Rooms With A View

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When we moved into this house, we inherited a very lurid, 1970's bathroom

(and I'm talking the bad 1970's, not the funky, retro look we all love now).

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It looked like a nasty victorian public toilet, with lots of hideous tiles.

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I was assured that it would only ever be a temporary bathroom and would be replaced in the near future.

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For a long time I have been fascinated with Tromp L'oeil paintings so I set about creating one of my own that we would only have to live with for a few years.

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That was 10 years ago.

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May I present to you my "temporary" bathroom decor :

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Everything you see is painted

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I chose a mosaic-type lino for the floor

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What I had in mind was a Roman Villa, sort of like this;

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But my artistic talents - as well as my boredom threshold - are quite limited.

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Then we created my workroom - it was originally intended to be a playroom, but, well, I kind of took over!

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There are no windows and I wanted a sense of a view, and I knew my painting talents weren't that great so I looked at wallpaper.

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We imported (at huge expense) this mural wallpaper from here.

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My next project was boy*jelly's bedroom.

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I wanted a room that would last him for a good few years and at the time he was big on trains.

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I ordered some more wallpaper from a British site which sadly no longer exists.

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He still has this bedroom - although bits of it have been ripped off the walls!

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Here are two of my favourite Trompe L'oeil artists.

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The first is this guy who created this fantastic artwork in a brewery.

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He also created this Niagara Falls scene at a shopping mall.

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(Why can't Tesco do this?)
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Please visit his website - his work is amazing!

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Then there is this brilliant pavement artist who creates stunning art that only works from the correct angle.

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See more of his work and explanations as to how it works on his website
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This talented lady creates gorgeous views in rooms:
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Including this Cornish scene through a fake window.

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And this fantastic painting on a blank wall to enlarge a dining room - wow!

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Visit her website

Some art can really mess with your head :

This lady is about to enter a public toilet on a street

It's made from one-way glass - people can't see in, but you can see out!

Could you comforatbly "go" ?!

Read more about Monica Bonvicini's loo outside the Tate Modern here

Two more toilet ones:

Could you walk into this bathroom?

Or how about this to put men off their stroke?

What if you walked down this street with a hangover?

And finally, would this make you think twice about lighting up?