Re-designing small bathroom

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

Our bathroom is too small and extending isn't an option so we've decided on taking out the bath and having a fab new walk-in shower instead.

I've been saving lots of ideas off various sources - stud wall, glass with no borders etc. I was wondering whether a whole re-shape was possible? Moving toilet and sink to other wall for example? How difficult and how expensive would this be?

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

We have a walk in shower with glass screen along one side in a small bathroom.

Moving the toilet could be tricky depending on where the waste pipe is and how much space you have.

How much space do you have?

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

Thanks - hardly any space. Approx 2m X 2.5m at a rough guess glares at DH for leaving tape measure in showroom.

Everything is piped into the wall opposite you as you open door. It's a bloody terrible size for a 4 bedder but am guessing the developers scrimped on size so the sacrificial lambs were the 4th box room bedroom and bathroom.


I like the thought of a stud wall but I think it'll narrow down an already dark and small space.

Glass is the choice but by God the limes rain is a killer to remove.

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

Am toying with the idea of building a corner stool thing that'll be tiled to match. I'll post a pic shortly.

What do you think?

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

Something like this...

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

What is the current layout?

I like my large walk in shower and think your proposal is good but.... A 4 bed house without a bath.... Not great for re sale and while we don't use our bath very often, we do still use it.

We have a shower room that is 2m by 1.55. Shower and loo are side by side on the short end, glass partition alongside the loo.

[wowfudge]

Can you post a plan of the current layout? Is this the only bathroom in the house?

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

This is the bathroom at the moment -
It's shocking and totally impractical. Downstairs we have a small toilet and sink, room for nothing else there. We've agonised with taking the bath away and finally decided to go
For it. We live in a really quiet village that's a stone's throw to direct
M4 access so a really sought after area - hopefully having no bath will be a very minor narrowing of potential buyers for us.

Pics have been taken with me standing right in the open doorway.

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

I thought of having a storage unit casing thing (sorry - have no idea of proper terms) for toilet and sink so a little storage for toiletries and first aid under the sink, ripping off white wall unit and replacing rad with tall towel
rail, then a long shower enclosure and corner seat on opposite end (same wall as door).

Lots of spotlights and an extractor fan (yes - no fan in this house so awful ventilation too).

Tiles are still up for decision - NOT WHITE! I like natural stone and cream colours but don't want it to date too quickly.

[LizzieMacQueen]

I think the stool idea is good, somewhere to rest your foot as you shave your legs, just make sure there is a run on it so the water doesn't pool (the fitter should do that anyway).

For ages I have thought there must be a market for an adult size baby bath that you could pull into your enclosed shower so when you do feel the inclination to submerge yourself, you can.

[namechangedtoday15]

Are you planning to move? I'd have thought that a fairly significant number of people, looking for a 4 bed house, will expect a bath of some sort. I think it massively limits the resale market, or the price will need to reflect that people will incur the cost of putting a bath in.

FWIW, I don't think the size of the bathroom is small actually. Its pretty standard and if you're careful with fittings and layout, then you can make it look and feel much bigger without losing the bath.

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

namechange food for thought. DH is 6'5 and he has arms like an orangutan so it feels tiny to him. But, Yes, we're hoping to move in a few years....

Bathroom designer is coming on Thursday. Hopefully he'll have ideas.

[BaggyAndWrinkled]

Oh forgot to say, I thought of having a
Fixed shower head but also a
Secondary head with a pipe to extend to the stool so that I can wash DC's
Filthy feet after a day scampering around the garden barefoot

[whois]

Defo have a second shower attachment with a hose - only having an overhead rainfall type shower is a PITA if you don't want to get your hair wet / only want to wash feet / whatever.

I like the idea of a corner seat/ledge thing you can put a foot up to shave legs.

OR if you want a more roomy room and keep a bath, can you flip the layout so you have a P shaped bath going across where the sink/toilet/bath is currently i.e. under the window. Have the P shaped bit and shower on the right hand side (as looking from the door) where the shower currently is. Then put the toilet on the L hand wall alongside the bath, and the sink next to that. The toilet isn’t being moved too far so shouldn’t be too much of a difficulty.

[Humptynumpty02]

We're currently in the process if redesigning our also which sounds similar in size (and we are 4 bed also so same dilemma!) at 2.26m x 2.44m.

We've decided the house needs a bath so had to work around that principle. I've been playing some design software abd come up with what I think is a way in which we can have bath plus separate shower. It's tight but seems to work, happy to post a pic of the floor plan later when I'm back from work if you want.

[orangina01]

We also have the same dilemma so would love to see any similar suggested plans. We are keeping the bath as we do have an ensure with large shower for my equally long armed 6 ft 5 in Dh! I never use the bath but the kids occasionally prefer it to a shower.

[minipie]

If I were you I would talk to a local estate agent (one with a lot of local experience) before you make the final decision. They will have a good view on what will affect resale.

Another idea - but very much one to run past estate agents - is knocking the bathroom through into the box room (assuming they are next to each other) so you have a good 3 bedroom house with a generous bathroom rather than a 3+box house and titchy bathroom. All depends on what people are after - and your needs of course.

If you can put in a wall hung loo and sink then the bathroom will feel a lot bigger. Also looks like your bath has a side panel which curves outwards?? that's a massive waste of space if so.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

Our walk in shower in a small space looks like this.

We had a few plumbers round to look at our redesign where we cut a large bathroom into two. Lots of teeth sucking about space but I used to live in a flat where the shower room was so small, if you sat on the loo you had to put your feet in the shower to close the door and you could wash your hands in the sink from the same position!!!

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

I can highly recommend Envirovent extraction fans available from Amazon. We had problems with ventilation in our rented house where the tenants never opened the windows or turned on the extraction fans resulting in black mould in the bathroom (something we never experienced while we lived in the house), the fans were recommended by the agents and they worked really well and are easy to fit.

[SwedishEdith]

another - where did you get your sink from please and what's the depth of it?

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

i am in France... sorry. Its 10cm deep in the middle of the bowl. Best bit is the tap is restricted so can't soak any careless operators!

[Joinourclub]

Your bathroom looks pretty average to me! The same size as pretty much all the 3 bed semis that I looked at (20!) and the one I'm in now. We have done our bathroom fairly recently and moved the bath forwards so it was against the wall with the door. That gave us room for a 'p shaped' bath , with the shower bit next to the door rather than next to the window. We also put in some built in storage around the sink. Towel rail where you have your cupboard. I really don't think it is a good idea to have a family home without a bath if you are thinking of selling in only a few years.