How do you choose a bathroom?!

[RidingMyBike]

Feeling totally overwhelmed but we've now been to three bathroom showrooms, not really seen anything we like and don't know where to start.
It's for a house renovation hopefully starting mid-October - we have builder lined up and need to sort out the details for the detailed quote.

We're doing one bathroom, one shower room and one downstairs loo. None of them is a huge amount of space.

Best place to start is by either tearing pictures you like out of magazines or saving some images to Pinterest. Then look to see whether there are any themes which link them. For example if I was doing this there would be pale walls, not much tiling but some grey marble instead and some antique mirrors and dark wood toilet seats. The suit would have a bit of a period look to it. Armed with this information about what you actually like you can then go shopping.
If that approach doesn't work for you go plain and simple. A white suit in a not too modern not too trad style. A plain white tile not tiny and not big slabs either. You would hope you won't get bored of it and can ring the changes with some dramatic wall colours or papers.

I always look at high end tile shops on Instagram to get ideas and then research cheaper lookalikes! 😂

Choose a vanity you like. That often sets the tone of the bathroom. Then a colour for the vanity - might be a choice of 3 or 4 colours unless it's bespoke.

I often use Parker Howley for bespoke vanities. Drench have lots of good priced interesting modern vanities.

Mandarin Stone have some really lovely and inexpensive tiles. Their delivery takes a couple of weeks so it's best to order a bit more than you need rather than running out as they don't do short notice delivery. They have a lovely large format matt marble looking tile that looks amazing on floors and walls and works with a traditional or modern vanity

Only tile around the bath and in a shower. Don't tile all the walls. It's expensive and like being in a well. Speak to a good decorators merchants for a good paint for the rest of the walls

HIB do great lit mirrors with built in demister pads

Pooky have great wall nights suitable for bathrooms (IP 44)

Add an IP rated down light in the shower

Downstairs loo - choose a vanity. No need for any tiling. Go mad with fun wallpaper. Have a wall light either above or either side of a cute mirror. Small glass upstand painted white on the back to protect wallpaper from water.

Thank you - it's actually the sanitary ware/furniture we're struggling to find. We did our previous bathroom at old house 13 years ago and absolutely loved it but the sanitaryware and storage we had for that is no longer available and we can't find anything at all comparable.
It was Roper Rhodes but their stuff looks totally different now.

Have the same dilemma at the moment. Already several names I have not heard of. Any more suggestions gratefully received 😀

I recently did yp our two bathrooms and also found it overwhelming!
So much choice.
I looked through Instagram, Pinterest, houz and also rightmove at similar properties for sale around us.

I bought everything online as it was high covid and shops were closed.
For the main family bathroom our builder made a bespoke shaker cupboard vanity unit that was painted and we purchased quartz and a basin to go in. We were really happy with the finished product.

I went to a place who basically asked me for colour preferences and basic needs for it and they designed a few options on their computer and we went from there! It was good because I had no idea what I wanted until then.

What sort of period is your house?

Do you like traditional styles or ultra- modern?

We're doing ours at the moment and went for a traditional suite with roll top bath as house is Edwardian. It will have a modern twist though with metro tiles.

I got most of our stuff from Victorian Plumbing, flooring from Harvey Maria and other bits from Bathstore.

OH has been fitting it all so it's taking a while, but I am very pleased with how it is coming along.

Nb - the tiling bit has taken the most time. OH obvs not a professional, so taken his time to get a good finish.

I used Instagram for inspo too.

Roca is very good quality. We ordered a freestanding bath from drench (different manufacturer though) and it scratches so easily. Quite disappointed for over £1k!

might be worth going to a large plumbers merchants and having a look at their bathroom set ups?

It's a 1940s semi and doesn't have huge room sizes. So I think will have to have the modular style furniture for storage with sanitaryware built in as there won't be room for it to stand separately? The downstairs loo and the shower room will definitely be at the 'compact' end of the spectrum so I've been looking for ideas for small spaces. Which certainly helps narrow it down on Pinterest etc!

We don't like ultra modern but equally the Victorian/Edwardian is too early to make sense. And those styles tend to be quite large. We basically like curves rather than square edges , don't like the bowl style that sits on top of the surface. Really we want something curved not angled that fits into a modular unit.

Want an enamelled steel bathtub with handles and an old-fashioned plug on a chain (had enough of those pop up plug things at last house!). I've seen one of those at B and Q but not in more expensive catalogues (which is probably good for our budget ).

Have you looked at Burlington bathrooms?

Thank you! Hadn't come across them. There isn't a retailer local to us but there are a couple about 25 miles away so could have a look. I like the shapes of some of the basins!

thank you to @RidingMyBike for posting this thread because I’ve had more inspo in the minute of browsing this than I have of like a year of farting about trying to decide what I want for my bathroom refit!

We've just had our bathroom done by a reputable company that do full bathroom packages for a fixed price. We went with a fully tiled bathroom and we were able to choose whatever we wanted from Scudo they have an online catalog, the quality of it is excellent I love my beautiful new sink with vanity unit underneath. Bella wall hung 2 drawer unit in oak, it's stunning! www.scudo.co.uk/products-category/furniture/bella/

LOL @byzeus although at least I'm not the only one!

We’ve just had our tiny bathroom done. I got a mix of fittings-Ideal Standard loo, Roper Rhodes vanity-I like the curved lines-and a reinforced bath with Mira shower over. I looked at our local plumbers merchant displays and chose the ones I liked. We had wall hung where possible as we have a tiny space and am pleased with it.

It looks like we're going to go with designing it ourselves as couldn't find what we wanted. We've found a company called Deuco that does bathroom furniture we like which will provide plenty of storage.

We’ve just done two bathrooms! I second the Roca, we have a basin and a utility sink by them, proper vitreous China which doesn’t scratch or stain. Hudson reed taps , good value and sensible designs.

if you have a fitter, wholesale domestic are supply only, so are bathstore. They have a good range of units. I am messianic about wall panels instead of tiles , they are so much easier to clean and you don’t get mould on the grout ( because there is no grout)

@ChocolateHelps , those are some good resources! Wish I had £15k to do up the main bathroom.