Hello and welcome to my en-suite bathroom reveal.

It’s hard to believe how much bathroom decor has changed and I think that it’s mainly down to Instagram and Pinterest inspiration and, with that, people being much braver in their tile choices and wall colours.  

Before

To think that when we moved into our new house two years ago, we got a bog standard (forgive the pun!) bathroom that came off the plans (bar a tile colour choice or two) so when it came to building this bathroom, I was full of excitement and ideas and had Pinterest Pins coming out my ears  (you can check out my Pinterest here).

So, we got the bathroom built  as part of the attic conversion, where we had our third floor/loft space converted into a master bedroom, en-suite bathroom and storage/bit of everything room. This bathroom was built from scratch ad took about eight weeks, as part of a bigger build (three rooms in total).

This en-suite bathroom is probably the smallest room in our house, yet it’s given me such joy in styling it, I have LOVED the process and there is a great sense of achievement now having completed it.

Monochrome and brass bathroom – the Inspiration

Firstly, I love subway tiles (the very defined metro tile with dark grout) in The Hoxton Hotel in London (when I was at the fabulous Staying Inn event with DFS) and again in The Devlin Hotel in Dublin where I went for my birthday and since then, I really wanted them my bathroom. It’s so true about the influences you pick up for your house in hotel and bar decor- I am one of those people, when I visit one I’m always checking out the decor details and constantly taking photos and marveling at how they do it .

Secondly my other inspiration came from two bathrooms in particular, The Frugality and Gold is a Neutral for their use of brass in a bathroom. I am slightly obsessed with brass fixtures and they were so bloody hard to source, but it did help that the above bloggers had ‘been there, done that’, and I am grateful for that.   What I discovered though is that they’re even harder to source in Ireland brass or gold fixtures are even harder to source (read = a nightmare) and cost twice the price as chrome or silver fixtures. So much so that  my builder laughed when I told him what I was after (but was perfectly accommodating in the end as I agreed to source the fixtures myself) and in the shops and at the end of the phone people said things like: ‘Sher gold went out in the 80’s’ and ‘I remember my Granny had gold taps back in the day’.

I was so glad to *actually* find a gold tap in Dublin that I told the poor fella taking my money my ‘how hard it is to source brass bathroom fittings story’ and he said to me in complete seriousness: ‘You make sure you buy what you want,  as you’ll be looking at this bathroom for the next twenty years’!. I am glad I stuck to my guns when I saw the finished look.

Bathroom tiles

If you saw on my Stories, we initially were torn between a normal subway tile and the herringbone style. Ultimately, herringbone was going to cost us more to tile so we went with the normal style and love it. 

The shower tiles are beveled metro tiles with an anthracite (a dark grey/black) grout.There were even some left over which allowed us to do the splash back in our kitchen which we got done with a silver grey grout!

I’ve learned so much during this process and one is that white grout is very hard to clean so the silver grout is a winner. We did want more of a dramatic/monochromatic look in the bathroom and went with the darker grout to achieve this look.

The floor tiles I’d seen in @grainneshappyhome hall and since then in a few bathrooms on Instagram- they come in grey or a navy black, but the minute I saw them in the showroom in Outhaus, I knew that they would go perfectly with the colour scheme (which was in my head!).

Storage-wise,  there is storage in the bathroom vanity. I might hang a basket on the door for some other essentials, mainly for all my lotions and potions.

My builder and his team were fantastic. On his advice, we opted for a shower tray instead of a wet room for the shower area and indeed in the whole bathroom he went to great lengths to waterproof the floor again and again.

Sourcing the fixtures and fittings was not without its mishaps. The tile trim I ended up having to buy this twice as the first delivery via Parcel Motel got lost (ordering items from the UK with a cheaper shipping cost)! BUT it was worth it once I saw the brass tile trim in place. I love this trim against the tiles and the dark walls. The arrived cracked (another Parcelmotel fail) and I bought a mid century light for the mirror which is missing a part so is unusable but I figure the space looks good enough without it! But I am so over all that now. With online orders I find they either go one way or the other.

Suppliers 

Here’s a list of everything in the bathroom.

(If I’ve missed anything, let me know via the comments or pop me a message over on Instagram @whatshewears).

Shower Door: Black wetroom shower screen from Tile Once in Kells, Co. Meath

White Subway Tiles: Monopole Ceramica white beveled metro tiles with grout in ‘antracite’ – from Outhaus

Floor tiles: British Ceramic Tile ‘Devonstone Black’ with grout in ‘antracite’ – all from Outhaus

Sink/Vanity Unit: Landsdown  vanity unit ad sink- from Davis Builders Suppliers. (It’s also in Outhaus). 550mm. Comes in 450mm & 750mm.

Mirror: Denver gold mirror from Made.com 50 x 70

Wall and shelf paint colour: Railings by Farrow and Ball in bathroom finish, Farrow and Ball shop Dublin 

Ceiling light: Katrin ceiling light Lights.ie . This is IP (waterproof) for bathrooms. I’ve also seen it in Light Plan, Richmond Rd in Dublin for much less than I bought it!

Radiator:  Straight Antracite W500x H1200mm from Outhaus. It’s a dark grey black radiator and the colour matches perfectly with the Landsdown vanit unit.

Tile Trim: Brass tile trim (square size 10mm)  from Wetroomsupplies.co.uk. I ordered about 12m for the area that needed tiling.

Gold Tap and gold basin plug:  Deva Tudor Mono basin mixer tap with pop waste in gold- Chadwicks, Coolock Dublin. In the UK you can get it in Victorian Plumbing.

Brass or gold shower– Senlesen brass shower. Ordered from Amazon. It took a 3-4 weeks to arrive (literally, it came on the slow boat from China) but it got here and I love it. Matches the gold tap in that it has white ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ detail. 

Accessories

Hanging faux plant in gold pot on shower: Penneys/Primark

Gold plant pot:  Ikea

Fig leaf faux plant: Homesense

Aesop liquid soap and Aesop hand cream: I got one as a present from my husband and the other in Makers & Brothers- one can buy Aesop in Ireland in Samui in Cork.

We paid for everything ourselves.

That’s it!  I hope you like it as much as I do.  Thank you for stopping by for a read.

Anne Marie x

You know what I’ve discovered having had baby number two? I no longer have free hands for anything! If I’m carrying a car seat and holding the other’s hand, it’s near impossible to carry a handbag.

So, that’s all gone out the window and for the past six months I’ve been wedded to my backpack.

I’m using the Charli black backpack from Fact + Fiction which in 2018, was voted the best baby bag for style by Mumsnet. Yes I use it as a baby bag, but I’d use it as a laptop bag too when I go back to work, or a gym bag, if I were that way inclined.

I love the gold zips and hardware and have gotten so many comments on it (after all, baby bags can be a tad boring)- in two words it’s practical and stylish.

There’s room for everything, with three separate compartments, including one for nappies, lunchbox and changing mat. The bag is breathable, wipeable and has anti smell linings (handy if you’ve to carry around a poo-nami of any sort until you get home!).  It’s also got a quick access bottle pocket which is handy for accessing baby’s bottle quickly.

That’s it, I’m converted to backpacks!

Availability: Charli Backpack Black £99.00 GBP (was £135.00 GBP) on Fact + Fiction.

Disclosure: This bag was gifted to me but as always all words and opinions are my own.

Last week I was in London as a guest of DFS who hosted The Staying Inn, designed by 2LGstudio who created a pop up of six lounge and dining areas combining all the excitement of a night out with the comfort and cosiness of a relaxing night in.

The prevalent theme was that staying in is the new going out. According to new research from DFS we are staying in more than ever before, with 56% saying that when it comes to the weekend they prefer a good night in over a good night out. In fact, 58% of people said they are going ‘out out’ significantly less at weekends this year. 

A nation of lounge lovers, over half of us now see our ideal Friday or Saturday night as kicking back on the sofa with a takeaway. But when we do go out, hotels, restaurants and bars are inspiring our home décor choices more than ever.  To help get a look that we’re proud to host in, over a third of us (38%) take our interiors inspiration directly from bars, restaurants and hotels. These spaces are giving us the confidence to be bolder with our own living spaces. Staying in is certainly true for me as a mum of two young kids but when I do host at home I like to have interior details that impress or are a conversational point. When I do get out, I love to take inspiration from all the gorgeous new eateries in Dublin, where I obsess over the interiors (and usually the bathrooms) and take photos for interiors inspiration. 

After a lack of cash and energy, one of the main reasons why staying in is so appealing is access to creature comforts. 75% of those surveyed cite the simple pleasure of being able to get a seat – “being able to relax on my own sofa” – and the intimacy of quiet, calm surroundings where you can hear yourself talk, as a must for a good night in. 

Entertaining at home

As a result of not going out as much, over sixty percent (62%) of people say it’s important to them to be able to entertain at home. Three quarters of us, 75% of people feel the most important thing about hosting is to provide a comfortable space for their guest to relax in, and as a result over a third (38%) are turning to the hospitality industry for interior design inspiration.  How going out, is influencing the spaces we stay ‘in’.

My 5 tips for creating a cosy night in:

1.Create cosy areas in your living room or kitchen with soft furnishings such as throws, cushions and faux fur rugs. My favourite are Mongolian fur cushions (get them at Westelm or TK Maxx or Primark) and faux fur sheepskin rugs which you can find at Dunnes Stories and many other stores. Velvet curtains can also create that cosy effect – there are gorgeous, affordable pink ones at HM and Primark right now.

2. Roll out a drinks trolley: This can be a ‘gin station’ with a variety of gins, tonics and fish bowl glasses ( I know someone who created one out of an IKEA changing table so you don’t have to own a decadent drinks trolley) or a hot chocolate trolley where you can serve your hot chocolate in china cups and infuse with spirits such as rum, gin or baileys.

3. Eating in: a dinner party takes a lot of preparation and you can go all out preparing food and a fabulous tablescape for a birthday or New Years celebration. But it doesn’t always have to be so formal. A simple night in with popcorn, a cheese board and wine with your girlfriends paired with some face masks, a good movie and slipper socks can make for a relaxed, fun, night in.

4. Light a fire and huddle round. Is there anything more warm and snuggly than a real log fire or stove? In the absence of having a log fire in your home, you can create a cosy feel with some soft lighting and lamps in your living room.

5. Cosy furniture: DFS have reported that there is less buying of the traditional three piece suite of furniture in favour of mix and match buying, such as a velvet accent chair and a sofa from different ranges. Velvet is the popular and sumptuous material of the moment, with sales of velvet sofas and armchairs increasing more than three-fold in the past year. If you cannot stretch to a sofa, a velvet chair or footstool would make a real statement in your home, such as the DFS ‘Calm’ velvet chair, which I have in my reading corner (and is also pictured below).

Here are the white and metallic DIY pumpkins I created, with a step by step guide on how to do them yourself. It’s a great activity to do with the little ones while the end result will look chic in your home.  There is a white and gold pumpkin, a white one decorated with pearls, a studded pumpkin, a gold pumpkin and a silver pumpkin.

What you’ll need:

1. Faux pumpkins or polystyrene pumpkins

These polystyrene pumpkins are from Eurogiant (the pound shop) and cost 1.50E each. They also have some in Dealz.

2.  Spray paint

This white spray paint is from Woodies (8 euro). I bought two bottles of white, a silver and a gold to do five pumpkins.

3. Pearls and thumbtacks

I picked up these pearls and thumbtacks in Eurogiant (1.50e each). I also  bought some gold glitter glue (1.50e).

Painting pumpkins

Next spray the pumpkins in your desired colour. Do this outside – I did it in the garden as the fumes from the spray paint were really strong. These needed two coats of spray paint and I left them a day in between each coat to dry.

Pumpkin decorating or pumpkin pimping

Now your pumpkins are ready to decorate!

I started with a plain white pumpkin with a gold top and painted the gold in glitter glue. In fact this was great fun to do with my three year old daughter Ruby as she could paint it with supervision. I also ‘speckled’ some of the gold glitter paint around the top of the pumpkin.

White and pearl pumpkin

The pearls I bought in Eurogiant are stick-on on one side, so we stuck  them in lines down the side of the pumpkin and on top. We initially tried placing the pearls between the ridges but they wouldn’t stick!

Studded Pumpkin

I created the studded pumpkin with gold thumbtacks. There are also silver thumbtacks in the shops so you can go for a white and silver look too.

To do this, pin lots of thumbtacks around the top of the pumpkin. Then in three places, started pinning them into a ‘V’, first with five in a row, then four in a row, then three in a row, then two and then one.

You can also pin some sides with just one in a row.

Gold Pumpkin or silver pumpkin

For the gold and silver pumpkins, I just spray painted each of them in two coats of spray paint. You can also paint the pumpkins with craft paint in silver or gold.

So that’s it, I hope you like them! I’ll keep them indoors until Halloween night when I will scatter them at my front foot alongside some lanterns, ready for the trick or treat-ers.

Happy Halloween!

Anne Marie x

Last week I had the pleasure of talking to  The Irish Independent’s Eleanor Flegg about Halloween interiors and what I’ll be up to for Halloween. You can read the full article here and below.

Wishing you a Happy Halloween, whichever way you celebrate,

Anne Marie

x

Put a mature twist on the traditional Halloween decoration this year with interiors to die for.

‘It’s like a war zone in here,” says the girl at the Lidl checkout, wearily scanning my vegetables. “People have been fighting about pumpkins all day.” My pumpkin of choice is medium-sized and Irish. It costs €2.99. Irregular in shape and duller in colour than the larger pumpkins, I feel that it has the makings of a characterful decoration. The shop also has a stack of large, round, bright orange pumpkins. These, I assume, are being sold by weight as the pricing isn’t obvious. Hence the pumpkin wars. They’re heavier than you thin

Pumpkins aren’t native to Ireland and apparently they’re tricky to grow, but over the last decade, they’ve become a Halloween staple. I have to admit that I’m a fan. What other piece of interior décor can also be made into soup? “You don’t even have to carve them!” says Jo Linehan. “You can buy a big pile of them in different shapes and sizes and use them just as they are.” She’s one half of Gaff Interiors – the other half is Caroline Foran – and their collective approach to Halloween décor is to interpret it in a way that’s chic and not that obvious.

Linehan lives with housemates, 30-somethings who probably wouldn’t appreciate sticky spider-webs and giant inflatable skeletons with pumpkin-heads (if you must, you can buy these in Lidl for €29.99). Instead, she’s exploring the more mature side of Halloween decoration. “After the last storm I gathered some twigs and branches, so I’m going to display them in a big vase, but that’s as far as I can go towards spooky,” she says. “Apart from that, I’m going to focus on light. We need it, at this time of year, so I’m going to use lots of candles and fairy lights.” And a pumpkin. Always a pumpkin.

For lighting, Linehan recommends Ikea as economical and eco-friendly, but also likes Søstrene Grene. The Danish brand has stores in Limerick, Athlone, Cork and one, recently opened, on South Great George’s Street in Dublin. It’s a good source of affordable Scandi-style homeware and DIY craft materials which are the direct opposite of Halloween tat. “Søstrene Grene has great faux foliage too. You could totally get yourself decked out,” says Linehan. “I like any celebration where you get to be creative and it’s the make-and-do aspect of Halloween that brings the most joy.

On Halloween night, Linehan plans to stay in and watch a scary movie. Her business partner, Caroline Foran, has her own house where she expects to be kept busy answering the door to trick-or-treaters. “There are a lot of kids on her estate so she’ll definitely do something with door decoration,” Linehan says. “She loves her living room too, so she’ll probably switch around the cushions and put in some orange touches.” A brown faux fur throw, a glowing orange lampshade, or even a bunch of seasonal flowers can give a room a subtle Halloween flavour.

That said, Linehan admits that some households, especially those with children, prefer a more traditional take on Halloween. “It can get tacky, but the definition of what is and what isn’t tacky varies from person-to-person. For some people, if you don’t have the fake tombstones in the garden then you’re not celebrating at all,” she says. “The big thing is not to go too expensive. People get carried away with big displays. So keep it cheap and cheerful for sure. It’s only a few days, and nobody has room in their house to be storing giant ghosts and goblins for the rest of the year.”

For Halloween decorations that aren’t run of the mill, she suggests TK Maxx. There’s always an element of smash-and-grab. You never know quite what to expect and you can’t plan in advance, but that can be fun if you’re on form for it. Expect a strong Mexican Day of the Dead theme running through the Halloween offering. Extreme manifestations of this trend include the Queebo Mexico skull stool or side table. It’s 54cm high, made in polyethylene, and inspired by Mexican sugar skulls. Sheer madness, of course, but kind of cool. It’s available online from Smithers of Stamford or Amara, where it costs a frightening €1,210.

Meanwhile, fashion and interiors blogger Anne Marie Boyhan, is planning a Halloween that her three-year-old daughter will enjoy. “The whole thing of decorating the house has really taken off,” she says. “People are gearing up to Halloween like it’s Christmas! A lot of the decor is cheaper when you order it from sites like AliExpress and some parents start their online shopping for Halloween in the middle of August.” This year, instead of buying decorations, Boyhan is planning a visit to a pumpkin patch in Co Meath. This is one of several such places around Ireland where you can pick your own pumpkin from the field. “It’s a great family photo opportunity,” she says. “All that orange! Sometimes they will carve the pumpkin for you, but we’ll bring ours home and make an occasion out of carving it. Halloween is all about the pumpkins!”

When they get home, Boyhan and her daughter are looking forward to a “Pimp my Pumpkin” session, with spray paint, glitter, stickers and pearls. “I’m going to up my pumpkin game!” she says. “We’ll be using faux pumpkins as well as real ones. I like to have them around the front door, some of them as lanterns, and a tablescape on the kitchen island with pumpkins of different sizes decorated in different ways.” The orange look, she admits, is not for everyone. While families with children tend to favour a black-and-orange palette with plenty of scary stuff, she’s also noticed a Instagram trend for white pumpkins decorated with metallics. Real white pumpkins may be hard to find, but faux ones are widely available. You can buy a small one in Woodies for €5.79 along with spooky stuff that ranges from the tasteful to the gruesome. Severed hand decoration, anyone? It’s life-size, lifelike, and comes packaged like a prime cut of meat. Halloween can be tasteful, but it doesn’t have to be.

If you love Joules clothing’s colourful, coastal and country prints,  then keep reading.  I know I do – at weekends I live in a Joules Breton stripe top and navy gilet- read all about the Joules Dublin store here.

DFS Joules Cambridge four-seater sofa in Navy Plain and Floral Cotton, €1,169

 For a stylish refresh, choose the elegance of the Windsor chesterfield or the subtle stripes of the Burnham coastal inspired sofa. The quirky partridge print Ilkley and the floral Cambridge are perfect for a bold injection of print and colour.

DFS Joules Burnham Harbour Coastal Stripe Armchair in Navy, €1,349*, and DFS Joules Burnham Cotton Stripe four-seater sofa in Creme and Navy, €1,599.

The four sofa styles, with matching armchairs and footstools, are all about timeless coastal and country looks and are available in an array of fabric options with distinctive colour-dipped feet. Each piece showcases the bold shades and playful prints for which Joules is known.

DFS Joules Windsor three-seater sofa in Yellow Velvet, €1,679

Designed by DFS’ Design Director, Philip Watkin and Joules’ Head of Concept, Laura Douglas, each piece is handmade to order.  The collection combines Joules’ unique hand-drawn prints and unrivalled attention to detail with the traditional skills of DFS’ craftspeople in its own Derbyshire factories; a team of upholsterers, fabric cutters and sewers. The fabric for the sofas is also woven and printed by a longstanding fabric mill based in the North of England.

DFS Joules Ilkley Velvet Armchair in Green Peter Partridge print, €1,259*, and Joules Ilkley four-seater sofa in Green Heritage Tweed, €1,469.

Availability: The Joules collection is now available on the DFS website at www.dfs.ie and features in the DFS Blanchardstown store.

Earlier today I popped along to the Colour Happiness event by DFS, styled by Roisin Lafferty Design.

According to research conducted by DFS, 73% of Irish homeowners want to be more brave with colour in our homes. Hence DFS teamed up with Roisin Lafferty (interior designer extraordinaire) to show us how.

Bed linen, White and Green.

Throws, Foxford Woolen Mills.

Bed, sofas and chairs all from DFS.

Finally, after many months the master bedroom in my house is finished and I am excited to give you the room tour. Everything is linked or named below.

In the end I went for a white, grey blush pink and gold palette and have been picking up the pieces one by one as I spotted them.

The first thing we bought was the bed – the most expensive piece of furniture so far in the house! When we baby- mooned in Monart three years ago, the hotel bed was the comfiest bed ever and we vowed there and then to buy it (cue the morning after the best nights sleep, lifting up the mattress to take a photo of the manufacturer). It’s a Super King size bed, which takes up most of the room. It’s by King Koil which we bought at Arnotts. Luckily the way our move into the house fell, we were near to the summer sales and it was well worth it for 40% off.   For large items like beds, the lead time for ordering is 4-6 weeks.

The next thing to be installed is the art deco style light – which I am utterly in love with! Sadly it’s now sold out at Marks and Spencer.

The room ‘did us’ like that for many months until I finally had the time and money to finish it.

The headboard was only purchased recently and it’s from Wayfair.  I wanted to get a tufted button style headboard and there were lots of colours to choose from. Although the shipping to Ireland was 100 pounds, even with shipping included it was still by far the best value for money headboard that I’ve found (and I’ve scoured SO MANY furniture shops online!).

I wove in the colour scheme with some scatter cushions in different textures of suede and velvet (too many perhaps!). The zig zag one I’m particularly fond of, as I designed it with the help of the DFS textile designer at the DFS Capsule collection launch in London last year.

With the gold lamps, they had a large bowl outside the bulb, which I removed.

Bed, King Koil at Arnotts

Art Deco style lampshade, Marks & Spencer

Waffle duvet Cover, Kirkton House,  Aldi

Marble bedside tables, Homesense

Pink faux sheepsking rug (also comes in grey and white), Dunnes Stores

Gold bedside lamps, Considered by Helen James at Dunnes Stores

Small gold mirror on bedside table, HM home

Black and gold tray, HM home

Jo Malone pomegranate candle, Brown Thomas

Sheepskin footstool, Aldi

Pink faux flowers in a jar, Penneys/Primark

White faux roses, Amazon

Gold vase, HM Home

Collar on bedside table, Joanne Hynes at Dunnes Stores

Headboard, Ryan upholstered,  Wayfair

Built-in wardrobe, Keane Kitchens

Pink velvet, grey suede and white cushions: Primark

Grey and white chevron velvet cushion, DFS similar scatter cushion here

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Yours in style,

Anne Marie x

Catching up with my sisters is so lovely and as some of them are UK-based, the last time we were all in one place, we organised a lunch.

We headed to the chicest lunch spot I’ve been to in Dublin ever- Wilde Restaurant at The Westbury Hotel- it was all so decadent!

Just look at the interiors…marble, velvet Art Deco lights…gorgeous. The sun was streaming in which was an extra .

I can totally recommend this place for a girly lunch or catch up in Dublin.

Wilde at the Westbury Hotel