Muddy Stilettos


<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1800" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Topps-Tiles-Gatzby-copy.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-115011" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Topps-Tiles-Gatzby-copy.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Topps-Tiles-Gatzby-copy-500x600.jpg 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Topps-Tiles-Gatzby-copy-833x1000.jpg 833w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Topps-Tiles-Gatzby-copy-1280x1536.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: <a href="https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/gatzby/gatzby-marble-tile">Topps Tiles </a></figcaption></figure>



<p>Anyone who has been following <a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/the-house-muddy-built/"><strong>The House That Muddy Built</strong></a>, the diary of my huge renovation and build project, over the last year, will know that I&#8217;m partial to a spot of mid-century interiors. Actually less a spot, more a retro smothering wherever possible. I have Panton chandeliers, Austinsuite teak bed headboards, Hockney prints, a Sixties kitsch drinks trolley, a Nathan teak sideboard&#8230; All I need it Paul McCartney to pop up in a mop top and collarless suit and I&#8217;m golden.</p>



<p>The house dates back to the late Fifties with early Sixties additions, and if you really squint (I mean, until the pips of your eyes pop), my stylish but slightly down-on-its-luck home has a wink of a Mies van der Rohe that I&#8217;m hoping to patch up and nurture. </p>



<p>But with a vision this lofty comes a whole glossy magazine-worth of interior design angst. I spend a lot of time worrying about messing up this opportunity to make the house truly amazing &#8211; a crazy pressure to put on myself given that my kids have precisely zero interest in interiors and as I don&#8217;t have a husband or live in Mr Muddy, I have only myself to please.</p>



<p>In truth, most of my angst has been directed at the kitchen for obvious reasons &#8211; it&#8217;s the room we&#8217;ll trash most often as a family, and be judged upon by half-cut friends.  I&#8217;ve literally lost days of my life to pondering which <a href="https://www.duluxheritage.co.uk/en/colours/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dulux Heritage </a>colour I want on my walls and units, the best brushed concrete shade for the floor, whether I should go for granite or marble on the island. </p>



<p>Strangely I&#8217;ve felt much more relaxed about my bathrooms, mainly I think because I knew right from the off that I wanted to use mid-century furniture as my basin units as a way to give personality and texture to what can so often be a sterile space. This kind of thing below is what I&#8217;ve been planning: </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="924" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/simplybathroomfurniture.com_.jpg-924x1000.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-115009" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/simplybathroomfurniture.com_.jpg-924x1000.jpg 924w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/simplybathroomfurniture.com_.jpg-554x600.jpg 554w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/simplybathroomfurniture.com_.jpg-1419x1536.jpg 1419w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/simplybathroomfurniture.com_.jpg.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: <a href="https://www.simplybathroomfurniture.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">simplybathroomfurniture.com</a></figcaption></figure>



<p>Anyway, after months and months of trawling websites and auction houses, I now have an elegant mid-century <strong>Austinsuite dressing table</strong> and a <strong>G Plan Quadrille&nbsp;chest of drawers</strong>, both in my living room along with the bed head (I know, great planning) until they are ready to be assembled into bathroom units at the end of the summer.  I can&#8217;t show you the shiny befores and afters yet &#8211; hopefully that will be in mid August &#8211; but if anyone is thinking of going down this design route for their bathroom, I have definitely learnt some lessons already! So for what it&#8217;s worth, here&#8217;s my advice on how to make mid-century in your bathroom a bang-up-to-date success.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-get-the-height-right">#1 Get the height right</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Austinsuite-Heals-teak-dresser-.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-115028" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Austinsuite-Heals-teak-dresser-.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Austinsuite-Heals-teak-dresser--600x600.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Austinsuite-Heals-teak-dresser--300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Austinsuite-Heals-teak-dresser--500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">My Austinsuite Heal&#8217;s teak dresser, going into my kids&#8217; bathroom</figcaption></figure>



<p>No matter if you&#8217;re a six foot five giant or a shortie like me (5ft 4&#8243; when I&#8217;m lying), the general rule for height on bathroom units is between 800 &#8211; 850cms. When you&#8217;re using your own furniture, this <em>includes</em> factoring in around 2cm of stone to go on the top <em>and </em>the height to the top of the basin, so seriously, go make friends with your tape measure. I can&#8217;t tell you the hours I wasted finding gorgeous chest of drawers, only to finally look at the dimensions and realise this was a party that was never going to happen. Don&#8217;t waste your time, put in your criteria and then swipe left until you find your perfect match.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-think-about-your-tap-positions">#2 Think about your tap positions</h2>



<p>Not just an aesthetic decision. If your retro piece of furniture has a raised &#8216;lip&#8217; around the back or sides of the wooden unit, it&#8217;s in danger of getting water stained as your wet hands switch off the tap after washing. My experience so far is that it&#8217;s better, if possible, to have a tap on the basin unit where any drips are protected by the stone surrounding the sink, rather than a wall mounted tap where your wet hands drop nuclear water bombs on any exposed wood. If your heart is set on a wall-mounted tap (I agree, they look elegant), just make sure your stone protects any wood exposed towards the back. Alternatively be ready to wipe dry with Exocet speed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-save-yourself-some-money">#3 Save yourself some money </h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="843" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/G-Plan-Quadrille-chest-of-drawers-1000x843.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-115027" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/G-Plan-Quadrille-chest-of-drawers-1000x843.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/G-Plan-Quadrille-chest-of-drawers-600x506.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/G-Plan-Quadrille-chest-of-drawers.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Honestly, I love Vinterior as much as the next furniture junkie, and maybe if money was no object I&#8217;d have a different take on this. However, my interiors budget has limits so, having spent months trawling online for my units, I would say that the best value options I&#8217;ve come across, with the most choice, are Etsy and Ebay. Case in point is my G Plan chest of drawers for my ensuite, which set me back £385 &#8211; less expensive than even the most vanilla of basic high street vanity units. The unit for the kids&#8217; bathroom was more expensive but I&#8217;ll blame Boris for that, as Brexit made the shipping from Amsterdam very ouchy. So that&#8217;s another thing &#8211; make sure you&#8217;ve chosen shipping from a UK business.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-decide-how-practical-you-want-your-bathroom-unit-to-be">#4 Decide how practical you want your bathroom unit to be</h2>



<p>It&#8217;s worth considering this as the practical reality is that the first draw of your retro furniture will be a &#8216;pretend&#8217; draw, with the guts of the bowl/drainage hidden behind and making it unusable. So if you&#8217;ve chosen a unit that&#8217;s very narrow in terms of shelving (ie you probably have a piece of furniture with long legs), you&#8217;ll end up with hardly any useable drawer space to hide the crap of life. Not a problem if you&#8217;re Marie Kwondo, but a big bloody deal if you&#8217;re as chaotic as me. Another good thing about having several drawers is that you can leave one or two out altogether, creating a shelf for towels or knick knacks which can look really lovely.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-don-t-buy-your-bowl-until-you-ve-bought-your-unit">#5 Don&#8217;t buy your bowl until you&#8217;ve bought your unit!</h2>



<p>I nearly made this mistake. I thought I had room for a 1200cm unit in my bathroom until I worked it out with the builders and realised all I could squeeze in was 800cm. Oops. With less width on the unit came less depth, and the chest of drawers I ended up buying was only 46cms deep. Cue a panic re-ordering of my Hans Grohe sink to a 40cm version. I know, <em>Der</em>. Also, phew.</p>



<p>For more advice and updates on <a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/the-house-muddy-built/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The House That Muddy Built</a> follow my <a href="https://instagram.com/herobrown_muddy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Follow my Instagram feed</a>. Bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchen all rising in the next month! </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://www.selinafinance.co.uk/products/heloc-home-equity-line-of-credit"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="119" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Selina-AD-2.png" alt="Selina Finance AD" class="wp-image-120694" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Selina-AD-2.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Selina-AD-2-600x71.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></a></figure>



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