Can we deviate from the 'bathroom uniform' that seems to have been imposed?

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There seems to have been a rule passed by the Bathroom Police that all bathrooms have to look essentially the same now. You know, big beige tiles over the floor and walls, not a scrap of wall left untiled, enormous showers, very 'hotel' finish. I don't dislike this, but am concerned it will date the bathroom and I don't want my room to look like every other bathroom. We are thinking of 5 years before selling. Any advice?

I think if you're not selling in the next 5 years, you should have whatever you like; because chances are fashions will have moved on / the buyers will want to change it anyway. So have whatever takes your fancy!

I do know what you mean about how homogeneous bathroom styling has become though. I did my bathroom recently and chose not to have large beige tiles and went for large grey tiles instead. Not on all the walls though - there's paint on most of the room. I surprised the plumber by NOT choosing a chrome towel rail, as this seems to be another common feature in bathrooms these days. I chose white, which gives out more heat, and which I felt went with the colour scheme better.

Just out of interest why does the white towel rail give out more heat? I only ask because I'll be looking to put one in my new bathroom, we have chrome now but wondered if white actually did something different

I'm with you on this.

Almost every bathroom I see for work (I'm a surveyor) looks exactly as you describe and I think it's already looking dated. The bloody beige would put me right off if I was a buyer.

I hate hotel bathrooms. I want old wooden shelves and cupboards, plants, windows and an antique mirror

My oh is just doing ours. We have bright green tiles on one wall and white on the others. Going to have bright accessories. We don't like beige/brown - our house is grey and brights!

I have no idea why the white towel rails give off more heat but have them (BIG ones) in my bathrooms and they are toasty. Don't confuse what you see in interiors mags and brochures with real life. I like fewer tiles, white and colours, and best of all both my wc's flush with a handle.

I agree that it's already looking dated. Do something different! Stubbed's idea sounds lovely, almost colonial.

The reason the white towel rails or radiators give out more heat is something to do with the reflection/refraction..oh, I don't know, but anyway if you look it up in a brochure you will see that the white model will always give out 30% more heat (measured in BTUs I think) than the chrome version.

I'm away to have a new bathroom fitted and the walls will be black sparkly wet wall-zero maintenances!

Ooh well thanks for that, I didn't know! I'm hoping to go white bathroom, teal coloured accessories and towels. Perhaps odd teal tile here and there or some sort of small border of tiles. Not quite decided!

I think having a plain bathroom is the way to go. We're planning white tiles on wall, grey paint, greyish floor tiles, grey/white counter tops, chrome finishes, individual mirrors above double sinks. Bathrooms are 15yrs old in ours, and are the beige/light peachy/fake goldish stylee. Ugh. Just waiting for the bank to approve the finance not holding my breath

You can inject colour by changing the cheaper things; paint, accessories and towels etc...

No way would I want to buy a house with a 5yo bathroom that needs ripping out. DH would make me live with it for ever the next 5yrs before he'd even consider replacing.

White has a higher emissivity than a chrome finish, so it mitts the heat better, even tho it is at the same temperature.

By the same mechanism, if you leave a white painted object, and a bare metal object left in the sunshine, the bare metal will feel hotter, as it absorbs the same amount of energy from the sun, but can't get rid of as much, so gets hotter.

go and choose something different, we went with large grey tiles and dark wood sink unit, and an amtico floor, it looks lovely. most tile shops have an amazing choice, not just travertine and fake travertine!

I can't stand the trend of making home bathrooms look like hotel bathrooms. Yes, it will look incredibly dated in ten years time. Do something else.

I will be having plain white tiles and woodwork and painting the walls a deep burgandy colour. I have the tiniest bathroom in the world and plan to live in this house for the foreseeable future, so drama beats convention.

I think the beige look is really dated now....
I think timeless - go for white tiles (although I'm thinking of going for wet wall in our new house ...hate cleaning grout) and a few coloured tiles/border ...and a basic plain white suite.
Our bathroom here was white suite but then pink and wood ...pink carpet (yuk), wood accessories, pine varnished wood paneling, pale pink wallpaper ...but the tiling was white (square, basic size) with odd feature pink tile (with images, very 80s) ...
I'm in the process of sprucing it up ...wood has been painted white, chrome accessories, floor is pale blue/green vinyl...but what has made a big difference and means I can cheaply deviate from a pink theme is removing and replacing just the feature tiles (with dark blue plain ones)...have done around the bath and it looks so very different ...and relatively easy to do...only thing I would recommend is keeping quite a few white tiles as spares for future updates ...I discovered that not all plain white tiles are the same...they are actually different shades of white. I couldn't get any that were an exact match so I was lucky I could scavenge one from elsewhere or I would have to redo the whole lot when I cracked one white one by accident removing a feature tile...
(Also don't have a tap that sits behind a sink on a work top...unless it is a fancy one with a sensor - I see those bowl on work top sinks and they make me wince. We have something very similar and it drives me insane (is being replaced) - after washing hands you turn the tap off with wet hands -the water drips off the tap onto the work top ...after 3 or 4 people have used the bathroom there is a puddle underneath and then you get mould... unless you train everyone (and you can be bothered or even can - eg small DCs) to dry the tap after use you are fighting a losing battle)

#wineoravocadoismyeldorado

Everything 'dates' eventually, though.

We had what I call the 'east London' bathroom put in 15 years ago in our old house - painted wood floors, freestanding 'Victorian tub, plants - and thought we were SO ahead of the curve . That look makes me cringe now.

I admit we have the beige hotel bathroom in our new house (had it put in 7 years ago). Its pretty dull but its SO easy to keep clean. White tiles (especially with white grouting) make me shudder at the thought of cleaning them.

What about some colour?

I detest beige bathrooms! (In fact I detest beige full stop.)

I think travertine looks nice when it's simple. When people start mucking around with contrasting mosaics and borders and different sized tiles on different walls, and crazy grout colours, it all begins to go horribly wrong.

I'm just about to do a bathroom and my starting point is porcelain tiles in a pale travertine colour.

I think white tiles look cheap. And those dark gloomy greys and browns are just too dark for some bathrooms, and too busy if you combine them with something contrasting.

Travertine colours are warm and interesting while still being plain and restrained. It can look a bit oppressive if people choose a travertine that's too yellow/orangey. But the pale stuff can look seriously lovely.

There's nothing to stop you hanging antique mirrors and cabinets on top of pale travertine/pretendy travertine. In fact it makes the perfect neutral backdrop.

White tiles are really hard to get right. Mostly they just look cheap, sometimes cheap and grubby. They are often the wrong white for the white goods, etc.

I would never have white tiles in a bathroom.

This just looks immensely practical and nice. www.houzz.co.uk/photos/15219348/st-johns-wood-family-home-london-contemporary-bathroom-london

Lost my post

We have white tiles, grey floor tiles and grey walls. This is a nearly finished picture. I have burnt orange and grey towels. The tile has a texture and is really easy to keep clean. I loves it.

I don't care what people do with their bathroom decor. I just want there to be a ban on fiddly designer taps, cisterns and plugs that stop working or fall apart and flood the place and can only be replaced if you order a special part that takes 6 weeks to arrive.

I don't care. I don't actually know anyone with this bathroom uniform you describe .

My bathroom is probably 15 years old. Came with my house. It's peach tile with some kind of Greek border. It's fairly neutral and easy to keep clean. I don't like it but on a day to day basis I don't care and don't need to spend £££ to update. My house is actually quite nice but done on a beige/gold colour scheme that would annoy some on this thread!

Many people I know have bathrooms they've inherited (dark green anyone?) or just go with white tile and painted plaster.

As pp said, everything dates, including the current fashion for grey, so just get something you like.