Bathroom renovation - where to start

[VintedoreBay]

I've got contractors booked to renovate kitchen and bathroom, living room, attic room and hallway. Starting Jan.

Kitchen all sorted but bathroom - omg totally haven't sorted what I want yet! Got a couple of weeks....and I've no idea where to start.

I think I want some colour and some pattern tiles on the floor.

I want a sink with storage, new loo, new straight bath (double ended I think) and separate shower.

And I think I want black taps and hardware (is that the word) but only if they're easy to keep clean and looking good. Are they? Or is chrome better? God I'm so useless.

Looking for low maintenance, easy cleaning so I guess....large tiles on the wall and floor?

Help! Can you tell I'm new to this renovation malarkey?

Can you show me your bathrooms? Point me in the right direction?

Go to bathroom showrooms. Any you like, ask the average cost or likely starting point, excl fitting, before arranging for them to visit you....!

Ask your builders what is likely to be an issue before you choose anything - extractor fan, soil pipe, weight of bath, wall insulation, whatever.

The only thing the builders have said is a no-go when I've asked is that we can't knock out an old chimney breast in our bathroom....

We had our bathroom done last year. It's fairly small, just under 3m sq. Completely new, only thing that stayed in the same place was the loo. We had previously had a shower over the bath but managed to fit in a separate shower - this is brilliant, the best thing. It's a dual shower with an overhead drencher, an offset quadrant with sliding door. They advised not to economise on the thickness of the shower glass. I wanted a double ended bath with the taps (and shower attachment) in the middle. It didn't take up any extra room and I'm really pleased with it. It has one square end against the wall and one curved end. Basin has a cupboard underneath. Flooring is karndean and looks like wood planks which is ok, not as good as the amtico flooring in the hall and kitchen - but it's fine. Big tiles, half way up the walls, shower fully tiled. The people who we got to do the bathroom weren't fans of panelling which I'd asked about, the only ones they said they could recommend were fantastically more expensive than tiles. We went for grohe chrome mixer taps and a tall chrome towel rail (it has a remote control which I've never used 😁 and a thermostatic switch so can be turned on independently of the heating) I got loo roll holder, glass shelf, shower caddy and blind (made to order) from John Lewis.

@JulesJules did you use a bathroom design company? Where did you get your bathroom suite from?

We used a bathroom shop on our high st. They came round and did a plan and quote based on mid priced everything, then we went to the out of town unit to look at specific ranges, flooring options... We changed the bath, chose slightly cheaper tiles, chose flooring etc. It was all done in a week including rewiring, flooring, replastering, they fitted our shelf and loo roll holder we'd got elsewhere. We just had to get it painted and the new blind fitted.

I'm sure it's not the most economical way of doing it, but neither of us are remotely handy, it's our only bathroom and we just wanted it done as quickly as possible.

If you want white you can buy any from any shop - it’s all made the same colour.

We ordered a bath online as it was 1/3 of the price.

Aqua board is like the plastic you find on buses - only in different colours and cheaper than tiles and very on trend

I would have central bath taps with a shower hose attachment for hair and the dog.

Underfloor hearing - can be localized to the heating or electric

Bluetooth mirror for music and heat to stop the steam.

I dislike all the same floors and walls - it will date quite quickly.

@Scarletttulips Bluetooth mirror?!!! That is definitely an upgrade to our shower radio 😂

I would really have liked a bluetooth demisting mirror, but they were £££. We got two big mirrors, one over the basin and one next to the door with a freestanding drawer unit underneath.

We swapped to a chrome radiator towel rail as I’d always disliked the white one. Our mirror isn’t Bluetooth etc. but very good level of light. We have both soft ceiling spotlights and bright ones - the former are what you might call the candlelit bath effect.

Our main problem is we have a wonky old cottage. The main part of the house can’t do clean lines, the bathrooms are in a slightly newer bit (only 115 yrs old) but still not truly straight walls. Occasionally, someone tells me they think the mirror is slightly off - it’s the tiling/the house/character 😂

I went & had a look around a couple of local independent bathroom shops get an idea of what was available & how various combinations looked, also bought a few home interiors magazines, we have a really small very awkward shape bathroom, ending up completely re-jigging the space & settled on a wet room no bath, as previously it was tiny with shower overhead I’ve got a really bad back & was a mission climbing into it at times.
wall hung basin with large storage drawers wall hung rimless toilet.
large Matt marble floor tiles with underfloor heating & the same tiles half way up the walls, I then wallpapered the top half I love it so much easier to keep clean & a lot warmer now.
Toyed with the idea of black hardware but in a very hard water area so went with chrome fittings, my bathroom fitted was excellent & came up with some good ideas, he built a small storage cupboard into the wall where an old window was previously & positioned the shower controls so that you can turn the shower on & water warms up before you get in.
Good luck I know it can feel quite daunting.

Underfloorheating. Showerwithout moving doors as they are horrible to clean. Static shower screens are much nicer. Check your bath. I remember someone on here designing the perfect bathroom and the bath was all square and really uncomfortable. She was so upset.

I’m in the middle of doing our two. What are you stuck with - design/look? Layout? If layout then post a diagram on here, you will get fab advice. If design/look then invest in a large bundle of home magazines and start ripping out pictures.

I am nearly there with ours - just looking for the perfect sky blue tiles (not too grey, not too turquoise) for one of them. Everything else is done. But we could tile another room with the sample tiles I’ve bought so far.

I think it's design/look and where to get it all from in a short timeframe. Work is starting first week of Jan so I'm panicking (the date was moved up from June...)

@Wolvesart Our main problem is we have a wonky old cottage. The main part of the house can’t do clean lines, the bathrooms are in a slightly newer bit (only 115 yrs old) but still not truly straight walls. Occasionally, someone tells me they think the mirror is slightly off - it’s the tiling/the house/character 😂

Not a cottage here but similar problem with 130yr old house! We also have a lot of character too 😂

@Wolvesart we have the same problem, I went for a round bathroom mirror to minimise the wonkiness 😊
Finished our bathroom a few weeks ago, the fitter recommended a bathroom supply place that has a design service, we took the room measurements in with us and they did design options for us based on what fitted in the space. House is old and wonky, so in terms of style we’ve stayed ‘in keeping’

@Ineedanewsofa round mirror to minimise the wonky is genius!

OP, is it being fitted first week in January? If so... you might find decisions made for you by availability...

Whereabouts are you?
We did both the family bathroom & the en suite this year. First time I'd done a bathroom
Get some squared paper, measure your bathroom and then do a scale drawing.
Decisions

• what sort of bath do you want? Freestanding? Double ended? Handles fitted into the side? Shower head attachment thing?
• what sort of shower cubicle do you want? Open? Sliding door? Opening door? Square? Rectangular? Curved?
• what sort of shower head do you want? Over the head (rainfall) or one on a riser? Or both?
• what sort of loo do you want? Wall hung or should it go down to the floor? What sort of shape should it be? There seem to be several square ones available now which I didn't like at all
• what sort of sink do you want? What shape? Underwing or one which sits on the unit? If you have a unit, do you want it to have drawers or a cupboard? Wall hung or stood on then floor?

Then you need to think about storage, tiles and fittings like taps

And when I can answer all those questions, where to then? A one-stop bathroom shop or source it all and hope for the best 😬🤷

They're here for about 5-6weeks, first week in Jan to check over our shower room so we can use that while project underway. Then totally ripping out existing family bathroom probably 2nd week and doing first fixes etc ... apparently. Gahhh!