If your bathroom is small and you don't like beige hotel style bathrooms...

[VermicularCanister]

...what would you have instead? Our bathroom is not very big. Just room for a bath (with shower over), sink and toilet. We desperately need storage, as the windowsill is cluttered with baskets of assorted dust-gathering stuff.

I've been looking at bathroom brochures but they all seem quite samey after a while, with minimalist beige tiles, futuristic mixer taps, shower screens, and wall-hung sink units with space under.

I'm sure I'm about 10 years behind the times, but I prefer a more homely look - not exactly nautical but borrowing from that, with fresh-looking painted wood, traditional hot and cold taps, maybe some tongue and groove panelling. However, although I have found some lovely freestanding units that would fit with that general style, they tend to be large with the sink inset into the top, and I fear they would eat up too much of our limited floor space. I'm also not a fan of having the sink fully inset and having to lean over it, especially if there's nowhere to put your feet.

I have also been looking at fitted units, which we had in our previous (rented) house, as these are more compact, can have a partially inset sink, are great for storage and easy to keep clean. But all seem to be either wood finish or white gloss, and very streamlined in style. So they score highly on practicality, I haven't found any styles that really grab me.

If we had something custom made, would it cost £££? Fitted units are not cheap in any case. What have other people done?

We have a small bathroom like yours and desperately wanted furniture/storage, but gave up. We're having it refitted with bath/sink/toilet + cabinet and tiles all around. I talked myself out of furniture, particularly wood, when I realised that with 2 small DCs for the next few years it want worth investing in something custom made that would just be permanently damp. I intend to accessorise with the towels on the heated rail/radiator that will dominate one of the walls, and get back into the habit if decanting essential toiletries into attractive matching Muji bottles on the exposed no-drill wall baskets. So it will be very boring.

Sorry, not really inspirational, is it. I dream one day of a dusky blue wood panelled nautical vista but it won't happen in this house.

Oh dear! Did you get any quotes for having something custom-built? I was vaguely wondering about using basic carcasses (I've heard of people using Ikea kitchen units for this) and different doors. But not sure where to start really.

I'm fairly sure I'm not organised/tidy enough to keep toiletries etc. looking nice if they're all on display.

No: chickened out. My mum & dad had 3(!) of their bathrooms refitted and had EVERYONE local out to see them. Custom made by local cabinet makers seemed to come up similar prices to the slick/shiny hotel stuff, I ended up not wanting to waste lots of people time.

If you pm me your email I wl send pics of ours, which I love.
We have two small built in cupboards- one housing the boiler, other linen.
Also a rectangular sink, that's sitting on top of a cupboard built by our builder,with an off cut of granite on top, then the sink with wall mounted taps.
Taps shower etc from ultra, called helix (same style as roper rhodes)
Sanitary ware from saneux

White brick tiles, like fired earth architecture, from tons of tiles.
All woodwork painted in elephants breath
Love it!

Got pm will do later!

There are some good suggestions here and the bathroom featured is a mix of trad and contemporary and not hotel beige
www.channel4.com/4homes/rooms/bathroom/planning-ideas/planning-the-perfect-family-bathroom-08-06-12]]

Also have a look here
www.katyelliott.com/blog/labels/bathrooms
and here
remodelista.com/posts/steal-this-look-soho-grand-bathroom

staverton would you mind sending me a pic too, we still havent got round to doing our bathroom and its on its last legs now, will pm you my email address, thanks!
How is your kitchen now?

Is the only place for storage around/under the sink? We have a small bathroom and is probably similar to the look you're after. For storage I bought one of the really cheap but solid pine chests of drawers from IKEA (it's very shallow so works well), painted it eggshell white and used ceramic knobs instead of teh ones supplied. It holds everything we need and I think it looks quite good! Better (and much cheaper) than any of "bathroom furniture" I saw anywhere.

I just have a basket on the floor for artfully rolled up towels in my dreams

Quick reply only as school run.
Of course pannacotta. I still have your email I think.
I'll include some kitchen pics too!
Will email tomorrow as light better for pics

Fab thanks! Let me know if you do need me to re-send it.

Thanks all for the very helpful replies and links. (Channel 4 link especially, thanks Pannacotta.)

SwedishEdith, it's a good question about storage. The obvious place to build it in would be under the sink, but once we get rid of our absurd corner bath, that will free up about 50cm of wall space where we could possibly fit a small freestanding unit. Hadn't thought of that before.

I've just been up there with a measuring tape, so off to google sizes of sinks/ units. Such are my Friday nights these days.

A friend of mine had kitchen cabinets fitted in his bathroom for storage because he found a greater range. Could be worth looking at?

Emailed! Up with baby in case you are wondering why at this hour!

Fantastically helpful, thank you! I'm most impressed you had the mental energy for this while night feeding. I love the painted wood of the cupboards and cistern unit, exactly the sort of look we are after.

We have spoken to a plumber who suggested we have a separate toilet rather than a fitted unit, because it would be more compact. Depth is an issue, as the room is only 168cm deep, so if the toilet projects, say, 70cm that only leaves 1m for the door to open into. (Reversing the door not an option as it's at the top of the stairs.) Even if we could save 5-10cm, it would probably help to avoid the bathroom feeling cramped. On the other hand, I like your unit with lovely shelf space much more than ceramic cisterns. Hmm.

A couple of questions then - did you have similar considerations, and if so, is your toilet/cistern unit particularly compact? And did you have to build the units from something water resistant, and/or with special paint finish for bathroom use?

jaynebxl, yes I wonder if kitchen units would be a better place to start, as bathroom styles seem to be so homogeneous.

Marking place, will come back to this thread!

We have bathroom similar depth to yours and got a toilet with a smaller projection which has made a difference in a small bathroom also have you looked at Roper Rhodes they have a more traditional range of sink units (Hampton). We have a freestanding unit and I love it as hate clutter in the bathroom. Also you can get a pull down bath side to hide even more clutter away.

In my old bathroom there was a tall kitchen cabinet attached to the wall above the loo (twas done by the previous owner). It went all the way to the ceiling. The top shelf wasn't all that useful as nobody could reach it but the lower shelves held plenty. There was also an under the sink unit that was also from a kitchen cabinet range. I put in a deep shelf about three inches above the cistern -- it basically rested on its brackets without being attached so I could lift it up for access to the cistern mechanism if anything went wrong. It was a handy shelf for lots of odds and ends.

Love the Hampton unit, Princesspond. So much so that I'm sending it to a plumber as an example of the style we are looking for. Thanks for that!

I'm also finding that the sameyness of the units in bathroom brochures extends to everything else. Shower curtains, what's happened to those?! I almost feel embarrassed to admit that I'm considering one.

Ours has white floor tiles and the walls are part black tiles (around the bath/shower and sink area) and white painted walls. We got a cupboard shaped under the sink and towel racks on the wall.

www.houzz.com/nautical-bathroom-decor
Some ideas on here.

I've got a tongue and grove painted bath panel that has a concealed door at both ends so all my loo rolls, cleaning stuff, bulk bought shampoo etc lives under the bath

There is also a toddler toilet seat under there which I have no idea why I'm keeping hold of but that's another story

I have a wall mounted towel rack in my tiny bathroom and it is great - takes up minimal space and has room for several towels.

we are re-doing our bathroom this summer.
it's small and square, toilet is separate so only sink and bath.
we are planning on having a sink with cupboard undrneath, towel rail above the radiator, shower bathtub. tiled to the ceiling throughout and also under the bath (basically making it a wetroom underneath).
white square tiles with random coloured tiles for a bit of colour.

ah, I'm about to have a bathroom co come around and measure up our small en suite shower room.
Want to wall hang the loo and sink because having the floor clear makes it seem bigger, also we have a great wall hung corner mirrored bathroom cabinet - great for storage as 3 shelves, takes no space, throws some light out. Also have the heated towel rail / radiator wall hung at the moment.
We've got no window so lighting is going to be the big thing, and it has a dark floor at the moment - hoping something lighter / brighter will lift it - am desperate for Dalsouple rubber.