Use koi fish for an elegant bathroom theme.
Many people decorate their bathrooms with a nautical, ocean or aquarium theme because of a bathroom's natural association with water. In fact, many bathroom decorations and accents have been created to fit these themes. However, some of those accents look juvenile, primarily created for a children's bathroom.
If you are decorating an adult bathroom and want to follow an aquatic theme, think about koi fish. These elegant Japanese fish are long with flowing fins and appear in many Asian works of art. A koi fish theme for your bathroom could give it an elegant and serene atmosphere.
Walls and Floors
Instead of placing koi pond accents in your bathroom, make your bathroom into a tiled koi pond. Tiles With Style offers novelty tiles depicting lily pads, lotus flowers, water, river stones, turtles and, of course, koi fish. All of these tiles are circles or other organic shapes, adding to their aquatic feel.
Tile the floor of your bathroom with lily pads, blue water tiles and circling golden, white and black koi fish. Place the fish tiles near lily pads, looking as if they are about to nibble on a lotus flower, or clustered together in a corner. Place a turtle near your tub so he appears to be crawling out of the water. You can even tile your walls halfway up with water, lily pads and flowers. Above the tiling, use stencils to add gray-blue cranes and clouds.
Fixtures and Hardware
Regular square tubs and inset sinks don't lend themselves to an organic theme like a koi pond. Instead, choose an oval, porcelain tub with a high back on which you can lean. Use industrial porcelain paints to sponge shades of blue and aqua paint over the tub, inside and out, to mimic ripples of light on the water. You could also use koi fish and lily pad stencils inside the tub to further the illusion that your bathroom is a quiet koi pond.
For your sink, pick something unusual such as a vessel sink. These sink bowls sit on top of the vanity counter rather than being set into them. Industrial glass vessels are strong and come in a myriad of colors and patterns. You can either choose a vessel with koi fish on it or complement the theme with a vessel swirled in color or made to look like river stone. Choose light, hardware finishes to go with the theme.
Accessories
You can choose a shower curtain with koi fish printed on it, as well as rugs, cups and soap dishes in the same theme. However, if you already have koi fish featured elsewhere in your bathroom, you would do better to choose accessories that enhance the feeling of being in a pond rather than overcrowding the room with koi.
Find a shower curtain with weeping cherry trees, long green vines or lotus flowers printed on it. Get bath mats in a solid accent color such as pink, light green or cream. Pick towels and washcloths along the same lines, though here you can choose more than one color and mix and match with stripes, as well. If you have very few koi in the room and want to subtly add more, Bellacor offers sets of white or black towels embroidered with golden koi.
For cups and other accessories, choose pieces in a brushed silver tone, a grey river rock finish or pieces printed with animals that live with koi such as turtles and cranes.
Tags: your bathroom, lily pads, brushed silver, curtain with, lotus flowers, rather than, shower curtain