High maintenance bathrooms - let me learn from your mistakes

[AllBuggiedOut]

There's so much good advice on the kitchens thread I need you to tell me about your bathrooms too! The one we're refitting is the family bathroom but v small, has no windows and has the airing cupboard door in it. Also we're in a very hard water area and so are considering getting a water softner - any advice please?

Thanks all!

[hana]

oh will watch thisl, bathroom going in during summer!

[NoodleStroodle]

We didn't have a water softener put in and I really regret it

[KTeePee]

If you are having tiles, make sure the grout is properly sealed (I think a company called HG make a sealant - you can google it) otherwise the grout is a pain to clean - or else go for a dark colour grout. We were advised to go for matt rather than shiny tiles as we also live in a hard water area and they don't show water marks at all. If you have no windows you'll need a really good extractor. We have Karndean tiles on the floor and I wish I hadn't let the flooring guy persuade me it would be as good as Amtico because it isn't... (but is relatively to keep clean). Pop-up wastes are good imo as there is no rubber stopper and chain to get all grubby.

[NoodleStroodle]

Really good is the rubber flooring which circles on it like they have in John Lewis and airports

[fannyannie]

don't have floor to ceiling tiles........previous owners of this house put tiles from floor to ceiling on 2 of the walls.......the one that the bath sides onto - and the one with the window.....and unfortuantely we have a fairly large bathroom and they're a bugger to clean.

[noddyholder]

Buy the best you can afford and get underfloor heating!If you can fit twin sinks it is great for a tiny extra cost so convenient.

[hana]

noodlestroodle - we have rubber flooring in our kitchen and it's great (dalsouple)

[NoodleStroodle]

Dalsouple - that's it. What colour do you have? We have a gorgeous blue.

Disgree about floor to ceiling tiles - I like the ability to hose down when needs be

[hana]

slate gray
sooo easy to keep clean, alghouth have had the comments about looking liek the stairlifts in JL!

[Anna8888]

Definitely go for floor to ceiling tiles and tiled floor all sealed in so that you can clean/rinse with the shower attachment. I have very hard water and have shiny white tiles, they are very easy to clean and you can bleach the grout from time to time if it gets nasty.

Also have a huge wall mirror so that you cannot hide from yourself naked - stops you getting fat.

[NoodleStroodle]

Also - big cupboards for dirty laundry.

[LIZS]

Non slip vinyl flooring sealed with silicone around edges and toilet/basin pedestal. Infact preferably no pedestals ! Full tiling, huge illuminated mirror fronted cabinets for hiding all the cr&p.

[NoodleStroodle]

Wall hung loo - reminded me - very good - no hiding places.

Dual flush to be eco friendly too

nice lighting

[geekgrrl]

yes, absolutely, wall hung loo!
no brilliant white grout on the floor - will get grubby and look awful - go for grey grout.
no integrated shelves inside the shower cubicle - they're a b*tch to clean and I took ours out (from previous owner)

[BonyM]

Agree with fannyannie - don't have floor to ceiling tiles. They are a pain to clean. Also, if you have some non-tiled wall areas you can easily change your colour scheme with a lick of paint if you get bored (as long as suite and tiles are white/neutral).

Don't get a claw-foot bath - look lovely, and loads of space but so difficult to clean underneath. Wish we'd had a similar style but without feet.

[tissy]

in our tiny bathroom we have a Space bath by Ideal Standard which is fat at one end, so plenty of room to shower.

We have a corner loo, which is great, but in our even tinier new shower room we will be having a wall-hung one.

[twelveyeargap]

Matt tiles. I cannot bear the watermarks on the tiles left by previous numpty owner. Second the decent extractor. Bathrooms pong due to constantly being slightly damp and the paint peels off the ceiling. Eww. I wouldn't go for floor to ceiling tiles unless you're the type to be bothered to clean them. I'm not... Plus, I think that if you have some paint in your bathroom, then you always have the option to change it with a lick of paint in the future.

Stay away from shiny stainless steel, again, unless you want to keep polishing it. In a family bathroom, this could take up a lot of your time.

Get a shower head that is not attached directly to the wall in order to aid cleaning of shower. If you have a separate bath to the shower, I really like hte set up in one of our bathrooms where there's a bath with a nice shower attachment low down near the taps which means you can take the shower head out and rinse your hair whilst having a bath (and trying to ignore the splashes on the navy shiny tiles...)

If choosing shower doors, look at the joins and crevices and buy ones that aren't going to gunk up really easily with limescale. Even better, get frosted ones so that every drop doesn't show up immediately.

Ummm, oh, toilets. If you're getting a new one, I really like the ones that sit up off the floor so you can mop/ clean underneath them and you don't get muck/ dust round the base of the loo.

If you get a "concealed" cistern, make sure you have some way of getting to the cistern without taking tiles of walls etc. (See earlier comment on numpty previous owner of house.)

Simple other things, like don't have the base of your over sink mirror too close to the sink as otherwise it will be constantly covered in splashes. Same with shelf over sink if you have one... My mirror is constantly splashed because the shelf with the soap dispenser is right in front of it.

Think I should be quiet now.

[AllBuggiedOut]

What about the radiator/heated towel rail? Any experience of Bisque ?

[NoodleStroodle]

Aren't they really expensive?

[MuffinMclay]

Brilliant timing with this thread - was just about to ask the same. We're doing 2 bathrooms - smallish family bathroom, and huge ensuite (cringe calling it that). I want the family bathroom to be functional, inoffensive, but our bathroom to have a big 'wow' factor. I'm struggling to decide what colour cupboards etc to have in our bathroom. White can look tacky, pale brown can look dated. Quite liked the idea of dark brown but a few people in RL said that would be awful. Window frames are dark brown wood.

I want a 'luxury hotel' look, that would be a real selling point when we come to move (next year or two), but don't want to spend an absolute fortune.

[Anna8888]

MuffinMcLay - I know what you mean about white looking tacky, but I think it has more to do with the instrinsic quality of the cupboard than white per se. If you get good quality wood carpentry painted with a bathroom-quality paint finish and expensive door knobs, they will look lovely.

I wouldn't go for brown either (pale or dark), I think it's past it's sell-by date.

And if you are thinking of selling in the near future, an all-white bathroom will be a real selling point as you can accessorise it with some great soft new matching towels in a lovely colour when you are showing prospective purchasers round and it will look gorgeous.

Personally I love metro tiles in all white bathrooms, and huge white 1930s style basins with chrome towel rails fitted underneath.

[NoodleStroodle]

We've got white suite & white tiles but we have had some beautiful cupboards made in walnut for under the sink and also recessed shelves - this looks quite luxury hotel - especially with the ambient lighting.

[AllBuggiedOut]

Bisque are expensive - do other people do funky radiators?

[tissy]

If you get a funky radiator, think about cleaning it...we are getting a "traditional" three bar heated towel rail in our new shower room- no narrow gaps to dust!

[bran]

Can you have underfloor heating with rubber flooring? Or does it have to be tiles? I really like the Dalsouple range, but I would also like underfloor heating.