Small updates: Jim Lawrence’s wall-mounted brass soap basket gives any room a timeless lift
(Picture: Jim Lawrence)Is your bathroom a place that style and effort forgot? Do you close the door and try to forget about it? The clue is in the name; your bathroom is still a room, and even if it’s the size of a broom cupboard, or has no window (thank you, London flats), it’s still a space where you can reflect your personal style through the accessories you choose.
Gone are the days when you’d head to a department store’s bathroom department to kit-out the whole space and buy everything from your shower curtain to your soap dish. There are so many stylish options now – from Matilda Goad’s frilly bath mats to stylish chambray shower curtains from Ferm Living.
The details make all the difference. Don’t use a boring plastic loo roll holder – store yours in a woven basket instead, if your bathroom is lacking in colour, add a washable runner rug made from recycled plastic yarn as it won’t go mouldy.
Make the effort to arrange things on trays, decant things into matching containers and give dedicated toothbrush pots a wide berth – just use whatever you love the look of instead, whether that’s a favourite tumbler from the kitchen or a ceramic pen pot (mine is a mochaware one from Choosing Keeping). There’s no need to redecorate to make your bathroom feel like a place you want to spend time, and when you brush your teeth in there for four minutes a day, you might as well give yourself something nice to look at.
The designer handbag of the toothpaste world; a tube of Marvis strong mint is so good-looking displayed by the sink, it’s a styling accessory in its own right. It’s worth £7 a tube for the gravitas alone. Find yours in the excellent bathroom department at Liberty.
Buying a milking stool to stand beside the bath? Invest in the most iconic version out there with the timeless Tabouret Berger design by the legendary Charlotte Perriand. This is a splurge item at £649 but it’s a piece you’ll keep forever. Find yours at Aram Store in Covent Garden.
This quality rattan basket from Rebecca Udall (£199), will make your dirty laundry look so good, you’ll want it out on display in the bathroom.
A muddle of perfumes, lotions and potions on the bathroom side will look intentional arranged on a tray and this faux tortoiseshell design looks stylish even when there’s nothing on it. It costs £75 from OKA.
A glass of wine and an episode of something on the iPad is a watery fiasco waiting to happen without a bath rack to balance everything on. You can always trust The Conran Shop to make a smart version of a classic and this oak design costs £50.
As smart as it is affordable (£30), this metal trolley from trusty old IKEA can be wheeled around the bathroom as needed and creates a lot of extra storage. If you ever tire of it in the bathroom, it’s equally as handy in the kitchen or for organising crafts or tools.
Bath salts are a Sunday treat in a jar and local London brand Earl of East combines style and substance with their handsome packaging. Spend your money with a local London brand and buy your bath-improving salts from Goodhood in Shoreditch. They cost £24.
Matches’ homeware edit is a who’s who of the best interiors brands, including Tekla - purveyors of the most stylish high-end towels. This striped organic cotton set looks sharp on display in a bathroom – they’re £118 for a set of three.
Freestanding make-up mirrors don’t get much chicer than this versatile rotating design in gleaming brass. You can tilt and rotate it as needed and it’s made by Scandi brand, Normann Copenhgagen. Buy yours from Skandium for £170.
For a traditional sink-side set-up, look to Jim Lawrence for timeless brass accessories. Style this classic wall-mounted soap basket (£47.30), with a bar of something appropriately high-end and handmade.
Save your cotton wool pads from a ghastly fate of plastic packaging and organise your vanity unit at the same time with these lidded green glass jars. They’re an investment at £49 but you’ll use them for years and they’ll add colour to a bland white bathroom.
A stylish bath mat is an easy way to give your bathroom a completely different look and when they’re affordable (this one is £38 from Anthropologie), you can have a handful of styles to rotate between.
