Powder Rooms in general are known to be small spaces so, creative thinking, making the most out of your square footage and not leaving any space unused is key. Let's just STOP here and clarify - those of you that are clutter over achievers may see my first sentence as validation for their inability to say no to "stuff," but my tried and true design rules still apply. Such as, make the pieces you purchase work in your space, don't just fill the room without contributing to the design or function.
I also don't want to scare you away from starting a project such as this, but I do want to provide a design disclosure. These are not easy projects to design and execute correctly. In my many years of being a designer, I have been known to make my fair share of mistakes along the way, rip it down and start all over again. Just know when you have completed a project such as this correctly, your eyes will be able to rest, you will forget about it and move on to your next project. If you keep going back and tweaking it, the design isn't quite right yet. If you are unsure of designing your project correctly, sign up in my members corner, send me some pictures and I can help you accomplish your design. https://www.dhelmdesigns.com/members
As you know I have written in previous Blog entries that, I am not the first resident in the home I now share with my husband. When I moved in I was given the challenge of blending his things into my design vision and the items in our powder room were not excluded, such as the picture of Marylin Monroe that graces the wall I now want to redesign.(see below) As much as I would like to remove her and find a piece of art that is totally me, that would not be kind to my husband and I can tolerate the art once I tone down her presence and create a better use of the space.
I was ready to put my plan into motion. My project began by making a list of items I would like to create a space for such as, toilet paper, q-tips, cotton balls, extra hand towels, design items to tie the space together and yes the existing art was on my list.
Selecting my shelving material, color and style was the next hurdle I needed to tackle. If you google wall shelves you will see there is literally something for everyone but, because this is a small space and I wanted it to tie my design wall into the rest of my downstairs I decided I would purchase shelves that matched our wood floors. I also wanted shelves that had some sort of support bracket. Why you ask? As much as I love floating shelves, they do not love me. I can never install them level, I overload them with weight and they begin to sag (maybe I should put myself in the "clutter over achieving" group.) I finally chose shelves from Amazon, they had the exact size and color I wanted.
My shelves arrived and they were gorgeous! I quickly scanned the direction, ran to the garage, grabbed tools that would be needed for assembling and installation. I screwed in the support brackets to the bottom of my shelf, took the first shelf into the powder room in hopes of getting my visual juices flowing and create my design. I knew there were two items I was going to keep from the existing design. The tissue box on top of my toilet and yes the original artwork.
My first shelf was hung about 13 inches above my toilet lid. This would allow for my Kleenex box to remain on the top of my toilet and still have accessibility to pull out a tissue without hitting your hand. I stood and admired my handy work. Loved it! Now, how high would I place the next shelf? I played around with a few different options. In the end I would place the second shelf about 11 inches above my first. This spacing allowed me to arrange items on the bottom shelf, the top shelf and my artwork would intimately sit just above the top shelf. I could then blend in items and soften the artwork.
You will see in the picture below with two shelves I was able to achieve my design goals, find a home for every item on my list and toned down my piece of art. Also, I went through my house and found design items to repurposed in my Powder Room. In a very small space I was able to create storage, add texture, design and character for just under 32.00. I know myself well enough there may be a day when I decide to add a little something extra to this design, but for now I love my original effort and the best part is my husband loves it too!