BEIGE POWDER ROOM
As a colour, beige has gotten a pretty bad reputation lately. What for some may be boring, for others like myself, can be very soothing. Sand, eggshell, cream, nude, taupe- these are all tones that appeal highly to me. Greige might be the most passé of all these tones, but I still think it is beautiful when executed properly. Laura Hammett is probably the best at implementing greige. There’s a timelessness to luxury when it is driven by genuine personal taste, and not trends.
Knowing what our personal tastes are, require great introspection. At any given point we could be influenced by a friend whose lifestyle we covet, or whose eye for beauty we admire.
A completely beige powder room, with black lamps, was something I had seen Anouska Hempel’s properties do several times. At Blakes in London, I always loved the dark shades that evoked the solemnity of ritual in faraway oriental temples. In the evenings, they glow in a really elegant way. These wall sconces are by Keystone Lights Ortigas.
The mirror was gifted by a friend and was made by E. Murio, who are arguably the best at rattan furniture in the Philippines. Click here to view their website.
The sink and faucet are both by Kohler, click here to view similar by Kohler. The faucet is a model called Fairfax made by Kohler, linked here.
The light switches are dolly switches in a verdigris finish by Forbes and Lomax England. Verdigris is probably one of my favourite finishes.
Verdigris finish dolly switches by Forbes and Lomax. Made to order from England.
As for the little bits and bobs on the sink, my favourite handsoap is by Byredo, especially the Suede scent (but pictured is another Byredo scent) here is a link to where to purchase this handsoap on Net-a-Porter.
The silver coral decor is actually from Landmark Philippines, I find Landmark has the best selection of affordable home decor. Before the pandemic, I used to go there when I feel a little blue and need a little financially guilt-free retail therapy. I read somewhere they do online shopping now, but I have yet to try their web based shopping.
Photo taken from horchow.com
I also used these beautiful Michael Aram ‘Ocean Coral’ bowls to decorate the bathroom. I really love dotting my house with nautical elements. I love the ocean and like to be reminded of the sea.
There is an antique Maranao mother of pearl chest in the photo below, which was a wedding gift from one of our antique dealers. Will hopefully post a better photo of it in the future.
TRUE STORY
Anytime I feel any discomfort, I complain to anyone with an ear. I don’t suffer with any grace at all. Admittedly, its one of my less attractive traits. And there is nothing like suppliers overpricing (or under delivering) and construction delays to bring out the monster in me.
And a day wasted in construction is money and time down the drain, that dominoes into more time and money wasted. While we all know its usually part of the process, this knowledge provides no comfort when the delay is actually happening to you.
WHY THIS MUCH HONESTY?
Sharing this honest review in case you are struggling with your home improvements. No one has an easy time, if they say they did, they are very patient people or got really really lucky or are lying to you. Lol. It is a myth that any of this stuff is easy.
Here’s a moment of honesty here and tell you about the most challenging part of executing this bathroom was installing the built in water closet (toilet).
If this is something you can relate to, know you are not alone, and while it may be frustrating now, it will be worth it in the end.
This is the Kohler Via wall hung toilet, click here if you want to see its specs. I love how this seat looks, its pebbley shape appeals to me very much. Kohler itself has been wonderful and one of the best brands I have worked with in terms of quality and design.
I say this in case you like the look of these toilets, you need to work with a plumber who has done this before. You need to ask him to send photos of his past work and verify his claims.
There is a mechanism that goes behind the wall, that we had to reposition several times as its height affects the toilet seat height. Honestly speaking, the supplier where we got this Kohler toilet from, could have been more helpful when it came to installing these toilets.
In our case we spent a few weeks figuring this out. Because once you install it, you need to use cement to keep the thing in place. Then you plug the toilet bowl in, and honestly, we got the height wrong a number of times. It was costly because installing toilets like these involve a mason (who cements the mechanism in place) as well as a plumber and several labourers to help them carry things because this is a heavy piece of equipment.
In one bathroom’s case, they had installed marble over it, which meant we had to rip out very costly imported marble and re-do the entire thing.
It isn’t impossible to install this, it just needs a lot of monitoring when it is installed, your architect/engineer/interior designer should be the one to do this for you. But in my case, I only call on my team when I have to, and none of them had installed a toilet like this before. We have an in-house team of architects, engineers and interior designers I consult with.
Moving forward, in future, I will probably watch you tube videos on how to install this myself so I can be the one to explain how its done. Its experiences like these that pushed me to build Forewoman, because I really believe in a better (less wasteful of my time and money) way of doing things. The first step to all this being informed and knowing you are not alone.
Construction is a team sport after all.