Bathroom that won't date

[NightFallsFast]

I'm renovating a cottage for holiday letting which will have 6 en suites and a downstairs loo. Getting it wrong will be an expensive mistake. Most of the bathrooms are small and some are awkwardly shaped so I'd like to stick to lighter colours and hard wearing materials.

The travertine look seems to be dating, will grey go the same way? Is the best option to stick to white tiles on the walls and wood or dark tile floors?

What would you want if you were in a holiday cottage in the country?

White tiles. Wood floors.

Anything that is currently stylish and fashionable will date quickly. Especially taps.

Exposed wood floors are currently fashionable.

white suites. Pale colours. Light tile floors.

think PRACTICAL. The plastic wall panels look a lot better than they sound and mean no mould and no grout. I've seen them a lot in backpacker hostels where they get really heavy wear and they seem up to it.

That's an interesting thought specialsubject, I've used them before inside shower cubicles and they were inexpensive but I don't know if people would expect tiles of some kind as this place is more high spec in the rest of the house.

At least being "not fashionable" will be less expensive than being on trend!

We stayed in a place (lovely, architect-designed) that had a simple suite and white tiles, but had shower panels in a lovely blue, (Mermaid china blue looks similar) not the usual marble effect. There was a little squeegee provided to wipe them down.

I think the best thing with rental places is to have stuff that is easy to clean, repair and replace if needed.

Everything dates.
I've gone with white walls and black floors on the hope of some longevity.

I'd go a bit old fashioned. I had friends who had a 30s semi and they did the bathroom in a 1930s style and I guess that wouldn't date much (black and white tiles, traditional taps) but wouldn't ever feel fashionable. High spec quality fittings won't date too much I would think, it's low quality that ends up looking bad.

I loved the bathroom belonging to Tracey Fox that was recently on Grand Designs, they reclaimed a lot of mismatched colourful sanitaryware and painted the walls dark grey. It looked amazing.

My sister has a hotel and she has basic but robust bathrooms with white medium format tiles, good Mira showers and IIRC quality vinyl flooring. If you are going high spec maybe Karndean? You have got to assume visitors will be really heavy handed and break anything it's possible to break. Also whoever cleans the cottage will thank you for surfaces that can be whizzed over with a mop. You can add a bit of colour with accessories/paintwork. I'd go for "normal" fittings ie. pedestal or vanity unit basin, close coupled WC but clean and contemporary.

In our bathroom I looked for showers that were intuitive to use, i.e. it was obvious which lever to turn on and which to adjust heat, rather than 3 anonymous knobs on a chrome plate, and taps with red/blue to mark the hot/cold directions. The acid test was, can my mother figure it out!

It's more important that the bathroom looks clean/not broken than that it looks fashionable really. As long as it's reasonably neutral ie no avocado suite!

Definitely not wood floors in a rental as if people leave puddles (inevitable) you'll get rot or discoloured patches.

I'd go for dark tiles on the floor, non slip, large format to reduce grout lines. But make sure the floor underneath is properly solid and flat so you don't get cracking. A tile upstand (like a skirting board but shorter) looks smart and protects the walls if there are puddles.

But... are the bathrooms likely to be cold? if so then definitely go for Karndean or something rather than tiles on the floor.

On the walls I'd say off white tiles rather than stark white (but not beige either) and don't tile more than you need to (eg do the shower area and behind the sink but not more). That way you save costs and also can paint the walls in a colour that is fashionable at the time. Again large ish format tiles to reduce grout. Don't use white grout, a pale grey is much more forgiving. Maybe shiny rather than matt tiles on the walls, as will reflect light more and be easier to clean.

The mermaid boards probably are more practical - but they are not quite as smart as tiles IMO. If you don't need lots of joins (eg in a shower cubicle) they can look good, I'm not sure about around a bath where there would be more joins between the panels.

Try to have plumbing reasonably accessible so it can be fixed easily - for example exposed valve shower rather than recessed valve, and a rail shower kit rather than a fixed shower head where the pipe work is all in the wall. For sinks a pedestal sink is practical as the pipe work is easily accessible, or maybe a sink on top of a cabinet so the pipe work can be inside the cabinet. Again all easier to fix than having the piping in the wall.

period/retro style wouldn't date but is much harder to clean than modern.

As a guest I want clean.
So go for easy to clean and easy to maintain.
I would avoid tiles!
And avoid wood floors for reasons given.
Avoid any groves where grime can build up (think toilet pan and and cupboard doors / handles, or between panels of wood).
So sleek clean finish.
The panels suggestion is good.
And don't overlook vinyl floors - good quality, industrial, some think like altro.
Easy to clean.

Simple and classic. Plain white suites and tiles, best quality taps and a black and white floor.
You can inject fashionable colours with accessories which are easily changed and updated over time as necessary.

We looked into the aqua boarding recently and I just couldn't like it no matter how I tried. To me it says 'caravan' or at best health club and feels far too commercial, certainly not luxurious and very definitely the opposite of high spec despite being more expensive than what we eventually chose.

Thank you so much. Lots of things there I hadn't even thought about, like easy to use shower fittings (obvious when you think about it) and easy to access plumbing. I'll definitely look in to Karndean, we looked at it for the kitchen but went for something else in the end.

I'm thinking perhaps of something like this Bathroom Design But with tiles only around the fittings/in the shower and I wouldn't have a freestanding bath (both for space and cleaning reasons).

Yep that looks good - you can always liven it up with coloured towels/pots if you want. I'd choose darker floor grout though!