A European Style Bathroom Design is a fun way to add interest to your home. Join me as I take you away to 3 very different bathrooms I created around these 3 European countries.
- Italy
- Greece
- United Kingdom
1. Italian Bathroom
When we purchased our Highover home this lower-level guest bathroom had a lot to be desired.
I first replaced the vanity top with granite. Then I had a new bronze faucet installed and changed the cabinet knobs with bird cage-style hardware. I scored the large rectangular mirror at, of all places, Home Depot. I added more light by mounting a simple bronze four-bulb vanity fixture. My muted purple wall color was picked up from the curtain and the hue complemented the rest of the lower level slate blue walls. I wanted the color to be playful, but still, tie in with the rest of the home.
After revising the nuts and bolts of the room I had fun with the design. Years ago I purchased this colorful shower curtain. The colors reminded me of abstract Italian paintings that were so popular at the time. I purchased these art pieces online and had them matted to match the colors in the curtain. I have always been fascinated with the tall slender Mediterranean cypress trees so prevalent in the Italian landscape. They can grow as high as 50 feet but are rarely more than 15 feet wide.
I had fun with these abstract letters found at Hobby Lobby. Il Bagno is Italian for “The Bathroom”. I gave it a twist by wrapping the letters on two walls. The large red ornate tin, also found at Hobby Lobby, filled the fourth wall and was only viewed when the door was closed. The muted red picked up yet another color in the curtain.
Instead of a towel rod, I chose this metal rack from Hobby Lobby. I hung interesting crosses at varying heights with gold gauzy ribbon. Even though they are Spanish in style, instead of Italian, I loved that they were iron and bronze in color.
The last touch was a vase of lavender stems placed on a rustic chunk of wood.
2. Greek Bathroom
In my Elshire home, I took a trip to Greece in my small guest bathroom. My inspiration piece was this very heavy marble bas-relief I purchased years ago when visiting Greece. My son, Sam (my Greek Geek) says it is Zeus fighting monsters that are half-man, half-snake.
Keeping with my Greco-Roman theme, I chose to hang four oversized prints of Roman columns on the walls. I found the prints on Fine Art America.
I made the frames out of wood trim purchased at Home Depot and spray-painted them to match the dark veins in the granite vanity top.
The swag design on the trim matched the swag on the marble piece.
Following the monochromatic scheme, I hung a simple white shower curtain. I wanted it to go to the ceiling, but the light is in the center of the room and my guests would be bathing in the dark. Thus, I brought it down about a foot. I could not find the length I wanted so I purchase two curtains at Target and sewed the desired extension to the bottom. I liked the wall of white it created.
For functionality, I hung a waterproof liner on a second shower curtain rod.
Instead of towels on the towel rod, I hung the Spanish metal crosses with white gauzy ribbon this time. Once again, the crosses were of the wrong country for my theme, but the color and metal medium were spot on.
Lastly, to keep it simple I placed a tiny antique crystal vase with small sprigs of dried money plant from my sister, Christie.
3. United Kingdom Bathroom
My third European design is in our Master Bathroom on Elshire. The inspiration piece was the engraved image of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct located in Wales. The 214-year-old water bridge soars above the River Dee 126 feet. It is just short of three football fields long, and only 12 feet wide. My sister, Christie, and my mother, Elaine, and I took a boat ride on this historic bridge years ago on a trip to England.
My friend, Diane, had two small English pictures in ornate frames in her guest bath. I wanted to re-create something similar. I found several postcards of English scenes I liked on Zazzle. The simple wood frames came from Home Goods.
I did not want the expense of having the cards matted, so I cut the mats myself. It was more difficult than I thought, but the end result was just what I envisioned.
My favorite vintage scene is of the men playing cricket.
I originally hung the five frames between and above the two mirrors. I immediately realized there was too much spacing and I could hardly see the postcards. To correct the problem, I grouped them closer and placed two above the hand towel rings.
Lastly, to add interest I mounted ornate floral reliefs, found at a garage sale years ago, above the mirrors. I like the bas-relief look and they color-coordinate nicely with the vanity.
Thank you for joining me on my travels and I hope you have enjoyed touring my 3 European Style Bathroom Designs.
Which country will you design your next bathroom around? I would love to hear your ideas!
And be sure to let me know your favorite of my 3 bathrooms by leaving a comment below.
hI Cheryl, Enjoyed this post and your commentary. I liked seeing how you worked in meaningful elements and still kept the overall appearance of your bathrooms appealing and interesting. However, I must edit your commentary. Although “Bagno” is spelled correctly on your wall, your commentary says “Bango” which according to my resources …is a type of marijuana. Felicity and I thought that was funny.
Ha! Ha!
Thank you Christie and Felicity for the catch.
Hi Cheryl, always look forward to your decorating posts. Your attention to detail gives a polished and professional look. Hope something will rub off on me as we are getting ready to put our house on the market next spring. Thanks for the ideas.
Thank you for your comment Sandy. I miss your garden tours and tea parties.