some smaller shower supplies out of the way and organized in this hilarious soup terrine.

Then to finish it off I found a yellow lamp shade. The fixture I still had laying about from another find or second hand buy. The simple iron model is timeless and it may not be so old, but it's just the right colour.

Talking about lamps, to end I want to say something about lighting. A befriended eco-blog suggested followers to write a post about cutting down on lighting at home. The idea was to start using fewer Watts and shutting off lights where you don’t need them, but I think it’s even better to switch to CFL (energy saving) bulbs on top of that. Now I have used those for at least twenty years already. That’s how long they have been around!!!

I never use any of the strong 100W (or the CFL equivalents of those) bulbs anyway. I really hate how they flood the room with sharp light. When I need extra light for e.g. crafting I prefer to use a desk or table lamp locally. Main lamps in living room or kitchen are the CFL equivalents of 60W of the old incandescent bulbs, places where you need even less like hallway or bedroom I have no more than 40W. Actually in my yellow bathroom lamp there’s only the equivalent of a 20W. What more do you need there? For make-up I have a local extra light by the mirror.

Apart from the energy they save I love it that you only have to change CFL’s once every 6-10 years. Isn’t that extremely convenient?

But on top think this: a CFL of ‘60W’ actually uses only 11, ‘40W’equals 8!! Only please remember, once died out you can’t throw them in the bin, they contain mercury so you have to bring them to the recycling depot or a shop or collection point near you.

11 comments:

Largs Bay Antiques and Collectables said...

great ideas.. i also hate throwing any thing out.....check out what you can fix with sea shells on my my bog

http://.blogspot.com/2009/10/crafty-sea-shell-ideas.htm

Jenn Thorson said...

Oh, hey, everything coordinates so well, it would be hard to believe the items were found-- IF I didn't know better. :) I'm not personally a big fan of 70s styling, but I appreciate that you've pulled these things together so successfully-- and frugally. No one would guess you hadn't gotten them from some trendy boutique.

Le-Chat said...

Oh hey Jenn, great to see you back as a commentor on my blog in the first place :) I remember some of your posts about the bad sides of 70s design... totally with you. But I think you understand I like to play with style elements whatever they are. Same way I have that romantic frilly curb found mirror (which would be your taste but what I would never have bought) in my otherwise straight and neutral kitchen.
I love thrift shopping as much as you do, but I found that letting myself being led by what I find or comes to me allows me to think out of my own box designwise and I love it!

Mick said...

If I remember correctly your seventies bedroom was in another place and very small!
http://tinyurl.com/ykf75tv

Le-Chat said...

Hey Mick, perhaps you also remember at the time I already tried to make my colour statement - on 3 square meters. There were olive green with teal blue, bright red accented the other - pale lemon yellow - walls.

Le-Chat said...

PS: I wore that song out...

Mick said...

I was too eager in those days to pay atention to that, sorry...

KathyBaker24 said...

I have an interior design site and I am interested in purchasing a link on your website. Your site looks great and I would love to be part of your blogroll.

If this is possible, could you let me know how much you would charge for a basic text link. My site is located at: http://www.genuinestyle.net

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing back from you.

Le-Chat said...

Hi Kathy, thank you for your comment. I appreciate your interest, but I don't sell links on my blog. However you can buy ad space through Project Wonderful. Take a look at the near bottom of my side bar to find it. It's usually very cheap!

TJ said...

I think the soup terrine storage is my favorite. I have become a serious thrift store shopper myself, there are some wonderful things to be found there.

Lita C. Malicdem said...

Wow! I had a great find in yours. Can you imagine that? Wonderful results of your artistic designs. I appreciate much the effort you put in here and how you can show that idle materials that could pass as throw-aways can be beautifully recycled and can still be trendy-looking. Nice hub.