New bathroom - where to start? What are you really glad you've got and what could you do without?

[PookieK]

Hi,
We have an ancient, beige, horrible separate bathroom and toilet which we want to knock into one room and make lovely. We probably do just have space to fit a separate shower and bath but would have more room if we kept the shower over the bath. Not really sure where to start, so looking for recommendations from your experience....what is worth having and what isn't? Underfloor heating? Built in storage or freestanding? Where is a good supplier? Any hints or tips?
Many thanks in advance....

:)

[cantpickusername]

In my dream bathroom I would definitely have underfloor heating and a heated towel rail.

I'd go for built in storage and shower over bath.

I would also make it a wet room just so I can spray all walls and floors with the shower head when I'm cleaning.

[PookieK]

One more question...budget wise, what did you spend on your bathroom? We have 8k for everything, from the wall knocking down, bathroom suite, installation, tiles, flooring etc. Is that realistic? Thanks

[LC01]

I would say £8k would be a stretch if they are knocking down a wall, but if you weren't worried about having fancy tiles etc., you should be ok. You can make your money go further by only having tiles over half the wall (except shower area). Bathstore have regular sales, so take advantage of this if possible. Also avoid moving the toilet if possible as this involves a lot of work to move and change pipes as they are different.

Hope this helps.

[ILoveMyMonkey]

I wish we had a wall to separate our toilet from the rest of the bathroom because there isn't space for a second one elsewhere in the house and it's a pain in the butt when someone needs the toilet when someone else is in the bath/shower. Do you have a second toilet? If not I'd give it some serious thought.
Really pleased we built in storage so all the bathroom crap is hidden away.
Can't comment on budget I'm afraid as DH did ours.

[EsmeCordelia]

I have underfloor heating in my bathroom but it's on the same thermostat as the bedroom so when the bedroom reaches temp it doesn't usually mean that the bathroom does and so we have a cold bathroom. I would go for a heated towel rail, even with ufh that would never be on in summer time so a towel rail wold provide heating. I have a separate bathroom and shower and next time ever would just have the shower over the bath. In my case we never ever use the bath so it is just something else to dust and I figure a bath is easier to clean than a shower cubicle so Iwould put the shower unit over the bath. We have a fancy whb. It's pretty but useless! It is a slope rather than a bowl so no good for filling. The one good thing about our bathroom is wall hung loo and whb, its neater and easy to clean the floor.

[EsmeCordelia]

Also cannot comment on budget as it was part of a new house build.

[P1nkP0ppy]

I would have underfloor heating and a very big heated towel rail.

[atticusclaw2]

We are midway through complete renovations on two bathrooms.

Clearly cost wise everything depends on the size of the bathrooms and things like tiles. I saw some beautiful tiles for £250 a square metre, clearly that would have smashed the budget right from the outset.

I have played around with the design of ours quite a bit throughout the course of the job and we have encountered some unexpected issues like a toilet fumes vent discharging into the loft space rather than outside and so that has affected the cost but we'll be looking at about £3200 per bathroom. Rooms are not massive (about 6m square) and nothing was moved significantly from its original location.

We went for a large shower in one and a shower bath in the other (bath which is wider at one end than the other). Karndean on the floor, wainscotting (wooden panelling) on the walls and tiles around the bath and shower. Lovely column radiators and also very nice towel warmers.

We have underfloor heating downstairs. Its expensive to run.

[didireallysaythat]

The biggest shower cubicle you can accommodate - I hate showers that are titchy !

[grannycake]

We lost our bath and went for a really big shower but all our children have left home and we didn't have room for both. We thought in the future when we may have mobility issues and decided a walk in shower must take priority over any reduction in resale value. I love the two deep drawers under the sink and we also had a tall slim wall hung cupboard for more storage. No UFH which I may regret in the coldest months but do have a heated towel rail/radiator which is great. Cost without the extra building work was about £9000

[conkerpods]

My top tips are....
Get some of that graph paper so you can really see your layout with the measurements.
Consider changing the door to opening out into the hallway for extra room in the bathroom.
How big is the room?We used to have a separate shower and a bath but it was quite cluttered. We now have a showerbath....a bath with a large area at one end. Much better use of the space.
Tiled flooring would be very cold for us as the bathroom is north facing,so consider underfloor heating or a posh vinyl. (We have a posh vinyl).

[conkerpods]

Oh,and have your light switch on a different switch to your extractor fan. We never use our extractor as prefer to open the windows,I find them loud and not very effective!

[magicstar1]

We did ours last year, and have it as a wet room with shower and bath. The bath is behind the shower screen and works really well. Maybe you could do that?

[FinallyHere]

We went for a shower over the bath, and regret it. The bath is toooo big for me to comfortably soak. Next time (sic) i shall just have a shower ( but would ideally have a shallow deep enough to soak my feet shower tray).

The build in look really appeals to me, so i spent a lot of time with squared paper working out how best to arrange everything. Having a loo seat which does not, when in the up position, hide the flush button is important to me. Lots of mirror cupboards for storage so that everything is hidden away and it always looks tidy.

YY to PP big radiator towel rails, too. I liked the look of a off the floor loo pan but the one we have isn't great, so now have floor standing loo pans.

I love the idea of a wet room but wonder, where do you keep the loo roll?

[namechangedtoday15]

We've just done ours (family bathroom and ensuite) and I love them.

Large shower (with a frameless hinged door - so much nicer than a sliding / folding door).
Wall mounted sink and built in toilet with self close lid.
In ensuite, its long and narrow - long wall opposite door is half tiled (to sink level) then mirrored - makes it feel much bigger than it is.
Massive tiles with (think they're 80cm wide) with v thin grout lines, same range on floor as walls.
Underfloor heating

If you're anywhere within an hour or so of Stoke, Johnsons tiles are amazing.

Don't feel like you have to get it all from one shop - I bought from several different places.

[JoJoSM2]

My top tips:

1. If you have shower over the bath, rather than just adding a handle for the shower head, install a proper thermostatic rain shower.
   
2. The best ever storage are drawers under the sink (you could have some other storage too). If you can fit them in, then 2 sinks might be a nice idea depending on your lifestyle. On a budget, I'd recommend Ikea washbasins and cabinets - they are very well designed and surprisingly sturdy.
   
3. I'd go with grout that isn't white as it gets dirty easily.
   

If you need some style inspiration, have a look at houzz.

[Shadowridge]

Ive just finished two, my tips are

Shower - go for a hinged door if you get a cubicle - no track to clean. Harder to get but worth it. We got one from Bathstore - make sure you get 50% off.

Try and buy the absolute best quality you can.

Duravit is very good quality- all our loos sinks and bath are Duravit and bought in 30% sale.

Taps are taps wherever you buy them - a Grohe tap is the same tap whether from the fancy bathroom showroom or a plumbing merchant. Buy online- we found tradingdepot good value for our Grohe taps and Aqualisa showers. Do your reasearch in the fancy show rooms. Grohe do a cool tap less bath filling system - bath fills through overflow and is controlled via mixer on wall. All can be bought easily online but you might need help to navigate what to buy.

Tiles - go for very big tiles in shower area - less grout to clean. We mixed Porcelanosa~£50m2 (in 40% sale) with Johnson tiles (30% off in plumbing merchant)~£17m2.

Illuminated mirrors is good for wall lighted cabinets - way cheaper than shops where they are £££.

I would avoid under sink storage units. They are very £££ all we looked at were a bit naff and friends say they water damage easily.

I still have 1 to do but going to go with all the above again!

[ChishandFips33]

We went for
*Back to wall toilet so all pipe work is hidden and much easier to clean
*Wall mounted sink and drawers (IKEA) it's absolute bliss having everything hidden (cosmetics, towels etc) and so much easier to keep surfaces/floor clean (theme appearing here!)
*Hinged and frameless shower cubicle - replaced a runner one which made me bork at the collecting dust/grime!
*Angled cubicle and dark shower wall which acts almost like a mirror and makes the room feel much bigger

• Rain head shower but with additional flexible shower head for easier cleaning
  *Ikea full length shallow mirrored cabinet - fits all the shampoos, cleaning stuff, loo rolls etc and slipped nicely out of the way into an alcove...again, bounces the light around
  *Huge mirror above sink - more light bouncing/making room feel bigger
  *Larger double radiator and fitted towel rail (slots on to the radiator frame under the top convector panel so looks part of the radiator)
  *Window vac for drying shower cubicle and walls
  
  Regrets/wishes
  *UFH would have been bliss esp if we could have had it on the same circuit as the kitchen as that's on from October right thorough til about April!!
  *Should have gone for bigger shower cubicle but when we taped it out on the floor it looked too big - hindsight and all that!

[ChishandFips33]

Forgot to say consider your current lighting and how it might be improved/adapted for say, getting ready on a morning, putting make up on to relaxing in the bath on an evening

[PookieK]

All really helpful stuff, thanks :)

[ShaunPaul]

£8,000 is loads!

We had our bathroom completely gutted, a stud wall knocked down and another stud built 500mm from where the original was (so we gained 500mm of space in the bathroom). We had new suite (shower over bath), tiles, plastering, fan, new door, heated towel rail, cabinet under the sink, wall cabinet and spotlights. All came in (including labour at £5,300).

Definitely go with shower over bath but go for a P-bath. Also, go for a shower which has dual heads. One from showering under and other detachable one for hosing out the bath, washing hair in the bath etc.

Soft close toilet lids are life savers in the middle of the night.

Under-sink cupboard is wonderful, we have nothing out on the windowsill or sides of the bath and it makes the room look much cleaner and tidier.

[ShaunPaul]

YY to back to wall toilet

[bellabunny]

We did our bathroom recently and the best bits are

The largest shower tray we could get with a glass panel open at one end no door as such

Underfloor heating - I love it I get up really early for work and the bathroom is always cosy

A huge heated mirror above the sink that has a built in light and Bluetooth - sounds corny but it never steams up, it's a prefect light for putting make up on AND your music/radio plays out of it with great quality sound!

I find it hard to leave my bathroom..

[YelloDraw]

8000 is not loads.

I'm being quoted £4k ish in london for fitting only (removal, plastering, fitting and full tiling and building a fake wall to hide plumbing for toilet).

I'm coming in at 2.5k for all the other stuff -toilet, bath, shower (expensive shower), light, fan, mirror etc.