Bathroom Gallery Wall: English Country-Inspired Ensuite

Our new English country inspired bathroom gallery wall brings unexpected warmth, charm, and personality to a space that previously felt a little cold and unwelcoming.

Since when do all bathrooms have to look the same? I recently felt the need to bring a little character to our ensuite bath and this bathroom gallery wall was so fun to put together with a mix of new pieces, collected thrift store finds, and antique treasures that I had been collecting over the last few years. Inspired by the traditional English country “downstairs loos” I saw in the book English Country House Style, I set out to bring in layers of texture, pattern, warm wood finishes, and mixed metals for a look that felt a little more at home in our 120-year-old farmhouse. I’m keeping this update true to real life, and working in phases, adding things in as I find the right pieces, and there’s still a lot more I’d like to do in here and will continue to do. An authentic downstairs loo comes together over time with mementos, souvenirs, photos, and collectibles and there’s plenty of space to add more in here as time goes on. I’m so happy with how the gallery walls in this space are coming together though, so here’s a closer look at how the room is looking so far.

Adding Warmth With Wood Tones

My first goal of this little update was to warm up the space and bring in some wood tones. Since we have painted cabinetry, a stone floor, and lots of ceramic and marble tile on the walls, this space could sometimes feel a little cold, in my opinion.

Since the window in this room looks out over the field out back, adding a window covering in here was never really a big priority, but now that we have the new back deck pergola out there, we’re using that beautiful space a lot more. So privacy and a new blind were definitely in order to make sure we can still use this bathroom comfortably. 🙂

I chose a mid-tone woven bamboo shade for the window and it functions beautifully, but also really adds a lot of style and coziness to the room. I keep looking around the house now and wondering where else a bamboo shade might be just the right thing. 🙂 I made a quick little video showing more of how the shade looks in the bathroom now. You can watch that video here if you’ve been thinking about adding one of these shades too.

There aren’t a ton of other opportunities for adding wood finishes to a bathroom, unless you switch out cabinetry or put wood paneling on walls, so I focused on making sure I found frames in a variety of rich wood tones for my gallery wall, as well some some gold frames to create a collected, mixed metal look for this space.

I had Chris create this tub tray for me using some reclaimed wood that I had in the pile behind our garage. Actually, this is a piece of barn board from the barn that used to stand behind our house and be visible through this bathroom’s window, so that’s a neat touch.

More home decorating ideas: Adding Wallpaper to Our English Country Style Spare Room

Creating My Bathroom Gallery Wall

Pictured above: Tub filler | French market basket | Take My Hand print |

The real star of the show in this bathroom so far is definitely the gallery wall, or gallery walls, actually. The art is spread all around the room, and I hope to fill it in more and more over time.

I had a fairly large collection of framed prints that I had found as thrift store finds, at antique markets, and collected in various other ways over the last few years, so I started by looking at what I had available and laying them out on the floor to see how they looked together. I was so excited to see that, even though these pieces were picked up randomly at different times, they came together to tell a story and worked so wonderfully together.

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To help bring the whole look together, I added a few very special new pieces from a Canadian company called Opposite Wall to finish off the gallery walls. I’ve been a fan of their curated art collections for years, so I knew they would be the place to look to find exactly what I needed for vintage-inspired prints and high-quality frames.

Pictured above: Use code CREEKLINEHOUSE for an extra 5% off your OppositeWall.com order | Blumenstilleben print (in a vintage wood frame) | Dunes at Camiers Print | Take My Hand print | Darla Vintage Frame | Fishing Boat Print | Elena Vintage Frame

Hanging my Gallery Wall

I think gallery walls are best when they’re made up of frames in a variety of shapes and sizes in different materials. This creates a really interesting, collected look that tells a story and makes you want to really appreciate each individual piece. I think the effect is really enhanced when you hang your frames in a style that is deliberately and perfectly imperfect, as though the collection was added to over time as pieces were acquired and inspiration struck.

You might be tempted to do a lot of measuring to make sure everything is always equally spaced, but I promise you, with this type of gallery wall, it’s best if you just kind of eyeball it for the most part. Start by adding one piece in the exact perfect spot, and then just build your gallery wall out around that.

The one exception to my rule was with my plate wall. I wanted my three plates to line up perfectly so I did measure for those. If you’ve never hung a plate wall, it’s no more difficult than working with picture frames. You just need plate hangers like these in the right size. Stretch the hangers onto your plates, then hang with a nail or screw as you normally would with a regular piece of framed art.

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I’m so happy with the way my bathroom gallery wall has come together and I can’t wait to show you the final finishing touches in this space soon! You can watch the video showing the full bathroom with the gallery wall here on Instagram. (No Instagram account is required, you can just watch it right in your regular browser. 🙂 )

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