A quick interiors post from me today with our latest mini make-over of our upstairs toilet and some details on how to fit California Shutters as we have done in this upstairs toilet and the nursery recently. *I have been gifted these shutters and have a discount code to share from the company so will mark this as ad but this is not a paid partnership {although I have worked with the company on a paid campaign in the past year}*. 

Before... 

This upstairs toilet was the last original part of our house that we hadn't done anything with since we moved in. You can see the floral wallpaper, ugly pipes and net curtains. It was always our lowest priority as we still hope one day {if we ever get listed building permission} to extend out the back through here to add an extra bedroom upstairs. So until now, hadn't wanted to spend any time or money renovating it. But then I got pregnant and suddenly our priorities changed, this room is opposite our bedroom and next to the nursery so I didn't want it to annoy me every time I'd go past it, and we'd be spending a lot more time up here when the baby arrives. It also didn't have a sink in, when we bought the house, every bedroom had a sink in instead! So we wanted to smarten it up, add a sink in and also run pipes so we can fit a toilet in our attic en-suite {our house is really confusing!}. 

After...

{we still need to sand/paint the floor and add a towel hook but it's basically done!}

D U R I N G // 

We decided that panelling would be the best way to box out to add a sink along with housing the soil pipes needed for the attic above. It also had a stupidly high ceiling in here so the first job was to stud out the framework and lower the ceiling with plasterboard. My husband did all the work himself to reduce the cost of the project. We bought the cheapest, smallest sink on eBay we could find and used paint that we already had in our cellar. 

He fitted the new pipes and then built the framework, using tongue and groove sheets we bought from a timbers merchant locally to us.

The toilet got shifted so it was more central on the window, and the wallpaper got covered with the panelling.

The sink was plumbed in, and Ben made a door for a little cupboard underneath {to access the plumbing and for storage}. We painted it with a Farrow & Ball strong white, a colour we had leftover from a project last year. We finalllly changed the toilet seat to a plain white, soft close lid, and then fitted shutters at the window. All the woodwork got freshened up with paint. We still just need to finish the floor off and add a hook for a hand towel.

It seems like a small makeover but it's one that's made so much difference to our upstairs just having a sink and tap in there now and it looking so much brighter and nicer. 

S H U T T E R  T A L K // 

In this post, I've shared the details of how amazing the ordering system is to use and how easy it is to measure yourself. The team will always get you to send photos of your windows, and have one last final call check with you before your order goes to production to check that both they and you are happy. 

The shutters arrive in pieces, in separate boxes for each window frame and shutter panels. They're all labelled, and there are step by step videos to watch online if you're not sure. 

But essentially, you build the outside frame, slotting together the left and right pieces. 

It pushes together with the clever plastic angled joints. 

And then mount this in your window. {this is assuming your windows are set back from the inside wall, but they also offer frames for mounting to windows which are flush with the inside wall. You set all of this up when you place your order}. The frames come pre drilled to fix with screws into your windows/walls.

The shutter panels are also labelled with numbers, depending on how many panels and the configuration of opening that you've chosen. 

You drop the pins into the hinges {one part of the hinge is on the frame and the other is on the panel pre screwed in}.

Carry this along to connect each panel. 

I love the look that they give in here, a million times better than that old, greying net curtain we'd had since we moved in! They let in light whilst giving privacy.

Mirror online here.

For the shutters in the nursery we've gone for cafe style, tier on tier, on the biggest window which means that we can open the top ones for extra light separately from the bottom tier. 

And then two panels on the smaller window.

The biggest question we've had about shutters is whether they're black out and the answer is, almost. But not 100%. So we'll add thin roller blackout blinds behind them if we need them at a later date. 

All of the shutters we've ordered have been in a smooth hardwood finish, 64mm slat size, central tilt rods, silk white SW, hinges in white. Mostly full height apart from the big window in the nursery which is tier on tier. You can choose which way you want them to open depending on your room/windows and then they all fold back to open fully.

This is our second time ordering from California Shutters and we couldn't be happier with all of the rooms that we have them in now. I love the look and I think we'll slowly add them throughout the house! 

Hope this has helped. 

You can use the code RVKLOVES25 for 25% off any shutters from California Shutters, excluding express delivery. Expires 31st July 2019. 

R <3 xx