In 2013, my then partner and I made the towel rails and toilet roll holders (the brackets that hold the toilet rolls) for the large bathroom in our flat in Madrid and for the three toilets at our house in Cueva del Hierro.
First, we cut the wood. To do this, we used a wood-cutting machine.
I wanted the part that rests against the wall to be shaped like hearts, so we set about drawing hearts on the wood (I drew them) and cutting them out (he did the cutting).
And then we painted them.
For the bathroom in Madrid, we painted the wastepaper bin yellow, and here’s the result:
As for the three toilets in the village (Cueva del Hierro), I’ll tell you that ever since Iberian times, three different types of iron-bearing minerals have been extracted from the village mine: siderite (purple), limonite (yellow) and haematite (red):
So we designed toilet roll holders and towel rails in all three toilets to match each of the iron-bearing minerals.
For the “Siderite Toilet”, the most elegant one on the ground floor—where the living room, dining room and kitchen are located, and which serves as the guest toilet—we used the colour purple, always a feminist choice.
For the “Limonite Toilet”, the boys’ toilet, we used the colour yellow.
For the “Hematite Toilet”, the girls’ toilet, we used the colour red – the colour of the blood we menstruate month after month for almost forty years of our lives as women.
I made the signs for the three toilets whilst I was still in London.
Below, I’ll show you both the process of making the toilet roll holders and the towel rails, as well as the signs for the three toilets with their respective towel rails and toilet roll holders.
If you look closely, the tiles I chose from Dª Juanita in Molina de Aragón for each of the three toilets are also the colour of that mineral… Mmmmmm!
Did you like them? I think they’re lovely and they cheer me up every time I use them…
Fancy making your own towel rails and toilet roll holders? I hope you’ll be inspired to give it a go… It’s a lovely way to bring colour and joy to our homes and, by extension, to our lives… Cheers!