Tiny bathroom

[The3Bears]

Were moving into our first home soon after renting for the past 7 years and the first job that needs doing is the bathroom, now I have absolutely no experience of buying or planning a bathroom at all so I'm struggling to decide whats best. The house is much bigger than the one were in now but the bathroom is tiny, 1.8m by 1.8m. How can we make the room look bigger, I was thinking pale colours maybe keeping all the tiles a cream stone affect, and a large mirror. Any ideas?
Also I cannot for the life of me decide on a bathroom suite I thought a freestanding bath but a more modern one than a roll top would make the room look more spacious and it wouldn't be attached to the wall iyswim is that a stupid idea? Any ideas are much appreciated.

[wonkylegs]

Don't go for a freestanding bath they waste space terribly and you simply haven't got enough to waste.
I'd go for a simple white suite with clean lines. Large mirror will help a lot as will good lighting.
Our bathroom is painted all white, partially tiled with warm white textured tiles with oak skirting, limestone floor, oak vanity, oak mirror and oak shelves. The white makes the space larger, the oak & textured tiles stops it being clinical.
Kids bathroom is again all white walls but with T&G boarding half way up walls, and a bright blue rubber flooring. Blue & red accessories.
Again it feels much bigger than it is.

[wowfudge]

White tiles will bounce the light around more. If you care about fashion, cream and stone coloured tiles are passé apparently.

You need more space for a freestanding bath and you won't get the full effect of it in such a small room.

There are various space saving ones which could work well and also space saving loos and sinks which would maximise the use of the available space without it looking cramped.

[yomellamoHelly]

Large sized tiles. Match floor to wall. Keep it light and plain. Plain white suite. Good lighting. If it's planned well will look fine.

[MollyBdenum]

i have a similarly tiny bathroom (2m x 1.5m) so I feel your pain. I'd suggest a wall hung toilet and a wall-hung sink with a small vanity unit, so that you have both storage space and visible floor. You can get space saving baths which might suit your bathroom, depending on the layout. It's worth checking to see if you have stud walls where you can go back and get little storage alcoves from inside the wall.

I find that storage is the biggest problem, so have put a long shelf at just above head hight.

Also, make sure that there is enough elbow room for a man to shave at the sink - DP has to keep his arm tucked in close to his body which is not great.

[LondonGirl83]

Mirror will help particularly one with storage. A good vanity for storage will make the room less cluttered which will make it seem more spacious as well.

Cool colours (white, blue green) will all expand the space. Keep it fairly simple though-one area of pattern or interest can actually make a small space feel more spacious as it takes a little longer for your minds eye to understand the room (different floor or tiles behind the sink or one wall). No curtains on the window, just privacy glass or film makes a big difference as well.

I agree that stone tiles are seen as a but passé now but if you like them, get them but Tavertine is starting to look very dated.

[Celia1978]

That's exactly the size of our bathroom which we're also doing up. You don't say if you want a shower too but if you do a freestanding bath won't work because the shower will have to go over it and water will splash down the sides. They also waste space as previous posters have said.

We did find a couple of baths that look freestanding but have one squared off corner so you can put them against the wall and it keeps water from the shower in at that end. (This is the kind of thing I mean: www.burlingtonbathrooms.com/Products/ProductDetail?prodId=8018&name=Hampton%20showering%20150cm%20bath%20right%20hand%20with%20chrome%20luxury%20claw%20feet - that's also shorter than a 'normal' bath, but it is a bit wider.)

What we've actually decided to do in the end is steal a bit of space from the bedroom next to the bathroom and extend the bathroom by a metre or so. It's only a plaster wall to take down between them so not a hard job apparently. Might that be an option for you?

[burnishedsilver]

Do you need a bath? In an ideal world it would be good to have one but your space is so tight.

[Pinkje]

If the house is big can you make the bathroom bigger by moving a wall and making one bedroom smaller?

[Deux]

There are a few things you can do. Large mirror on one wall. Can you move the door to improve the space? Have the door opening out into the hall can help too.

[The3Bears]

Thanks for all the advice, due to the layout of the rooms etc extending the bathroom would not work it would make our room such an awkward shape and our bedroom furniture is really large so would not fit how we want it too The plan is to put up with this tiny bathroom for now and then in a few years once we've done kitchen etc maybe have an extension at the back of the house and add another larger bathroom or do the attic and add an ensuite.

So I'm best going for a very simple straightforward bathroom suite? i was thinking about the wall hung toilets but I'm slightly worried if theres a problem with the flush or something that would require you to have to go into the wall, seems like a nightmare!

Id rather have a bath than a shower tbh with 2 young children we couldn't cope with just a shower.

[LondonGirl83]

I agree family homes need baths and seem to be harder to sell without one.

converting the loft and adding a bigger bathroom is a good idea eventually!

[SoloSaysHALLOMummieshowyouWEEN]

Can you change things around to make the most of your space?

My bathroom and toilet is tiny too; 1750 x 1650, so I feel your pain.
When I bought the house, you opened the bathroom door inwards and was facing the loo. Next to that was the basin which overlapped both the toilet cistern slightly and the bath by quite a bit. I had one cabinet which was over the long wall above the bath ~ it was horrible! and the end of the bath was sunk into the wall, so you couldn't even lay in the bath for a soak without getting a crick in your neck! so I turned the room around so that the bath runs under the window with an electric shower over, the loo is on the wall where the bath was (had to reroute the soil pipe) and the basin is opposite the loo. I had room to put a tall 6' floor standing cabinet next to the loo and I put a bi fold door in.
I still love it 13 years on, but I'm just updating it by changing the accessories and cabinet to white.