Warm up a Bath with Artworks and a One-Off Vanity by Rose Bennett Gilbert on Creators.com

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Warm up a Bath with Artworks and a One-Off Vanity

Q: We have added a powder room in what used to be a side porch on our old farmhouse. We left the clapboard wall and the double-hung window just for fun (we added frosted glass). I'd like to carry the outdoor-indoor theme forward and need some ideas. What kind of lavatory, mirrors, lighting and other items would be appropriate?

A: Exterior architecture absorbed into indoor living space is a welcome visual witticism that's often possible when older homes are amended and extended for contemporary families.

With its clapboard wall and exterior window, your bath is already on its way to becoming as charming as, ahem, all outdoors. Furthering the illusion can be a lot of fun, as long as you don't overdo the al fresco motif.

The pictured bath has both location and attitude in common with yours. It's outdoorsy and rustic, yet long on style and grace. And because it comes from Jill Vegas' smart new book, "Speed Decorating" (The Taunton Press), it offers several ideas worth considering for your own guest bath. They include: the vanity custom-made from an old pine table, the collection of botanical prints, and the wonderfully overscaled, old map that claims the center of attention on the side wall.

FYI: Repurposing an old table or chest into a bathroom vanity is easy enough for any moderate handyman of either sex to accomplish. Junk shops and thrift stores overflow with castoffs you can buy for the proverbial song. Saw a circle the size of your self-rimming sink into the top, install faucets and connect the plumbing.

Three caveats: 1. Before you actually set saw to wood, make sure you aren't about to ruin a valuable antique in disguise; 2. Use several coats of clear polyurethane to protect the wood top from spills and splashes; 3.

Never let a cherished work of art share space in a bath with a shower. Don't hang the artwork too close to a bathtub. Steam and moisture can inflict mortal wounds on all art, and works-on-paper are especially vulnerable. However, since most powder rooms are half baths only, treasures like this giant map can hang out safely.

Q: We think there used to be a built-in corner cupboard in our dining room — we could see a difference in the surface of the wall when we stripped off the wallpaper.

Here's our question: How would it look to add triangular shelves and pretend we have a corner cupboard? What should we do at the ceiling? Add moulding?

A: As every professional designer knows, illusion is one of the most valuable tools in your decorating bag of tricks.

A few shelves, and voila! You have filled your empty corner with a piece of "furniture" that could actually hold display dishes and such. While you're at it, in fact, why not add an enclosed cupboard that stands about chair-rail high below the shelves? The cupboard could be glass instead of solid wood. Either way, mirror the triangular wall space behind them, the better to show off your good china.

About finishing things off at the ceiling line, choose deep crown moulding angled to cover the open top. If you already have crown moulding, try to match it — you can combine different sizes and shapes of moulding pieces, if needed. Learn more at hardwoodinfo.com (click "Helpful Resources" then "Moulding and Woodwork").

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style," "Hampton Style," and five other books on interior design. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.