Shower over bath which isn't in corner of room

[LeeMiller]

Sorry in advance for how long this is. I would love some advice ! We are rennovating a flat and a small/awkward bathroom which I'd like to improve if possible. We will replace all units. Our budget is lowish!

I've attached a not-to-scale drawing to give an idea of the layout: You enter the narrow room and there's a window at the far end. On the left hand wall are the sink and bidet (non-negotiable as we're in Italy), on the right are the toilet and a built-in (tiled) bath. The area on the right hand side of the door is only 60cm wide (left hand side is even less) so the bath cannot be positioned in the corner at the door end and is currently in the middle of the wall, 20cm-ish from corner. The door hits the bath when open - first thing I wlil replace the door, e.g. with a bifold door opening the other way.

Plan A is to swap the position of the toilet and the bath. However, given the age /type of house it's likely that this wouldn't be possible without creating a weird, tapered step so we need a Plan B (we won't know until we start the works). The plumber and my partner are both strongly opposed to moving the bath under the wooden window (we live in a humid area).

What should our Plan B be if we can't change the position of the bath? How can we add a shower above a bath in the middle of the wall and not get water everywhere/ not have an ugly curtain compromise? 99% of baths seem to be in corners or have separate showers - what do you do when that's not an option?

• Would a freestanding bath be better - look more like a design statement and less awkward?
• What about a shower curtain on a circular ring that could be tucked in the corner ? Or are these a pain, clinging to your legs, easy to pull down etc?
• Are there ways that look good to put glass screens around the bath that don't totally enclose it?

What would you do?

Thanks Lalamum. I'm going to ask my OH to investigate moving the door. It never would have occured to me to remove the architrave inside the room to save space -good thinking! If moving then I think you're right Sandpit abd a door opening the other way (bifold?) would be much more practical and give us cleaner lines.

Good to hear people have successfully pu int a partition wall Wings, how wide is it approximately?

The tips on having access to the pipes and a flexible as well as fixed shower head are great too. So much that I wouldn't have thought of but which really makes sense. You lot are great!

glad to be of help

I love a good floorplan dilemma

You could do a pocket door instead of bifold. You would lose a little space off the room to install the kit but then nothing would obstruct anything.

In a previous house we had a 60cm wide, 70cm deep, full ceiling height shelving down the side of the shower. It drove me mad. It was too deep.

I replaced it with an IKEA tall kitchen unit that had drawers instead of shelves most of the way up. That transformed it from rage inducing to fantastic. I had those organiser tub things in the drawers. It was great.

Thanks Rabbit. I have just googled pocket doors and it looks interesting.

Drawers rather than shelves is also a good idea if we can get something to fit. I hated our deep cupboards in our old kitchen and am getting all drawers this time, much easier to access. So why not try and do the same in the bathroom.
I really appreciate the help everyone, in a few hours you've taken me from despondant to optimistic about our new bathroom.

Ours was only about 4" wide, and tiled on both sides and on the edge. We had high ceilings and the partition wall was only as high a needed.

I don't recall there being access for a plumber, but that's the same in my current house, if the plumber needed in the tiles would need to come off. I guess you could have access at the back of the partition in the cupboard.