The story
The green bathroom was a pretty big eyesore, it probably deterred a lot of people from buying the house—a lot of people looked at it and it was on the market for a really long time. It had this custom green square tub, which was really bizarre, a shower and this thick tile all over the walls.
I asked several tile people if it was possible to chip away—there was a pattern on the top of the tile—and they were all like no, that's impossible. I thought, "there's got to be a way to do this." It was very time consuming, but
I ripped out linoleum flooring and put down a two-by-two porcelain tile that has a marble look. The dimensional juxtaposition of the big tile and the small tiles simplifies the space so that you can play with the green and make it work. I kind of like the colour green and I think it's coming back in a big way.
The details
I was able to save a little bit of the vintage flair, those really good quality wall tiles, you don't get that quality from 70 years ago anymore, and the radiator grates. I just put beadboard on top of the old wallpaper, and I found that modern shiplap look would give it a kind of bohemian style. The final decorating of the bathroom—finding those fun green towels from H&M Home and hanging baskets from Independent Mercantile and weavings that Mimi [Audellynn] made for me—gave it that bohemian vibe and made it that fun space. When I walk in there, it's just a bright bathroom, it makes me smile.
What makes it your favourite?
It's such an uplifting colour! Even in the winter when you walk into the room you feel like you have a little bit of spring in your life. Plus, the shape of the tub, it's such a great space. My daughter plays in it for such a long time, and the chandelier gives it a little bit of glamour. It is just a nice happy bright space and has that south-facing sun all day long. —interview conducted and edited for space and clarity by Allison Saunders
