Molton Brown at Willowbroook Park...

Willowbrook Park has now ensured that its guests will experience a truly pampered stay with Molton Brown's exquisite range of luxury bath products, spa treatments and room fragrances.

We had originally planned to have self-branded guest amenities, but then Peter pointed out to me, when one goes to a hotel which has self-branded amenities, you never really know whether they are going to be good quality products or whether they are just economical products that have been repackaged. The only way around this is to stock branded amenities from a top quality and well respected manufacturer. Peter mulled it over for a while and then recalled that when we go to London we always stock up on Molton Brown products to bring home for ourselves (especially the Naran Ji handwash and hand cream, and the Molton Brown Mineral Bath Salts. So he contacted Molton Brown directly and they have agreed to supply us with their range of luxury goodies!

We will be able to mix and match from several complete ranges of products to create unique packages tailored to guests' moods or the theme of the room. Maybe a relaxing Templetree for the Chatsworth suite, and an oriental Ylang Ylang or Heavenly Gingerlily for the Blenheim, with a romantic Coco de Mer for the Brideshead Suite. Aroma-Reeds for all the powder rooms and scented bedside candles for every suite...

They are going to send us samples of their range so that we can choose our favourites.

They have such a large range I am sure we will have fun test driving all of them. 

I just need to powder my nose...

I used to think that 'Powder Room' was a twee euphemism for 'lavatory', but I have recently come to understand that it may actually have a place in my vocabulary after all. 

There can be no doubt that the term 'toilet' is a grating solecism that should not pass one's lips lest it be the only term understood by the person whose help you are, with some degree of haste, soliciting. 'Loo' is in fairly common parlance in  the UK, whilst across the Atlantic the term 'bathroom' retains popularity. 

However, at Willowbrook we have made use of the term Powder Room to distinguish between those actual bathrooms and en-suites which have baths and the facilities to complete one's ablutions and the two small rooms we have upstairs and downstairs, where one may go to quickly freshen up.

We have just finished choosing the flooring, wall coverings, vanities, basins, taps, mirrors, and lighting for these rooms, and have also found a suitable supplier of toiletries for these rooms and the guest suites.

The downstairs powder room is a fairly generous size, having been designed with disabled guests in mind, but the upstairs one is a little more bijoux. Here are some inspirational ideas for smaller powder rooms...

Above and Below: We are toying with the idea of having dark walls in the upstairs room with a white Carrara marble topped vanity, with a matching floor. These ideas show how you can successfully pull off dark walls. We are thinking along the lines of black damask wallpaper such as the one below.

Light coloured rooms are more common...

Wood paneling is also timeless...

Chinoiserie is popular too...

 

 Mirrored walls enlarge a small area...

 

 whereas geometric patterns embrace it...

 

Powder rooms may be squeezed into the smallest of spaces...

 I look forward to sharing news about our guest powder room and en-suite amenities in the next post once they are confirmed!