Help me decorate my tiny downstairs loo

[Hyperiaistheworst]

We have been in our house four years and my husband has done loads of work on it. However there is still much to do, and the down stairs loo is way down the list of priorities. But I would really like to make it just a bit less awful. He’s away on Wednesday night and I was wondering what I could do in that window of opportunity, or in slower time, to give it a glow up. The main issue is the pipes and cables running floor to ceiling and all along one wall and the waste from the basin, sporting dayglo orange tape at the joins. I have no proven DIY skills and a budget of, say, £50. I have tools but not sure I am competent enough to box anything in. Ideally I was thinking some nice wallpaper behind the mirror (although loathe to buy a roll when I only need one piece) and then a dark green on the other walls.

Any ideas or tips gratefully received.

Also, if it makes a difference, the room itself tends to be quite cold and gloomy.

Could you stick up a shower curtain from floor to ceiling across the whole wall with stick on velcro to cover the pipes and cables?

Cheap and wonderful shower curtains are available on Amazon, as is stick on velcro. £50 is more than you need.

It would be a temporary and quirky solution until proper decorating can take place.

There are shower curtains showing an idyllic scene through a window or perhaps a rustic brick wall. Or how about a nice flowery one.

Forgot to add photo 🤦🏻‍♀️

a shower curtain could work. I suppose I was thinking more something to wrap around the pipes and cables. They have fairy lights wound round currently which is OK ish in winter but really is kind of the embodiment of putting lipstick on a pig!

I really like your idea of the wallpaper and the dark green paint - great for making the room feel more cosy.

You may be able to get a wallpaper remnant instead of a whole roll? Wallpaper shops may have them, or Ebay/Etsy.

You could paint the pipes in dark green as well. Yes, they's still be there, but much less obvious and awkward, especially against a dark green wall.

You could probably stick something like this over the cables (not sure what size you would need):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electrical-Trunking-Adhesive-Conduit-Plastic-White/dp/B0CS6TXHRY/ref=asc_df_B0CS6TXHRY?mcid=c236948efc36313885f4fc9163a20b06&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=710973125435&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18415565466100808206&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045871&hvtargid=pla-2358663163418&psc=1&gad_source=1

A friend of mine had a similar cupboard under the stairs loo, she wallpapered it with old copies of the Beano. Maybe not everyone's taste, but it actually looked great and it was really fun.

Yes, the great thing about these small downstairs loos is that you can afford to go a bit offbeat!

Sorry but there is no fixing that abomination of pipework unless you box off about 1/4 of the room.

The whole lot needs re doing IMO. Sometimes you just have to put your hands in the air and realise the improvement task is hopeless.

Edit : Spend the £50 on something else !

theres no reason I can’t paint them is there? That’s probably the best way. I’ve considered wrapping fabric, or encasing it in some sort of drainpipe and then painting that but actually I think just painting them is probably for the best. Less chance of bodging it. I might use gold paint on the tiles (although the tap is chrome…) and maybe use the same wallpaper on the shaped bit of the cupboard doors. Ooh exciting!!

I would get loads of frames from charity shops/eBay and put up loads and loads of photos, kids old drawings etc. people will look at them and not see the pipes.

This is very much my husband’s view!

I like it!

If there is one thing I’m not short of, it’s old copies of the beano!!

I wouldn't paint the tiles. Whatever the claims on the tin it won't survive water and cleaning materials/ chemicals, especially if you were going for a metallic finish.

Yes, I really wouldn't paint the tiles. I've never seen painted tiles that didn't look crap.

Also the tiles are really not the problem here.

This is a fair point!

We painted the whole thing Pompeian Ash from Little Greene (cheaper copes available). Walls, ceiling, woodwork etc.

Certainly makes a statement!

I boxed in and put skirtings on, with fairly basic skills but some common sense.

I'll try to find photos

It looks a bit cell block h, but it is nicer in real life

That is lovely, and I like the idea of using the same colour on walls, ceiling and furniture.

I would use some bronze/copper rub and buff on the metal pipes and paint a dark green or teal colour to offset them...I really don't know about the plastic ones. Maybe you could prime and paint them? You can definitely paint that cupboard as well, I would do it the same as the walls.

As everyone else has said I wouldn't paint the tiles but you could try some stick on tiles. I've not used them myself but I've seen a few on Instagram. They range from fairly cheap (b&m, home bargains) to more expensive. I've actually seen people use them in showers and do updates to show they've held up so I would think behind a sink would be fine.

I would paint absolutely everything a warm toned dark green (Leyland dusky jade perhaps?) including the ceiling, all pipes, window surround and cabinet (but not the tiles). Then make a virtue out of necessity and use the pipe that is currently wrapped in orange tape as a towel rail. Get rid of the white plastic towel hook. As the metalwork is all chrome I'd try and find a much bigger mirror than the current one - junk shop what ever - and get some car spray paint and spray the frame silver (take the glass out spray and then replace the glass when the paint is dry). DO the same for the smaller mirror and put it up behind the loo so it bounces the light around. Silver/chrome knobs on the cabinet - perhaps some statement ones as you only need 2. Get a dark coloured loo brush and put it by the loo rather than the sink.

Some great ideas here - thanks!

I hadn’t really thought about the mirror but the tiny-ness of it is annoying, and I have silver spray paint, so could definitely do that. We have a painting that I like (and can’t face finding a new home for) above the loo, but could maybe move that to a different wall and put mirror above the loo. Much to think about!

Someone on here's DD currently has a large piece of black material you could use as a dust sheet !

I think the main problem is the position of the pipe with the orange tape. You could spend money having it boxed in, but you'd be better off spending on a plumber to reposition it. I'd prioritise sorting that out first.

The whole (tiny) room will eventually be properly sorted with boxing in and new light fitting (I shan’t miss the translucent saucer of dead flies) and new loo, basin and cupboard. Anything I do will be a temporary measure only to tide us over until that point (sometime in 2026. Possibly) I believe that the repositioning of the pipe is on that list of things to sort.