The Traditional Bathroom Setting
Traditional bathroom features that are popular today are claw-foot baths and toilets with high level cisterns. Claw-foot baths stand alone to show off the fine curved lines and delicate feet of their design. The high level cisterns need to be wall mounted above the toilet pan and flushed by a chain and pull. The old ‘Thunderbox’ was a toilet boxed with wood panels and a solid wooden bench, with a hole cut in the centre, placed across the top. The comfort of a wooden toilet is still sought after today, and looks the part in a traditional bathroom setting.
Victorian ‘telephone’ mixer taps with ceramic tops, or chrome Art Deco versions, will also help achieve an authentic look. Ceramic tiles with reproduction motifs are available in DIY stores and from tile merchants. For Art Deco stye, a simple checkerboard effect of black and white tiles will suffice.
In a bathroom that features wood, perhaps in the skirting boards, under-basin cabinets and cupboards, then the bath panels can be made of the same timber. The panels are fixed in place either with sunken screws that are filled to belnd with the wood or with brass screws, caps and rings that become a feature of the panel. However, if wood is used in a bathroom environment for a tradional effect, it should be oiled or varnished to make it water-resistant and to prevent it warping in the steamy conditions. Bath panels made from wood such as mahogany could be expensive, but a similar effect can be achieved using a fake panel. The panel could be made from plywood and then painted to look like a piece of well-grained wood, as you could find in a traditional bathroom.
Such fake effects can also be painted to resemble marble, granite or a whole range of woods. Decorative beading can be added to the flat panel for embellishment and interest to the surface. Wooden panelling can be used instead of ceramic tiles and painted or lacquered and then stencilled with gilded designs and motifs.
September 27, 2009 at 1:29 pm Comments (0)