This rather lovely rustic, wooden A-frame ladder, hinged at the top and held together at the bottom with thick rope, hasn’t really been utilised in our house as well as it could have been. It’s usually covered in throws, which as the weather warms up, are discarded from beds and sofas. When we decided to titivate the top bathroom, I suddenly saw the ladder with new eyes and new it was the perfect accessory for what I was imagining in the bathroom.
With a very high sloping ceiling, although the bathroom is quite small floor-space wise, it feels cavernous because it is so high and I knew that the solution was to try and bring down the ceiling. Without actually going to the expense of doing that. So, the idea of a jungle bathroom was born. Although not with real plants unfortunately. The beams from which I intended to suspend the plants, are high and a bit difficult to access so regular watering would have been problematic. Also, because the downstairs bathroom has a powerful shower, this tends to be the one we use most, so chances are we’d actually forget to go in and water plants in the upstairs bathroom. The other consideration was that we have a houseful of faux plants and foliage, which meant I could easily redistribute what we already had, without having to make any additional purchases. The only real consideration then was how to suspend the foliage, without overloading the beams. And, voila – this is when I saw the potential of the ladder, with the hinges removed and the rope cut, so that it could be opened and laid flat across the top of the beams. Because of the angle of the ceiling and the position of the door and walls, it was a tricky manoeuvre, but through sheer determination, we wrestled it into place and started to attach the faux stems of ivy and vines with the rope we’d previously taken off.
A metal wall rack, from Rockett St George, was brought up from the living room and another vine hung over it. I think the green glittery pigeon is very happy in his new home, too.
An adhesive, battery operated LED strip was attached to the join between the back of the bath and the wall, which gives off a very pretty glow. (And yes, they are ready to be refilled recycled gin bottles on the bath shelf. The cut of the glass bottles and the colour of the bath foam is really accentuated now with the lights behind them).
There will undoubtedly be more tweaks that we make to this room, but it now feels a whole lot more “finished”, and a much more comfortable room in which to fill up that bath, pour a glass of wine and sink back and relax.