A Paper Series Post
While the Bulletin Board Inspiration Series has previously focused on clippings to display in a beautiful artistic style, the July Bulletin Board Inspiration is a design project board for a French Finesse Bathroom.
One of the basic functions of design boards is to display materials and products in home projects. Today, project boards, commonly called MOOD BOARDS, are created and shared electronically by designers, bloggers, architects, and national brand companies. However, a good old-fashioned bulletin board is a perfect place to display a tactile MOOD BOARD.
After more than thirty years, our upstairs bathroom needs a drastic renovation. This summer, we are renovating the upstairs bathroom to make it more ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliant, to replace worn out fixtures and plumbing, and to add more French Country style with the new upgrades.
B U L L E T I N B O A R D I N S P I R A T I O N
french finesse bathroom
No. 4
Materials and Products
Instead of real marble walls, we will use cultured marble since it less expensive, does not weigh as much, and is easy to clean and to maintain. Our new shower will not have a door since maneuvering around a door is hard for older people and people with health issues. Bright, shiny chrome grab bars along the long wall and along the wall across from the shower controls will provide ADA compliant devices for extra safety in the shower.
I have cultured marble in my master bathroom and the guest half-bath and have been pleased with it for many years.
The hand-held shower head will be low enough for a seated person not to have to reach high above her head to get it.
White matte hexagon 1" tile will cover both the shower floor and the rest of the bathroom floor.
There will be narrow blue tile borders in two places to add a bit of color to the white flooring. The first border will act as a visual, not raised, threshold between the sink section and the shower section of the bathroom. A second narrow blue border will run beside the shower curb to visually separate the bathroom from the shower. The shower will have a 4.5" curb since our house's structure does not allow the shower floor and bathroom floor to be at the same level.
A ring pattern in Blue Frost hexagon 1" tiles will be scattered throughout both floors. The lighter blue tile shown is called Silk White and the darker blue tile is called Frost Blue.
Earlier this summer I shared a post with details about the various blue color options for the hexagon tile. After seeing samples of all the available blues, I decided the Blue Frost color blends best with the existing blues in my house.
All of the tile I need for the bathroom update, both white and blue, were ordered at the end of last month and have arrived, awaiting installation.
Somehow I stumbled across this gorgeous scroll leaf wallpaper online and love its French Country style and colors that coordinate perfectly with the blue and white tile... in photos anyway.
The blues in the wallpaper pattern are variegated, with touches of gold throughout, on a white background. A large sample is on order, and I can hardly wait to see the paper in person.
The wallpaper just may be THE French Country finishing touch to pull the entire new bathroom remodel together for a beautiful French Finesse style!
Bulletin Board Design Tips
With each bulletin board inspiration post are a few tips on how I organize and create my boards with an eye toward design principles instead of pinning photos and objects with carefree abandon.
Design Layout
The overall plan for this board includes two ideas. First, the photos clearly indicate this board is about bathroom design. The largest photos are of the shower faucet, shower, and sink faucet and are in the top center of the board as the focal point of the board's layout. No one misses the reason for this Mood Board.
Secondly, the items on the board are displayed top to bottom where the real items occur in the room. The large shower with the controls dominates the space. The wallpaper is around the shower. The tile samples are at the bottom of board. Finally, the piece of wood baseboard molding is at the bottom of the board. In the physical layout of the bathroom, the baseboard is installed last after everything else has been installed.
French Quarter Finesse Style
The title print sets the design style as French Country with the scroll leaf paper, the decorative script blue font, and the watercolor print of the Louvre in Paris, France. Oh, and the Eiffel Tower and fleur de lis tacks nail the look!
Repeated Use of the Same Object
An important design guideline in decorating is to repeat an object and/or a color. I used three snippets of the wallpaper design to reinforce the French Country style of the board and to see the wallpaper next to the tile floor and the shower to give me a sense of how the room will look.
Keep the Eyes Looking Into the Page Layout
Another subtle, yet important, layout design principle is to keep the viewer's eye looking within the layout. Do not position anything that leads the eyes away, into the "wild blue yonder". Regular readers probably remember reading this tip from me repeatedly over the years in various design layouts.
When I first tacked the pages to the bulletin board, I tacked the sink faucet to the left of the shower and the shower faucets to the right of the shower. As soon as I stepped back to look at how things were coming together I realized those two pages led the viewer's eyes away from the bulletin board with no other item to bring the eyes back to the layout. The sink faucets' water spout pointed away to the left and the overhead shower head pointed away to the downward right. Now, the two faucet prints point toward the center of the layout.
Subtle, but important for making a good layout into a great layout.
Tack Placement
A large, sturdy Eiffel Tower tack can hold a heavy tile sample board by placing the tack into an existing display hole in the sample's thick cardboard. If a thick cardboard item does not already have a useful hole for you to use, make a hole with a hole punch. If you cannot cut a hole through thick cardboard with a hole punch, drive a large nail through the cardboard to make a hole. Be sure to place the cardboard on a thick piece of wood to catch the nail as it goes through the cardboard.
Another way to support a heavy cardboard item on a bulletin board is to lean the cardboard onto a tack instead of driving a tack through the cardboard. The tile sample board is secured with the Eiffel Tower in the existing hole at the top of the board. To display the tile an angle, I leaned the board against a fleur de lis tack at the bottom right at an angle I wanted to cover part of the page below it.
Creative placement of decorative tacks add depth to a board's design. The gold bee decorative tack looks like it is climbing around a beehive made from the hexagon tile pieces. In a recent Bulletin Board Inspiration post, this bee was tacked to a photo of lavender blooms, giving an illusion of a bee gathering nectar.
The small wood baseboard molding piece is held into place with a large bee tack underneath and a large Eiffel Tower butted against a deep indentation in the baseboard. Granted the baseboard cannot withstand vigorous jostling, but the baseboard is secure for a display on top of a chest. A second Eiffel Tower tack on the left side of the baseboard would make the wood more stable.
A French wire basket filled with bright, white faux paperwhites repeat the bright whites in the French Finesse Bathroom bulletin board and are beautiful with the ink blue background cork board.
~~~~❦~~~~
Since many people have been experiencing delays in their home improvement projects due to both shipping issues and out-of-stock materials, I ordered the materials for the bathroom renovation as soon as I found in-stock fixtures I liked.
All of the following are here ready for the remodel to begin.
- Kohler Shower Faucet System, including the plumbing diverter valves
- Kohler 16"-17" H Toilet
- Moen 2' Grab Bars
- Pfister Sink Faucet
- Tile
The wallpaper sample should arrive within a few days. At the time I ordered the sample, 45 rolls of the wallpaper were in stock and are usually shipped 3-5 business days after ordering.
All sources for materials will be listed on the post in which I reveal the finished renovation.
My contractor is so busy I do not yet have a date for the remodel project to begin, but once it begins there should not be any hold-ups due to materials since I already have everything that required ordering.
~~~~❦~~~~
The next planned post has the BEFORE pictures of the bathroom as it looks now.
For sneak peeks at some of the materials used in the upcoming bathroom remodel,
see my Pinterest Board
