turkish bath/hammam sink

I think most of you know what a Turkish bath or hammam is. They are similar to saunas. I am not going to get into how Turkish baths work in detail but, I am going to talk about their marble stone basins that I love, called kurna. Visitors laying on hot steamed stone slabs pour cool water from these basins over themselves using hammam bowls, while preparing for body scrubs and then soap massages. That sounds good doesn't it?!

I came across these basins several times when I was pinning on Pinterest and loved their looks so much, I even created a hammam board. Around two years ago I saw a couple of them at a local Anthropologie and silly me I did not buy it. It was a great one too!



This gorgeous Anthropologie sink that I photographed but didn't buy!

A year ago I found another one at materialculture. I jumped all over it. We had to transform it from kurna into a sink by having a drain hole drilled. We also had to raise the existing faucet.



I waited for almost a year and finally the good old marble Turkish hammam sink is in! It sure has some character. A little bulky, but I kinda like that:) I love the structure and the rugged texture of this old carrara marble. It is now sitting on a Chinese cabinet surrounded with small Turkish hammam bowls, hammam towel, soap holder box and Indian lassi cup.



Here is a different angle.

Below, some of the hammam sink pictures I collected on Pinterest that I liked. I hope you enjoy;


via turkishtravelblog

This is from an Turkish hammam museum, love those faucets too.


via media-cdn.tripadvisor

Another Turkish bath basin with hammam bowl.


via thingsthatinspire

Powder Room - John Saladino. Love this look.


via trouvais

Venetian mirror and Turkish marble basin.


via brookegiannetti

Love this rustic look and that mirror is breathtaking!


via elledecor

Contrasting old and new. The old basin softens the lines in this room.


via pinterest

Amazing sink.


via pinterest

So fresh, simple, yet so chic look. Ah, don't you want to be there?!


via elledecor

A Manhattan loft with beautiful basin.

Have a great weekend!xx

bathroom renovation - part 1: vanity

A few months ago -feels like ages- I posted about my bathroom renovation called "bye bye blue tiles". Finally no more 1960's blue tiles... YAY! Husband & wife team DIY renovation is done, well sorta. I still have to decide about the glass bathtub screen. I am so done with shower curtains; They get moldy, rooms appear darker and smaller. I posted earlier about the products that I used for my bathroom here and for decorative accessories here .

Reusing some of the items in the room -the old Chinese mirror, cabinet and the screen- definitely helped the budget. If you notice -in the second picture on the right- the oil rubbed bronze finish already started creeping up in my old bathroom, the bronze shaving mirror and switch plates hinting what I wanted in my future bathroom. I still keep my own handmade Buddha tiles as souvenir, they were covering the empty spots of ugly soap dishes that I removed.

before 

Chinese screen and Turkish hammam bowls and ugly blue tiles...

Say bye bye to the blue tiles. Now you see it...

Now you don't...

I was debating to use a wood sink or a porcelain sink. 

And the decision is... 

after

Yes, I went with this white porcelain vessel sink from Lowe's. It is easy to maintain and looks clean.The Tuscan bronze Ashfield vessel faucet is also from Lowe's.

Here is the Indonesian teak wood sink from HomeGoods. Unfortunately, I did not use this sink that I loved so much, I feel the porcelain matched the decor better. I am sure this sink would be great for a powder room.

Here is my asian/zen/rustic/eclectic bathroom. I painted the walls and the ceiling same white color. It makes the room fresh, larger and unified. Repetition of forms, textures and colors also make a great unifying effect in a small bathroom. I wanted to achive it with adding natural elements such as travertine tiles, wood and accessories throughout the bathroom. Repeating round shapes around the vanity also add a certain softness to the bathroom. I feel using earthy neutral tones create a serene sense of calm. I can stay here forever :)

I mixed two vanity lamps to get this look. The original lampshades were old style bell shaped. I had to buy another vanity lamp for their shades. It cost more but looks much cleaner. I love expandable shaving mirrors. It was hard to find a decent one especially in oil rubbed bronze. I found mine at Van Dyke's Restorers. 

And my lovely fouta hammam towels from ebay.

I changed the flush handle to bronze, bought a toilet seat with bronze hardware from Amazon.com and saved some cash by spray painting the valve and water tube with Rust-Oleum Universal Metallic Paint & Primer in One.

Love white orchids they are so pure and look sophisticated in every decor. Hoping this one last for a while. I found this Chinese wood box at T.J.Maxx. It was blue before I stripped it to give this natural look.

Natural stone accessories from HomeGoods match the stone tiles. They last long and are easy to clean.

And finally hand soaps. Moroccan Argan oil hand wash from HomeGoods. Smells so good. Buddha hand soaps from ebay. They also smell good.

Next week, a look at the bathtub area. Stay tuned...

Have a great weekend, XOXO :)