‘We created an expensive look on a shoe-string’
Doing most of the work themselves enabled Celie Horton and her husband Chris to create a high-end, vintage-inspired bathroom without the big price tag
DIY and shrewd shopping helped Celie Horton create a vintage-style spa room on a budget
Celie Horton and her husband, Chris, loved the idea of taking on a renovation project so, when this cottage came on the market, Chris viewed it and put in an offer before Celie had even seen it. Luckily, it was a good decision, as she liked it as much as Chris did. ‘Thankfully, as soon as I saw it, I fell in love,’ says Celie, ‘but, admittedly, it needed a lot of work and would be a huge project. We wanted to create a modern cottage home to make it functional for dayto-day life, while also embracing the original character and charm of the building.’
THE PROJECT
The couple had hoped to start on the bathroom first but, with quite a lot of building work needed for the rest of the house, they ended up getting round to the bathroom later than planned. However, the delay gave Celie
a chance to experiment with the look she wanted. ‘Having started on the other rooms, I had a really good vision in my head of how I wanted the bathroom to look,’ she says. ‘I’ve used various different styles – I love William Morris designs and wall panelling, and we’ve used a blue and green colour palette running throughout the house – so it was fairly easy to create something that I felt reflected my style,’ says Celie. Knowing what they wanted the finished room to look like, they decided to knock through into the main bedroom to add more space to the bathroom.
WHAT WE DID
The couple are both very much hands-on when it comes to working on each room. ‘Chris and I completed all the work ourselves, bar the plastering, which my dad did as he’s a trained plasterer by trade, so we took full advantage of his skill set,’ says Celie. From the initial knocking down of the dividing wall, to the plumbing, painting and tiling, the couple did it all between them and paid no labour costs. They also managed to keep the budget down by only buying a handful of new items, which included the toilet, shower, screen and tray from Victorian Plumbing, but picked up the bathtub from eBay, and the sink unit was an old kitchen dresser, which the previous owner left. ‘We took the top off, sanded it all down added embossed wooden decals and changed the handles. We painted it in Hague Blue from Farrow & Ball as I had some leftover from a previous room, and used an offcut of the solid-oak kitchen worktop as a replacement top, which was perfect for the two sinks,’ Celie explains.
HIGHS AND LOWS
While the couple became pretty used to doing the work themselves, they have found that
a few things took longer than expected. ‘I tiled the shower area myself, which was really hard work, and looking back at some of the levels it has a few wonky lines,’ explains Celie. ‘One thing I certainly wouldn’t use again is black grout, as it’s really hard to work with and shows up any flaws. I decided to leave the flooring to Chris as he’s much better at tiling then me.’ They also had some delays with materials due to the pandemic, which slowed the process down. ‘There were a few bits Chris was unsure of throughout the makeover, but thankfully the joy of interiors is if something doesn’t work out the way I’d planned, we can always change it. Luckily, we’ve not had to change anything yet!’ says Celie.
THE FINAL DETAILS
To dial up the vintage feel, the couple added beaded trims on the wall to create a panelling effect, wallpapered inside the panels and then painted to picture-rail height in a rich, deep green. Celie then fitted a large mirror, added a scattering of plants, and chose sophisticated grey and charcoal towels. The windows overlook miles of open fields, so Celie decided against blinds, but may choose to add some later. ‘We love how the whole bathroom turned out – somehow Chris always manages to pull a vision out of my head! I’d say a firm favourite has to be the wall panelling. It really adds character to the room. It’s the ultimate space to relax in at the end of a day – now for the next room!’ Celie smiles.