Can we do a bathroom lessons learned thread?

[dontcallmemam]

My Pinterest and Houzz are full of gorgeous bathrooms but thinking practically are there any good tips?
It seems a decent extractor & an open window are important.
Good flooring?
Adequate storage?
Any tips gratefully received.

Really large tiles in shower with a dark grate so marks don't show.

Oops, *grout!

Will do, thanks.

grey on the floor yes. The walls are up to you (grout will get a bit dirty, and stained by splashes of shower gel and shampoo)

We have a humidity controlled fan in our bathroom which really helps ventilate it.

Don't buy special glass for shower cubicle that claims to stop limescale build up - it is just the same as normal glass but much more expensive!
I echo this. In fact, it's worse as you can't use strong limescale remover; mine is now pitted beyond all hope of redemption. The plain glass surround we got at the same time is fine.

We are doing the ensuite right now. We have put an 800mm wall cabinet above the loo, it can hold a load of towels and with mirrors on the door (country style so have an oblong recess on front) you can get the mirror glass cut to size from a local glass company. Stops them looking like kitchen cupboards.
There are no slippy marble tiles on the floor.
We put a pocket door that slides into the wall to make the bedroom and bathroom bigger. www.portman-pocketdoors.co.uk/pocket-door-system/
Get the biggest shower stall you can fit it makes all the difference. I agree with someone else about making a recess shelf in the shower when you are down to the stud walls. Nice not to have the shampoo cluttering up the edge of the shower.

Just to balance - I've just this month ordered stuff for new bathroom, cloakroom and shower room from Better Bathrooms and found them excellent - good friendly customer service, delivery as promised, and the builders are fine with the quality and ease of fitting.
As I say, just to balance.

If you have an airing cupboard in there get a hanging rail fitted. Changed my life.

2 sinks so not having to share too.

Agree coloured grout. Anything but white.

Maker sure your plumber knows that H = hot and C= cold. Ours obviously didn't or didn't care so the tap in our cloakroom is the wrong way round and results in visitors burning their hands

The tops of taps come off so you can swap the indices.

Put a mirror on the wall above the basin. Don't put a cabinet there. Women like to put jars and bottles in bathroom cabinets. When they fall out they will crack the basin.

following with total interest

I've done two bathrooms now. Things I have learnt:

Get as big a shower cubicle as you can. It just feels more luxurious not bumping into walls when getting in or bending down for things.

Massive baths are not necessarily comfortable, particularly if you're short - I couldn't rest my feet on the end of our bath when reclining as it was too far away! (though it was brilliant for getting loads of kids in)

Yes to grey grout.

Yes to slate floor tiles, not smooth ones.

Don't put a free-standing bath in a tiny room so you have to squeeze round it to get in

Have a tiled splash back behind the sink please!

No bowl sinks perched on wooden surfaces. Annoying to clean and weird.

Yes to underfloor heating - it's not expensive.

Spend good money on showers, shower doors/screens/cubicles, taps and toilets (better flush on good brands).

No need to spend fancy money on tiles, baths, sinks and shower trays.

Definitely have hand-held shower things on baths and in the shower for hair rinsing, cleaning and using as a microphone.

Off the floor toilet a must
Do consider the height of the sink(s) what is perfect for a person 5 foot 4 inches is a back breaker for a six footer. If you have to share a bathroom do go for a compromise height.
Get as big a shower footprint you can 90cm or bigger.

I'm re animating this as it is BRILLIANT.

My tip would be not to get an off the floor toilet as they bend and creak ominously depending on weight of toilet user. Fact.

off the floor toilets work well for us. they must be fitted properly. that might be your problem

My bug bear is these taps in the middle of the bath against the wall. Look lovely easy to reach in the bath, absolute fecking pain when they start to leak or come loose. I happily took bath panel off to see what the problem was to see huge bath which pipes are behind and can't be got at!! I've managed to slide a Tupperware box under the 2" between bath and floor to catch the drips and have to empty it every few months. To fix means taking bath and all tiles out/off and that's too big a job at minute. Taps need to be at an end or a corner where they can be easily reached.

Gf - you may be right. We don't have any, we were warned against them by various people. But give how many different people have said not to, I think you have to be very confident in your builders.

auntp - good tip, noted!

Had three of the floor since house built 11 years ago. No problems.

Don't get a "modern" square toilet.

Arses aren't square, so it will never be comfy to sit on, and you will struggle to find a replacement seat when it eventually wears out.

So, I have three bathrooms to do.. in the main bathroom we have a bath (which fits wall to wall on one side) a wall hanging sink with cupboard built under and a corner cubicle shower.

If I was tiling I would tile the cubicle, a splashback for the sink and a half height round the bath... but i want to use waterproof paneling as I hate tiles... would it look weird just to do the same or would it be better to do all the walls?

Make sure the floor is level. I didn't, and any water that gets on the edges of the bath now rolls off the end instead of down the plug hole and makes puddles. Thank goodness the floor is tanked.

Does anyone know what kind of floor looks good if I'm having marble tiles on the walls? I'm struggling to visualise this. Marble tiles on the floor sounds like a fall waiting to happen!

My top tip would be: think carefully about where tiles will end if you are not doing the whole walls. Ours don't line up with the other horizontals in the room (e.g., windowsill, top of door frame). It bugs me every time I look at it and I'm not even a particularly anal person

I haven't RTFT but I really regret getting black floor tiles in a hard water area. They get a white limey build up on them really quickly and need more scrubbing and attention than any other part of the house.