Is this bathroom arrangement a bad idea?

[Kescilly]

We are redoing our bathroom which currently has a bath but no overhead shower. The easiest solution would be to keep the same layout and tile and add an overhead shower and screen. This would look like the layout in the photo I’ve attached (photo was pulled from Pinterest).

If we do this, we will not be able to open he screen as the sink will be in the way. Does this matter? Currently it is just the two of us in the house and we use our ensuite to shower. This is the guest bathroom/family bathroom if we have a child.

Parents, would you find it overly annoying to use a bath like this for your children?

Our other option is to reverse the shower and have the showerhead and screen down the opposite side. But this would eat up what little storage space we have so we are a little reluctant to do this.

Any advice is appreciated!

If you offset your shower controls and have a shower screen which folds inwards it will work; e.g

www.fountaindirect.co.uk/matki-folding-bath-screen-1100mm.html

My bathroom is a similar layout in that I can't open the shower screen outwards. It makes cleaning it a bit tricky but otherwise it's ok.

Really depends ho long the shower screen is. One that halves or folds inwards would be easier in the long run but not a huge problem. I had one that didn’t open because of the sink cleaning it was a pain and every once in a while when I was bathing a dc and couldn’t quite get the angle right I’d wish it was different but wasn’t the end of the world. I would get a folding one though if the option was there and I was doing it again.

Ours is a similar layout but we've got a bi-fold shower screen that folds inwards. We paid a bit more for it but definitely worth it.

I have to stand in the bath to clean it but it works ok.

You can get concertina style ones that fold inwards too.

If you are redoing your bathroom you could fit a digital shower/ bath taps. The controls are then wireless so you could have them in a more accessible place. We have one set of controls above the bath and another by the sink so we can switch it off / adjust temperature without getting wet when the kids are using the shower.

Thanks everyone! Perhaps one that folds in could work then. The fitter suggested a concertina screen but I thought it might be a nightmare to clean, especially with the hard water we have here.

Another fitter suggested offsetting the controls but I had read online that it wasn't a good idea, so I'm not sure about that.

I think it looks fine. Think of the shower screen as a window see though window instead. I have a concertina screen. Because of the panels it means cleaning is more of a faff. You can have the shower controls piped to to work from the other end of the tub.

This is the one we have.
www.mirashowers.co.uk/showers/digital-showers/

The controls are wireless and waterproof, and either screw into the wall in any location or stuck with double sided tape. Or just place in on a shelf. You can have more than one set of controls too in different locations to make things even easier.

Would you not just get a shower curtain instead of the screen? We had 2 in a similar set up so there was no leakage and just replaced them every 6 months or so

The look is fab. Yeah, it'll be a tad awkward cleaning the screen but as a guest bathroom it may not need doing all that frequently.
However, I'd have a couple of concerns around this being a children's bathroom.
I think with the screen arrangement as it is it would be awkward to supervise a child touching/switching on the taps whilst they are bathing - the supervising adult has got to go sort of 'up and over and down' to grab any stray hands etc.
That particular design of basin has a lot of sharp looking corners at toddler height, just as they are getting out and standing.

i don't think the original picture would work because you'd get water splashes down the side of the basin on the screen which would be very difficult to clean because of how close the sink is to the screen. The folding one soul work.
Our basin is quite close to the tiled wall so I have this issue and wish someone had pointed out that out to me.

Would not soul!

The picture is fine - much better than concertina or curtain which will cheapen the look a lot.

The photo was just for layout purposes, we won't be using those exact models. Thanks for the comments re: children as I have no clue what is functional in that regard.

We don't really want to do a curtain, I think we'd rather reverse the shower orientation and lose the storage if it came to that.

Never thought about cleaning the outside of the screen, so that's a very good point as well!

So long as you have a small gap between the shower screen and the basin (enough to fit the thickness of your arm so that you can clean), I would say the pictured layout is good. If you switch the screen & shower to the other end, you'll find that you have to keep swinging it out of the way to climb in/out.

We have a concertina screen, but I use it fully extended across half the bath when bathing our son - it deflects some of his splashing back into the bath I cannot imagine how wet the bathroom would get if the bath were fully open.

I think it’s fine. You can clean the shower door when you are in the shower and as long as the shower screen isn’t to wide then you can reach around to use the controls. Offset controls would be even better.

A non moving shower screen is great for cleaning. It will look better longer than any other option.

I wouldn't like that for bathing small children personally, a curtain or a folding screen would be better.

I think you can get a screen that is mounted on the ceiling and pulls down like a roller blind.

What are the dimensions? I would switch the bath to go across the back wall. That might not be the easiest but it will make the room feel twice as big and make it much more family friendly. You need to consider bathing babies (hence the screen issue) but also un/dressing them. It's better imo to maximise floor space.

Ours is like this but with a normal sink so the screen opens a little and also the bath taps midway down the long edge of the bath. It’s fine.

Oh also we’re in a soft water area so no linescale so cleaning isn’t as much of an issue.

We had an ‘outasight’ bathscreen that totally folds back to the wall and then concealed. Looked fab! Left it behind when sold our house. They’re hard to come by though. Check amazon as pops up on there sometimes!

We have our taps in the middle to avoid this. DH managed to change them recently too, so access is not as impossible as you'd think, but neither was it easy.

I'd be tempted to go for a 2 part screen where the bit by the wall is fixed and the 2nd panel is hinged. I think it's called fixed and swing like this

Ours is very similar OP and I hate it! The sink is quite protruding, and our shower screen is the other end so when I've got the grandkids in the bath, there is barely any room to move. The screen has to be out in the room and wherever it is, it's in the way!

We did the design ourselves and bought the suite online. I really regret not getting a professional to do it, as it's not space efficient at all and we're now stuck with it for years..........