Luxury design house Cole & Son share their expertise on making wallpaper selections for the bathroom.
The design house of Cole & Son has been creating original and exceptional wallcoverings since 1875 and continue to innovate with their intelligent and artistic designs. First established in the borough of Islington in North London, today the house archive is a beautiful and inspiring chronicle of artistic styles and expressions spanning the 18th-century to modern day.
Amongst the archive are some of the most important historic wallpaper designs in the world; Cole & Son has provided wallpapers for many historic houses including Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. Combining unparalleled style with the finest quality, the in-house design studio is dedicated to producing unique and distinctive designs which help shape beautiful, inviting interiors through colour and pattern.
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Whilst wallpaper has become a firm favourite throughout the home – from living rooms and libraries to playrooms and parlours – many people still feel tentative about using it in some of the rooms that we frequent the most; one such place is the bathroom. With high-humidity spaces it can be daunting to use anything other than tiles or bathroom-specific paint, however with the right preparation and maintenance, non-woven wallpapers are the perfect way to create a unique space to start and end your day.
Before deciding on the scheme for your bathroom makeover it is vital to look at the space you will be working with – one key factor is ventilation. In order to keep your wallpaper looking pristine it is important that your bathroom has a window that can be opened or a powerful extractor fan. If your bathroom is not well-ventilated you may want to look at using wallpaper in a powder room or separate water-closet instead as the lack of humidity in these smaller areas lend themselves well to keeping your wallpaper looking as good as the day it is installed.
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Once you have confirmed that your bathroom has adequate ventilation, it is time for the fun part: the design. There are a multitude of options when choosing wallpaper, however designing a bathroom is particularly exciting as the rest of the scheme often needs to be very functional; the walls are your time to let your imagination run wild. If you are updating your existing bathroom scheme to complement the suite or tiles that are already in place, you can begin to build a colour palette around the tones that are present. A white bathroom suite is ideal for a bright and bold design, whereas coloured tiles can be the perfect partner to hues within a striking print, elevating the entire space. Utilising the elements that are already in place also means that your bathroom update is quicker and easier to achieve and allows you greater flexibility to change your scheme in the future.
In order to protect your walls once you have finished your new bathroom space, Cole & Son recommend using a flat matte decorating sealant. This will protect the paper and help to avoid any minor stains from stray splashes of water or steam. Alternatively, if you are planning your new bathroom design from scratch, look at using tiles or wooden panelling around the lower half of your walls combining with wallpaper on the upper half in order to minimise water splash marks and introduce other textures to your scheme.
www.cole-and-son.com | IG: @cole_and_son_wallpapers
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