Sometimes the smallest rooms are capable of the biggest transformations, and also, small spaces give you the license to go bold, if you want to.
Our tiny downstairs toilet has been one of my favourite transformations to date. Everything you’re about to see had to be completely redone from old, inadequate plumbing to removing ceiling boarding which concealed wires no longer in use, and which also added an extra 10cm to our ceiling height!
If you love inspirational transformations (and pink), you’ll love this one with our new colour drenched small downstairs toilet in sulking room pink. Let’s go back to the beginning…
Sulking Room Pink Small Downstairs Toilet Makeover
The Before
Not only is this the smallest room of the house, it’s surprisingly one of the brightest and is in a true south facing spot.
The plumbing system was unusual to say the least, the waste water from the sink ran straight into the toilet, and you had a box on the wall you had to turn the dial on for water. I remember having these in the community hall I used to go to Brownies in, a blast from the past for sure!
On the ceiling you will see the black border of wood, what we found underneath this was a further 10cm of space and it was only boarded over to conceal wiring, wiring that wasn’t even in use today.
I’m a massive advocate for saving parts in a space to keep costs down if something is clearly well made, but in this case, everything literally did have to get ripped out and we had to start from scratch.
The Vision
If you’re in the midst of renovating or even just redecorating a space, you have to have a vision.
Buying a singular print and trying to base all your decisions from this is the wrong way to do it. So step away from the home decor aisle and get to grips on the full design first. It will lead to a much more intentional design that flows and works well.
I typically use Canva to moodboard my room designs, but you could even create a physical collage if you find that easier. It’s completely FREE to do this type of thing on Canva as well. Before this stage I gather ideas, colour schemes and themes that I like, this creates a strong visual image of what I’m drawn to. You can create a Pinterest board for this type of thing, or a collection of images from trips and interiors that you love.
You then must enter the practicality stage, you learn the hard way sometimes picking things purely for aesthetic value that actually don’t make your everyday situation comfortable. It’s worth asking yourself questions about the space such as, ‘how will I be using the space?’, ‘what orientation is the room’, ‘is it to relax, work or sleep in?’ etc etc. Obviously, it’s a little bit simpler to answer when it’s just a toilet, but you get the drift.
Ultimately, the design must work for your lifestyle, and not just because you’re copying a room idea you found on Pinterest. I can’t stress this part enough!
Anyway, I had a clear vision for this space from the get go. I start with colour primarily for wall and flooring because these two aspects typically take up the most real estate in a room. As the room was south facing, I needed a colour with a moody quality that would balance the intensity of the sun and deliver a subtle softness in the downstairs toilet. I have a guide on choosing colours for a south facing space if you’re looking for some guidance.
Once I have chosen those two aspects, I can start to choose a couple of accent colours and work that into the design. A moodboard is a great way of trying before you buy if you like, you get an idea of how colours work together and you can curate and edit it as much as is needed.
I’d still recommend getting paint testers beforehand so you can see how they react to light in your room, as colours really do look different online to what they do in real homes.
Whilst at this stage it’s a good idea to add links to all of the items you’ve selected along with cost, that way you have a brief budget for what is going to be required and you can pull back on that if needed.
The Progress
It definitely got worse before it got better here! My partner does a lot of the work himself so we are able to keep costs down on labour.
As like most of the house, every time you started taking stuff off the walls the existing render was crumbling so we had to get this knocked back mostly to brick for new render and plaster.
New plumbing was put in and old electrical wires were removed which allowed us to open the ceiling up, gaining around an extra 10cm in ceiling height, honestly, it makes such a difference to a tiny room!
As you can see from the right image, we had a built in cistern installed, this creates a really flawless look in a small space, giving room for a built in shelf for styling.
After this point, it was time to get the last fixtures plumbed in and start decorating.
The After
What a difference! My main starting point for the design was both the flooring and wall colour choice as this helps inform the rest of the design, whilst creating an intentional scheme that works.
Sulking Room Pink by Farrow and Ball is a colour I have been wanting to use in a room for years, and I finally found the perfect place to use it. Despite being such a tiny room, it’s south facing and gets incredibly bright and warm during sunny days, so this was the perfect colour to balance the intensity of the sun, whilst creating a sultry, moody effect in the space. We chose the Dead Flat finish which is their newest matt finish which can be used straight onto woodwork too, wow it does not disappoint. The coverage was second to none and one coat was enough to completely saturate the space.
The graphite floor tiles are from Ca’Pietra using a fun tile play of a basket case style, very on trend right now! You can’t really get away with a pattern like this in a large scale room as it will make the space feel too distracting, but in a petite toilet, it’s just the perfect amount of pattern. The reason I loved these is because they have a slight handmade, different variation to each one which just further adds to the effect. Black floor tiles bring beautiful grounding definition to a room too, keeping things modern and allowing us to build our colour scheme from there.
Next up was fixtures. I knew I wanted to have black accents throughout for definition and a touch of modernity, a black toilet seat lid can totally transform how a room feels. The sink and toilet lid were from Victorian plumbing, whilst the rest of the toilet system was sourced through our local plumbing supplier – I do tend to find that online retailers don’t offer the best quality, hence the price, usually anyway. If you spend money anywhere in a toilet or bathroom, make it on the fixtures for something that will last.
During the rip out, we discovered that there was an extra 10cm of ceiling height hidden behind boarding, this gave us such a good height to work with and I chose this globe light from Habitat. It has a beautiful glow, but the introduction of the brass accent just adds a subtle bit of warmth and luxury into the finished scheme.
We had all of our windows across the house redone during the process and I didn’t want frosted glass in here as I still wanted the room to benefit from the gorgeous light that the room receives.
Of course, we had to have some privacy and a cafe curtain was a perfect choice. Whilst typically positioned at the half way point of a window, you can hang them from the top of the window if you want. They provide great privacy whilst being a more modern and trendy approach than voile curtains.
I shopped around a lot for the fabric of these before opting for Linen and Letters, super quick delivery and affordable, a leading supplier for cafe curtains was charging £20 for delivery! The pole was from House of Brass in 6mm diameter and it just adds the more gorgeous, delicate finish to the window.
The woodwork including the skirting boards and window board are from Skirting World, we used this company for our last renovation too and I cannot recommend them enough. We went for their Georgian MDF skirting board which we have used throughout the house. A taller skirting gives the illusion of taller walls, and the detail just adds instant character to a room. We ordered these primed and then finished in our Sulking Room Pink for a colour drenched look.
In terms of finishing touches, I pulled the look together with some further back and brass accents, whilst adding a pop of fun colour with the print and plant pot. I have linked everything else featured in the downstairs toilet below;
- Toilet roll holder Fern Living
- Desenio print
- Plant pot Graham & Green
- Brass cafe curtain pole House of Brass
- Hand Towels H&M Home
- Mirror Bowley & Jackson
- Bin Rebecca Udall
I am in love with the finished look and if you’re looking for a sultry downstairs toilet colour packed full of character, I really do recommend Sulking Room Pink!
Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you have any questions. If you want any help with your own space, you can also attach images in the comments and I’ll come straight back!
I have also put together a full before and after reveal and walk through over on my Youtube below.
