Refurbishing a bathroom on a budget can be surprisingly easy. My main rule? 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!' Coloured bathrooms are back in fashion don't you know? Pictured is the windowsill in our 'Pampas' bathroom (a little lighter than avocado, but near enough for me to have fallen instantly in love with it...(blame it on nostalgia - but also the fact that white has become so boring).   So, if you're lucky enough to have retro tiles in good order (just clean & regrout) and a lush coloured bathroom, whether whisper pink, avocado, pampas or primrose yellow, embrace the character and colour.  Replace any broken elements (it's surprisingly easy to order 'discontinued colours' from various online sources : see: http://www.discontinuedbathrooms.co.uk/; OR www.oldcolourbathrooms.co.uk/ OR https://brokenbog.com/ ) Ensure all is clean and gleaming and give a fresh coat of moisture resistant bathroom paint to ceiling and any untiled walls (it's really that simple). Last but not least, the savings you'll have made will enable you to splash out on some luxury toiletries ( how about the lush colours of Molton Brown or if strapped for cash, Baylis & Harding or whatever best suits your colour scheme. Don't forget new towels: Orla Kiely & John Lewis for upmarket luxury;or IKEA for perfectly adequate towels which come with convenient hanging loops and as a bonus happen to be fast drying. See pictures below!

Not long now until we return to our beloved Scotland, our favourite place to 'escape from it all'. This oil painting by Kay Robson, of Loch Tummel near Pitlochry provides a nostalgic reminder, and when the curtains are drawn on our sea view of an evening, we can yet indulge in a lochside view, a fitting scene for the welcoming greens and warm tweeds of our lounge. This photo also demonstrates that, even in a streamlined mid-century modern home, a touch of 'old' for contrast works well, and may even emphasize the main mid-century modern theme. Sometimes it's about knowing the rules to break the rules.
​The backdrop is 'Portland Stone', by the LIttle Greene Paint Company  www.littlegreene.com, a slight departure from our 'mainly-white-walls-with-occasional-feature-wall' here at Blackbirds, but it was important for our lounge to have a cosy feel to it, and the soft green stone colour is a good compromise in its near-neutrality.