If building a bathroom from scratch...

[GinGeum]

What are your must-haves?

I’m talking about a normal family bathroom in a semi-detached house here, don’t come at me with jacuzzi recommendations

We are turning a bedroom into a bathroom so it is a completely clean slate, although it will have to be a shower-over-bath set up due to space.

What storage is good? Which kind of shower screen? Anything you have that you love, tell me please!

@Bezm I wouldn't have that INSTEAD of a shower. They are for washing your hair in the bath, or washing out the bath. Surely no adult wants to be crouching in the bath trying to wash their hair with one hand and holding the hose with the other?!

Yes to dimmable lights, not just for midnight loo trips but also for relaxing baths in winter. Lovely.

For me it's a hell no to an extra long bath but I'm fairly short. I can't lie comfortably in ours (we didn't install it), I kind of end up holding on with my neck somehow. It's uncomfortable, anyway.

We used IKEA vanity units in our old bathroom and were very pleased with them, had loads of storage.

The bath filler looks great, will definitely check it out for our next house.

Has anyone found a bath filler that fills as fast as taps? I went for taps because I had had such bad experiences with fillers in previous rentals.

the extraction is operated by a switch outside the bathroom, so you have to remember to switch it on before you've stripped down ready to jump in. It's just lazy on the part of the electrician to do it that way
My extractor AND my light switch are both outside the bathroom because you aren’t allowed to have flip switches inside the bathroom and pull cords look shit.

Has anyone found a bath filler that fills as fast as taps?
Mine is by Abode and I haven’t had a problem with it. If it flows slowly it’s most likely an issue with low water pressure.

Ripples bathrooms have some lovely things, I'd just for inspiration only.

I've always dreamed of a roll top bath and a huge walk in shower and double sinks. A girl can dream hey..

@LlamaPyjamas - pullcords don't have to 'look shit'! I agree that they can, but you can get some lovely handles for them very easily. Mine look lovely.
Switches outside the bathroom are just annoying (in my view) - I've never understood why you wouldn't have the switch in the room itself. Electricians prefer to fit switches outside, because it's easier I think, but they're not the ones using them every day!

Switches outside the bathroom are just annoying (in my view) - I've never understood why you wouldn't have the switch in the room itself. Electricians prefer to fit switches outside, because it's easier I think, but they're not the ones using them every day!

Building regs innit!

You can either have a pull cord (makes that horrible KER KLUNK noise, and dangles getting in the way of the nice clean lines) or have a switch on the outside.

I know about the building regs! A decent switch doesn't have to make a loud noise or look unsightly. But it is a whole lot more practical.

Here is our shower over bath set up and what's good and bad about it:

Bette Ocean bath. Great quality, loads of internal space, one squared off end so great for showering.

As a special order Bette do a built in upstand on their baths, which means wall tiles go over the upstand and you can avoid using silicon which always goes mouldy! (I don't have the upstand but definitely will next time).

180 degree pivot bath screen, and high wall mounted shower head. The screen swings under the shower head and folds flat against the bath end wall. So can be totally out of the way when bathing kids.

The shower and bath controls are on the long wall so 1) don't get in the way of folding bath screen described above and 2) no need to get arm wet.

Bath filler to avoid bashes on taps. It is slow though so I often start the bath filling using the shower! It's not a water pressure thing as the shower is quite a lot faster. Apparently bath fillers are notoriously slow. Using the shower solves it though.

Hand held shower attachment - possibly a Bad Idea as they like to play with it. No disasters so far but... I mostly use a jug instead for the DC.

Quietmark rated extractor, goes on with light, but also has high up override switch if you really want quiet

Two sets of lights, bright (ceiling) for general use and soft (either side of mirror) for nighttime wees/relaxing baths.

Tiles - we have different ones on the wall and floor and they don't really work together. Did in the showroom, don't in real life. Learn from my error and use the same all over, or just plain white on the walls... (if floor tiles have a white background)

Oh yes and tiled niche for shampoo!

I guess a freestanding tub would be a great option, but such a decision depends on desired design and your personal preferences.
At least you can check this review and choose what suits you well! There are also few tips about installation here

I am going to look at the Bette upstand! Brilliant idea. I hate sealants.

Cut a shelf into the wall instead of using wire baskets which rust.

You can’t cut a shelf into a wall. You’d have to build the wall out and put a recess into it. Which means you lose six inches width in the entire room just to have a recess. That’s why we decided to have a basket, because we didn’t want to give up six inches of space. If you get a chrome coated brass basket it won’t rust. Only the cheap non-brass ones rust.

How does a tiled niche work? Do you have to board out a wall further into the room, and have the cut out part going back to the original wall?

Ah, cross post!

We could in theory have something like that. It’s an odd room layout (hence why it is useless as a bedroom) and there are a few places where the wall goes back. I will try and draw up a plan, hold on.

So the pictures show the room plan with nothing in, and then the proposed potential layout of bathroom furniture. The cubby hole in the bottom right corner could work well for a tiled niche maybe? I don’t think the shower could be fixed on the opposite wall as it’s a very thin dividing wall (obviously been added at some point, not original to the house).

There is also space for a P or L shaped bath, and have it going closer to the airing cupboard at that end. Or just a completely different layout altogether maybe!

The other option which I’ve just scribbled over the top is a corner bath plus walk in shower, but I don’t know if it would all be too close and claustrophobic, and I don’t know where I would have the door to get into the shower (unless you can get corner versions of those as well, with a curving door in the middle?)

Sorry, here:

Google quadrant shower (you can even get curved bath mats to step out onto). I do like having a separate bath and shower.

Have you worked out where the soil pipe/waste will go? We’re moving the bathroom into the bedroom next to it and when planning our plumber said we don’t want the shower being on the opposite wall to the soil pipe cause the waste pipe will be long and may cause problems in the future.

Maybe get a shorter 1600mm bath and put the head of bath on the left hand lower side of the room so the end of the bath is next to the door and maybe a 800mm quadrant shower opposite with a towel radiator in between them. The sink then could fit under the window if it’s not too low?

Quadrant shower looks perfect.

Killer I like your idea of bath/shower placement, but I really don’t want to have anything in between the door and toilet. It’s quite small and I hate feeling cramped when I walk into a room. I think it would be too tight to have a decent sized vanity in front of the loo/under window, and then it would mean no mirror above sink.

How about rehanging the door so it opens into the room and putting the 1600mm bath against the wall under the window?