Turn Your Bathroom Into a Tuscan Escape

By Jennifer and Kitty O'Neill

To establish the proper palette, bring in a stretched canvas featuring the Italian landscape. If you have gorgeous photos from your trip to Tuscany, take them to the copy shop and have a few enlarged and printed on canvas. If you're not a shutterbug, order a landscape poster like "Classic Tuscany" from Tuscan Decor. A wonderful work of art can double as a ready-made color board, so use it when you pick out your accessories and paint. The walls of a Tuscan room call for a faux paint finish — the uneven texture echoes the appearance of an aging stucco farmhouse. Whether you choose a background of mustard, burnt orange or olive green, just stick to the palette of your painting and the colors will come together and say Tuscan.

For more color, look for accents in wine red, antique gold and deep blue. A majolica water pitcher combines these colors in classic Italian style. A cobalt blue olive tray is perfect by the tub for holding mineral salts. Get merlot towels embellished with scrolls that reflect the curves of the wrought-iron pieces. Pick out a few fancy towels and mix them with unadorned ones in a coordinating color. Skip the bath mat and roll out an ornate area rug that tells the same color story. Got an antique one?