A half-plastered bathroom wall might be a nice touch in a bohemian-style bathroom.
A bohemian-style bathroom is equal parts shabby, recycled, colorful, eclectic and over-the-top. It generally features found objects and repurposed hand-me-downs and wears an air of artiste, or maybe that should be insouciance. Bohemian d cor dresses in ruffles, mixes prints and isn't afraid to show a little wear. Put your vintage finds and original fashion sense to work to disguise your boring bathroom as a melange of bohemian design.
Some Things Old
Artists and the unconventional use whatever is at hand to decorate their living spaces, which reflects the artistic poverty portrayed in "La Boheme" as much as the trend to go green and recycle. A porcelain bowl sink set on a scarred wooden table, maybe with a white ruffly skirt hiding a shelf below, can set the tone for a bathroom assembled from vintage shops and gathered fabric. Hunt for rolls of vintage wallpaper in big bright flower prints. Decoupage them on one wall, or frame a smaller panel in a carved, gilded picture frame, left gold or painted shiny bone white.
Mix and Mix
Paint one wall a deep jewel color like royal purple, sapphire or topaz. Fill it with posters and art prints of Impressionist paintings and early 20th century European advertising. Frame a Paris caf menu and add unframed, rescued oil paintings of still lifes that you snag at the flea market or the twice-around shop. Hang a crocheted lace tablecloth as an outer shower curtain, and pull it back with an elaborate drapery tie. Hunt for a paisley rug or a fluffy solid color rug. Stick a fresh flower in a small colored bottle, like a blue water bottle, and display it on an antimacassar on top of the toilet tank. Use big bars of rose-scented soap.
Beads and Linens
Mix up the towels between blue-and-white Chinoise flower prints and white-on-white jacquard. Use linen dinner napkins in to match the bath towel color for hand towels. Hang a shower curtain that is multi-layers of white scalloped cotton or opaque silk --- a curtain with the same flounce as a skirt. Or just cut up an old BoHo flouncy skirt and add enough material at the top so it becomes a shower curtain. Hang a curtain of plastic beads across glass shower doors to banish a minimalist aesthetic.
Eclectic Collection
Replace a conventional bathroom mirror with a vintage framed mirror with tarnished silver backing. Add a chandelier to the room -- either use it for real lighting, or just hang it unwired for the visual appeal. A skinny shabby chest of drawers with plastic crystal knobs looks good as a bathroom cabinet with its original paint -- or a new paint job distressed to look worn. Top the chest with glass domes over artfully arranged small cloisonn and silver trays heaped with colorful Art Deco jewelry. A mannequin head mounted on the wall holds a flowered shower cap. Write a Piaf lyric like "Non, je ne regette rien" in black laundry marker on an inexpensive plain white bath mat.
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