Susan, Frank,
Thanks for the kind compliments.
We DO love uncluttered modern design. The thing is, it's actually really hard to achieve that style without the result looking sterile or institutional.
Also, this being a kid's bathroom we wanted to incorporate some playful elements into it, hence the mosaic strips (they reminded me of hard candy when I saw them at the tile store).
One of the things I've learned from this project: the need to plan to the smallest detail and to draw every possible option on graph paper. This helps to anticipate the small details, such as: at what height do the decorative strips run, and what do they meet as they run round your room.
We actually just got lucky with the mosaic strips meeting the niches where they do, (it could have been much worse) as we gave no thought to the tile pattern while installing the niches. Big mistake on our part, if we had placed the niches with the tile pattern worked out in advance, we would have made sure that all mosaic strips would intersect both niches at the same height, or at least symmetrical, as in 1/3 from the bottom at the lower niche and 1/3 from the top at the upper niche.
I'm sure there are other details that fall short of perfection, it's just that the expert eyes on this forum are probably much too polite to point them out to us.
As to the Romans, I think I prefer their architecture too their cuisine! Did they really eat door-mice and tree fungi?
I have to agree with you though, it does seem odd to me as well, when I enter a perfectly respectable victorian house, a formal colonial or maybe a cute cape cod cottage, only to find myself back in ancient Roman times during a visit to the loo. But, I do really like a lot of the intricate or rustic designs, on this forum and elsewhere, that seem to be inspired by the Romans. The thing is, it's just not for us. We are living in a house that was built in the 60s and that takes it's cues from Bauhaus style as well as California modern and we try to stay at least somewhat true to the original architecture.
