New bathroom-where to begin??

[Shesparkles]

We're finally in a position to be looking at replacing our bathroom which is beyond tired!

The only problem is I have no idea where to begin. I've done a couple of kitchens before, which though I say it myself, have turned out really well, especially the current one.

I'll be working with a budget of hopefully no more than £3-4k, which I'm hoping is going to be realistic. The room is small, I don't want to change the layout, and I'm likely to be able to buy the tiles and possibly the suite at trade prices, and won't have to pay for the labour for tiling.

The problem is I have no idea where to begin looking! I have a plumber/fitter in mind, but do I speak to him first for ideas, or do I look at the bits I need before I contact him? I went into a local bathstore.com for a look to see if I could get some ideas (won't be buying from there) and left pretty sharpest, feeling a bit overwhelmed!

It won't be started this side of Christmas as I want to take my time to look for good deals etc, but I have no idea what makes a good quality suite etc

What I have now is a totally standard, pretty cheap bathroom which was installed when the house was built about 15 years ago....HELP!!!

I'd talk to your installer first, check things like power showers and such like will work with your plumbing set up.
To be honest baths sinks and WCs are much of a muchness unless you want free standing bath? We've just ordered a new bathroom, we wanted a square shower bath, left the rest up to the designer. Lots come in various sizes and you can get thicker baths which insulate better.
You'd be much better focusing on taps, tiles and flooring as these can make a basic bathroom look great.

I got a couple of the big companies (Wickes and Homebase) out to quote for the lot to see what their prices were like and draw up some plans (this is free) and found the installation expensive. I got a local plumber to come and quote so we went with him and asks him for recommendations on where to buy the bathroom from. He said he uses Victoria Plumb or Plumbworld.

I looked at Victoria Plumb and they had mixed reviews but some great deals on so I bit the bullet and ordered. I am a complete novice but they recommended what I needed to add to the order, wastes etc. The bath is good but apparently the cabinets are badly put together, the pipe for the toilet wasn't long enough, the pop up waste for the sink is no good as it leaks so we have had to payout again for these things.

The whole thing has turned into a bit of a nightmare and the plumber keeps coming to me with problems then sort of looking at me when I don't know! Their are some other bits I am not entirely happy about as well.

We need our kitchen done and we are going to pay for Homebase to do the lot. They have already done the plans and I like what they have done. I think it will be far less hassle and I am not ordering something like that on my own again. Its more expensive but I think it will be far less hassle!

We just did our bathroom for 3k. We were careful but by no means did we have to scrimp, so I'd say it's doable.

We found tilrs first, online as much cheaper than the high street tile shops. We chose vinyl for the floor as it was cheaper and would be a bit softer/warmer underfoot.

Then we went to bath store and picked all our bits. Helped that the tiles gave us a 'style' to work from. We spent about £1200 I think. We could have got cheaper online but bath store was v convienient and we could see what we wanted.

Then we got in our plumber and tiler. This wasn't cheap but like you're, we kept the layout the same so it was v simple. He had advised is early on about our fittings, but realt we were able to have whatever we wanted.

It's much easier than a kitchen :-)

That's a great help from all of you-thanks so much!
Grumblepus, if we got a freestanding bath we'd have to forego the sink and wc

Crapbag I'm sorry yours has turned into such a nightmare, it's such a pain I the backside when these kind of works don't go smoothly

Moonandstars, that's a good idea what you say about looking at tiles first, I'll probably do that, as I keep looking at suites etc and feeling overwhelmed

Now do I tell dh now or later of my plan to recycle the wc and basin from the bathroom into the ensuite to replace the disgusting off white/never looks quite clean suite that's there.....

I think that sounds like a good idea. You'd be being buying that for the new bathroom anyway.

It has been an utter nightmare so have money aside for unexpected extras. Ours was woodworm under the bath so treatment for that, boards being replaced and joists being strengthened, plaster boarding all the walls as we couldn't get them plastered before and I didn't think about the fact it would need doing before bathroom went in. Plumber took wall tiles off then came to me to ask when the plastering was going to be done, which wasnt possible immediately. Plaster board isn't looking great somDH is going to have to tidy up the joins and we will have to put some sort of edging at the top because it looks really rough and crap.

I think we have added nearly £470 to the cost.

Thanks Crapbag, there is a bit more money should it be needed, I just don't want to throw unnecessary money at it (I've been guilty of that in the past) but I so t want to skimp on something that's then going to bug me if it's not right if that makes sense. It's feeling a lot straighter in my head now that you've all given me pointers

Hi There,

As a bathroom design specialist here's some free professional advice:
Spend your budget on proper taps preferably chrome plated brass as these will last a lifetime.
Get decent tiles as the really cheap ones are cheap for a reason - they won't last.
Waterproofing the bath/shower floor and walls and using the right flexible grout and adhesives are paramount or you'll have leaks and cracking.
Spatial planning is key to selecting th right size products.
Get a warranty from fitter. Any good one is happy to provide.

Have a look at some of my designs to get an idea of different visual effects
Best of luck

designandconker.co.uk

That's great DG-thanks very much, this is all the kind of information I've been looking for