How do you manage to bring together elegance, practicality, and whimsy in the smallest room of the house? It’s not really that difficult, and when you pull it off you have what I would call a La Bellitude Loo.

First, keep it simple.  Too many bathrooms are victims of multiple patterns, styles, and surfaces.  This one maintains a silver/gray color palette throughout, expands the stainless steel shower tiles to the adjoining wall, and uses a smooth battleship linoleum for the floor so as not to further eye clutter the space that there is.

We give it a feeling of space and light by hanging on to the tiny exterior window, choosing reflective tiles, glass shelving, putting a half wall with a glass top between the shower and the toilet, and using a sliding shower curtain a la IKEA rather than a glass door (which would have taken up every available inch of remaining space).

Simply framed photos and a table lamp help to make this loo feel more like a powder room.  The table lamp is particularly nice, because, although you need bright light when you’re shaving or putting on make up, in the evening having a soft light on a small table or even the back of the toilet is much nicer.  It can also serve as the night light.

Also on a shelf or a table, there should be a candle with matches at hand.  You probably already know my attachment to candles, but in the bathroom it’s even more important. You know why.

Down to tiny details – get rid of the bright green, bright yellow, bright red, bright blue – you get the picture – bottles of hair products, soaps, tonics, rinses, medication, all of the things that make bathrooms look like you have just wandered into a small drugstore.  Decant, decant, decant. Into things you recycle, things you buy, even things you find. 

I found a good, lidded storage basket that fit on the narrow shelves and the back of the toilet so I bought four of them.  Once again, a cohesive look and less eye clutter.  And 3M hooks in the shower for a few necessaries keeps it tidy.  And yes, they stay up in spite of all the water.

Finally, what is a La Bellitude Loo without a touch of whimsy?  And this one is one you’ve seen if you read the ceiling blog.  Andy and the geese need a day at the micro-spa too.  Wouldn’t be La Bellitude without them!