Help me with all my bathroom questions! (+ preferably show me yours!)

[user1479289699]

We've just exchanged on a (new to us) house which needs quite a bit of work. It has a main bathroom, ensuite and downstairs WC. We're prioritising the main bathroom and want to get that done before we move in in Oct. But I have no idea where to start! Our builder has said "go and choose some tiles and a bathroom suite" but I don't know what I'm doing!

The bathroom will set the tone for the rest of the house upgrade so it's important to get it right. My questions are:

1. The builder/fitter has recommended fully tiled bathrooms with dark grout as it's easiest to keep clean - me and partner are happy with this but will it work out more expensive?

1. What do I need to know before I start shopping? How do I know how many tiles to buy for floor and walls? The bathroom is 7'0" by 6'0" so pretty compact.

1. Where do I look for bathroom suites and do I buy them as a set or individually? We also want as much storage as we can so could I get cupboards from the same places?

1. I don't even know what kind of style or colour scheme I like, I've looked on instagram and Houzz but I'm struggling to find 'real life' versions, please send me yours, if you don't mind, for inspiration!

1. What do I do about an extractor fan? Do I buy this myself?

1. Is there a free app or website I can use to put in colours and layouts to visualise what it will look like?

Thank you and sorry for all the silly questions!

I'm mid extension/renovation and have had some experience as we've planned 2 bathrooms and an ensuite.
I naively rushed in and chose what i wanted from a few catalogues - i looked in plumb centre catalogues as we could get a discount. Buying everything yourself and separately has saved us a bit of money but you need to ask advice when you order as there is all sorts like waste, valves etc that I didn't think about ordering.
Ive learnt my lesson now and write a list of what I want then take it to someone who knows to fill in the gaps! If you're buying from a merchant then my experience is that the counter people are very helpful and take pity on me but are less willing if they have 3-4 other people waiting in there that obviously know exactly what they want - pick your time wisely!!

In our family bath I've gone for a wall hung toilet (geberit frame), an IKEA sink and vanity, and an L shaped bath and screen for wall mounted shower. No tiles as yet but thats my job for this week when the kids finally go back to school!

Thank you. Who would you say is best to 'fill in the gaps'? My builder or the merchant/shop? Are there any shops you'd recommend us popping into?

you could try your builder/plumber? or as i said, find a kindly soul at one of the merchants. She of the plumb centres have showrooms which will plan it with you - might be a good place to start?
I got an initial plan/quote from Bathstore which was helpful as you can get an idea of what will fit both in terms of space and budget. Beware though they will then hound you about ordering, continually dropping their prices! I think using a one stop shop like them is good for ease but the products just didn't seem as good quality as the ones from the merchants.

i picked up a Thirty6 catalogue in PC that has some sample plans and costs in the back - I'm sure they'll be online somewhere? hold on…..

yep, www.thirty6bathrooms.co.uk/designs/bathrooms/

I'll come back to this later if I get a chance but my first two thoughts are:

Only tile the whole thing if you really like tiles and cleaning tiles. I think fit sounds cold and echoey and I wonder whether your chap has an aversion to Plastering..?

If you have no idea what you like can you delay 6 months or so as you don't want to regret and it is hard to plan without knowing your home. Grotty bathroom for a wile might be worth it.

We found a builder/ plumber who would supply and fit. He gave us some brochures and we chose from there. We had main bathroom, en suite and downstairs loo done together, so all the upheaval came at once. We chose tiles from B and Q, but they did not do stone shower trays or higher loos, both of which we needed. You can get places like B and Q to supply and fit. Wykes also do it. Not sure how it works out price wise.

I would really suggest you don't buy from a catalogue without seeing things IRL
I know it sounds daft, but you need to sit on a toilet to see if its right. There are some very odd ones out there, which look lovely.
I would heartily recommend going out to a bathroom showroom, you may see something you hadn't thought of.
Also - buy the best you can afford., personally I would suggest to go a bit more classic, then it wont need updating so soon. So go for quality, not just style - it can date quickly.
I rather agree with pp - full tiles looks very classy, but it can 'feel' cold, and who wants to be cleaning tiles. Dark grout - mmm - I think that rather depends on the tiles.

Start by defining the look you want for the room and go from there. Even though Pinterest and others aren't necessarily always 'real homes' you can distil a look from them to your space.

What is the era of the house your buying?

Not cold, not echoey, fully tiled. (Only just moved in hence boxes and interesting toilet roll holder )

We used a local showroom but ours is a work in progress. We have a bath so far. Thank goodness we have another bathroom

Here's mine!
We bought all our bits separately! Plumber said we could buy everything on line etc cheaper than he could get them even with a trade discount!
Vanity unit from Ikea, toilet from Victoria plumb!
We also went for shower panels round the shower rather than tiles!
We also got a very tall & slim bathroom cabinet from Ikea

fully tiled with double shower and bath.

book book I agree. We looked at the items we had chosen in the showroom as well.

Here is mine.

I bought some bits separately but the builder uses Ridgeons and was happy to pass his discount on to me. He got different discounts for different suppliers so when I actually did my wish list and then a substitute that was cheaper, after he got the discounts I ended up with all the more expensive stuff as he got bigger discounts from those suppliers.

I have not gone for fully tiled as if you go with walls in some places it (a) keeps the cost down and (b) is a quick way to change colour schemes when you want to.

Deffo agree about sitting on the toilets. I've stayed in places with those square toilets and some have been fine and others Really uncomfortable.

Dark grout looks great if you're going with say white metro tiles and you want a kind of old school / vintage style. Grout comes in all sorts of colours now, so its not just a question of black or white. We have mid grey. Darker is definitely better for floor tiles (had white previously and it got quite mucky looking quickly).

I agree that completely tiled can be cold depending on how draughty the room is anyway, the windows you have and how effective the heating is. Your room is relatively small but just make sure if you do go fully tiled that you get a proper radiator with the necessary BTUs for the room (there are various calculators on line) or you consider under floor heating. We had the most beautiful large fully tiled bathroom in a previous house but it was absolutely freezing and therefore hardly used it other than for the bare minimum of time.

I agree that you should see things in the flesh - sit on the toilets. I think you can perhaps get away with less expensive baths / shower screens / basins but I'd spend money on taps and toilets given the use they get. We should have spent more on our toilet seats, they drive me crazy as they slip when you sit on them.

name changed do you mean slip sideways? That's often the hinges being loose l. Depending on the seat you can sometimes tighten these either just under the seat on the hinge, or if it's the base of the hinge that's loose can tighten just under the ceramic.

Dark grout is a nightmare! I had black in a kitchen once and it's was horrible to try and clean. Just went a manky mottled colour.
I've had my ensuite done recently in grey stone tiles with a light grey grout.

Ask your builder if they work with a bathroom supplier and have a discount - they may have to make the appointment for you to go along.

The supplier will be good at recommending things. But have a think beforehand and browse the bath store and Victoria Plum websites beforehand to think about styles you like.

Also think about hotel bathrooms and others you've seen that you've liked. Use Google and save/print pictures you like.

I think the beige/stone/neutral all-tiled hotel bathroom look has been over-done and is on the way out, but if YOU like that, go for it. Personally I'm a sucker for some metro tiles, colour, and possibly even (gasp) wallpaper.

I have fully tiled with dark grey tiles on the floor and light grey on the walls. Dark grey grout on everything.

Not cold. Looks super smart. No trouble to clean.

Why would tiles be harder to clean than like a plastered and painted wall?

Large format tiles so minimum grout.

Do people Polish painted walls in bathrooms? Can't say I do.

I have fully tiled. Amazed your builder suggested it, mine kept trying to persuade me that I didn't need everything tiled and that my chosen look reminded him of a sanatorium or prison...

I like it though. White tiles and light grey grout on the floor in one room is a paint to clean; darker tiles and dark grey grout elsewhere looks as gorgeous as the day it was first put in.

Full tiling is more expensive for sure, so go with your heart.

I made my fitter tell me exactly how many tiles they wanted so they couldn't moan and fuss about cutting them. They ended up overestimating so we had spares, so make sure you know what the return policy is and don't let the deadlines expire like I did.

Practical - If you go modern and wall hung toilet - make sure it's the right height! I'm quite small and one of or bathrooms, my feet dangle, I feel like a 4 year old

Here's mine - separate bathroom and loo. We found the floor tiles on Pinterest and worked from there, although what we actually did was find a lovely designer on Houzz who planned the whole thing for us and arranged/project managed the installation (all finished 1 week before my due date so we were cutting it a bit fine!).

We were originally going to have white metro/dark grout on the tiled wall, but decided to keep it white to better match the floor patterns. The tiles go to the top of the window frame rather than full height.

I got our bathroom stuff from Plumbnation online as it was half the price of the plumbers merchants. Our plumber said Roca was the best sanitaryware and Grohe for taps/showers, im not disappointed!!!

For the stuff that was an odd size I asked him to get as I didn't want to buy something that wouldn't fit and not be able to get a refund.