Through the looking glass

In a previous blog post, I showed you part of the display of odds and ends on top of our bathroom cabinet.

As it got some lovely comments, I thought I would show you some more details.

So, welcome to my bathroom!

First of all, I must say that our bathroom is one of the smallest in the history of mankind and that it was not what sold us the house.

It has naff flowery tiles and just the space for a hipbath-cum-shower, a washbasin and a toilet.

There is no possibility of an extension and not much room for improvement, save for a complete overhaul, so all we’ve done to it so far is purely cosmetic.

The boring bath taps were replaced by much nicer ones found for just a couple of Euros at a flea market many years ago. The "K" is for "koud", which I think you guessed means "cold".

In order to break the monotony of the floor-to-ceiling tiles, we added these bath prints which were bought in Bath (I'm not joking!) many years ago.

The mirror was a recent addition, charity shopped for € 8.

We paid the same price for the vintage bathroom cabinet, also charity shopped. It was made by French company Gilac from a plastic material called Ornamine, and it's very heavy. It probably dates from the late 1950s or early 1960s. The cabinet has three oval-mirrored doors with a little drawer beneath each one. One of the mirrors has some damage, but we decided not to replace it, as it does not really bother us.

We are on the lookout for more Gilac items for our bathroom and have already found some hooks as well as a bathroom stool in a similar design.

The odds and ends on top of the cabinet were collected over many years.

The wooden Boots first aid box was bought in an antique shop in Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire two years ago. It still contains a list of instructions as well as some of its contents: medicated wound dressing, a triangular bandage and an unopened bottle of smelling salts!

The Shingling Clipper box, with the 1920s shingle-haired lady on the lid, still contains the actual clipper inside.

The powdered shampoo, which needed to be dissolved in water, was one of the first products marketed by German company Schwarzkopf. The shampoo as well as the cartons of kirby grips were found at various flea markets over the years. The lady adorning the shampoo package always makes me think of Cate, whose hair is just as lovely.

This box (top left and bottom right) containing a Valet "Auto Strop" Safety Razor (but without the actual "Auto Strop”) still has the instruction leaflet inside. It’s got a Bakelite brother which does not live on top of the bathroom cabinet, but which I wanted to show you anyway. This one still has the razor as well as the “strop”.

Since we’re on the subject of bathroom paraphernalia, a bar of Sunlight toilet soap is a must, of course. Although this particular bar is more recent, Sunlight soap was already marketed in Belgium in 1888, and in 1905 a factory, "Savonneries S.A. Lever Frères", was opened in Brussels, which was a model factory just like the one at Port Sunlight.

The disposable razor, complete with little packet of razorblades, is German made and found at a local flea market last year. 

Last but not least is our vintage roll of "Popla" toilet paper.

Popla, a Dutch brand of toilet paper, was well-known for its iconic TV ads, the earliest dating from 1964. It made use of a popular children's song with alternative lyrics which accompanied an animation film featuring a king, an emperor and an admiral, all using Popla toilet paper of course!

I 'm sure a lot of people have long forgotten the original words to the song but can still remember the lyrics to the TV ad's version.  I'm betting that any Belgian and Dutch readers are already singing along by now ...