Cornice in the bathroom

All the cornices have been removed from our house so I have had to choose how to replace them.

Typically, Edwardian houses had the most ornate cornice on the ground floor, with less and less detail as you proceed up the house. This is the pattern that I have stuck to.

Our family bathroom had concave quadrant coving. It was quite nicely fitted and made of good solid plaster but not at all in keeping with the look I wanted. I hesitated for a while before replacing it, as it's probably the first thing we've ripped out that was still in good condition, wasn't dated and was only being removed because it simply wasn't my taste, which always seems a bit wasteful to me. At the eleventh hour, I made the decision.....extravagant or otherwise, we were going for the chop!

Our plasterer came in with a team of 4 and had it done in a few of hours.

The bathroom is on the middle floor so we replaced it with a swan-neck cornice. The ground floor will be more detailed and the top floor will have none at all.

Good quality cornice makes a huge difference to a room, I think. Graceful and elegant. Understated period charm.

Perfect pottery...

I found this gorgeous pot in a charity shop locally and snapped it up. The colours are gorgeous and match the bathroom to perfection.



I use it to keep hair clips, nail clippers and other glamorous paraphernalia of family life....

It's got this engraving on the bottom:

I wonder where it's been before my home?

Family bathroom (after)

I didn't take any before photos of the bathroom before it was done.

It used to be aqua with hideous domed ceiling lights (one of which was broken after a football accident...). The cupboard doors were varnished wood, plain-fronted, with matching varnished doorknobs.

Here are some of the after photos:

The floor and tiles haven't changed as they are grey-green, which works well with the palette in the rest of the house.

We kept this radiator too. It's a large room and this sized radiator keeps it lovely and toasty in the winter.....there are few things worse than a too-cold bathroom.

The colour is Dulux white eggshell (not brilliant white). This is the first room I've ever painted white all over and it took me a couple of days to get used to it. Now, though, I love it. It feels serene and calm, whether I'm bathing four noisy children or relaxing by candlelight.


I'm extremely pleased with the cupboard doors and door knobs. The handles are smaller versions of the main doorknob. I really like small details tying in like that - even if no one else ever notices....