A Powder Room with Sparkle

It is not often in life that one can be a bit outré without exposing oneself to public censure or ridicule. That is why I love small spaces. One can do just about anything — buy the most exquisite and expensive thing, or pick an outrageous color or pattern — and no one minds.

That is why I love small spaces: one can do just about anything, and no one minds.

For Christmas I was given a string of one thousand fairy lights. My little granddaughter was visiting, saw the lights, and insisted we use them. After much discussion, the powder room was chosen for the honor. The stepladder came up from the basement, and we set about securing the tiny lights to the walls, more or less at random, with small clear pushpins — easy, no mess, removable, and almost invisible.

Of course, as usual, not everything went as planned. When we turned the lights on — disaster. The color the little LEDs gave off was so wrong: very cold, very blue. To remedy it, we painted the ceiling bright gold and painted all the woodwork one of the soft pinks from the pretty floral wallpaper. It worked like a charm. I now have a warm, inviting, unusual, and very charming powder room with sparkle.