This monochrome bathroom started off tired and dated…
But it felt quite spacious. I knew the layout didn’t really need to change. The requirements for the space were:
- To give a complete aesthetic update
- To fix the fact that the shower tray was leaking and the ventilation wasn’t working properly
Bathroom vs Wet Room
I would have liked to have made the bathroom a wet room, so that there wasn’t a shower tray/step, and the tiles covered the whole floor. This would have made the room feel even more spacious as there would have been no “break” to the tile layout.
However, I also completely understood the client’s reticence given they had already had leaks. When we lifted the floor, the joists were rotten (as expected) so it was a good job we started the job when we did, as the leaks would have only got worse or the joists would eventually have started to give way- disaster!
The ventilation was a real issue. There is another bathroom nearby that we discovered, shared the same ventilation ducting. This wasn’t venting anywhere- it was simply letting warm, moist air out into the loft! Not at all ideal. We sorted this out by supplying two new fans with new ducting to outside through the soffit. No more mouldy ceilings!
I’ll be honest and say I don’t come across many toilets with a octagonal shape to them! But this one had it all going on – seat, cistern, the lot! It was way bigger than it needed to be, as was the sink with a wasted opportunity for storage underneath it.
When planning the room, I swapped the shower over to the outside wall. This felt better for a couple of reasons – the shower head wasn’t right in front of you as you entered that area, and the internal wall was then freed up (and had the depth to it) to add alcoves for shampoo etc, helping to keep the clean lines I was looking for.
I moved the toilet over to the left, nearer to the radiator. A built in storage cupboard will be going in to the right of this, so it needed space for the cupboard doors to open and access without feeling like you were squeezing yourself into the corner every time you wanted to grab a loo roll! I’ll share some more images once this is completed 🙂
More storage was provided under the sink, in the beautifully sleek vanity unit. Two generous drawers take care of lots of bathroom paraphernalia, all the stuff you need but just doesn’t look pretty!
The client wanted large scale white tiles on the wall as she didn’t want lots of grout lines. I think the size of the tiles work really well. They were a rectangular, mid size that looked great on the alcove wall with their black trim.
The plain wall tiles help the floor tiles really pop, they’re such a great pattern. Although they’re hard wearing porcelain, they were really good value for money. I would always specify porcelain on a floor tile where possible.
They are so much more robust than ceramic and have the same colour throughout the tile. This means that if you do chip or crack them, it’s much less obvious than a ceramic tile which is a terracotta colour underneath.
My clients were really happy with their bathroom transformation – here’s the lovely testimonial they wrote for me:
“We contacted Angela with a vague brief and no real vision for what we wanted for our en-suite bathroom. Angela very quickly turned this into brilliant, cost-effective ideas then helped guide us through the decision-making process to land on a design and budget that was ideal. She then coordinated the relevant tradespeople to ensure that the time, cost and quality of the job was controlled, and kept us in the loop with regular communication. At all stages, Angela went way above and beyond what was expected and retained a personal touch throughout. We are delighted with our new bathroom, and will definitely be asking Angela for help again in the future”
