Please help de-NHS my bathroom!

[VeryLittleOwl]

I've bought a house which has a downstairs bathroom installed as an accessible wetroom by the council for the previous owner and it basically looks like it belongs on a hospital ward.

My original plan to get it looking a bit more normal was to install a dark Karndean floor over the non-slip wetroom floor, but when I went in to speak to the flooring shop today they said it couldn't be done because there isn't a 90-degree angle between the floor and the wall, the floor curves up and has been run under the wetwall. The only way to get a floor in there would be to strip out the curve, which would probably mean removing all the wetwall as well, and I can't squeeze replacing all that into the budget.

My bathroom guy is delighted, because he's been telling me repeatedly that it's an extremely good job, it's a couple of thousand pounds'-worth of work and I'd be nuts to change it. We've already removed the shower enclosure and are going to put up a big glass screen around the dipped shower area in the floor for a walk-in shower. It's left some holes in the wetwall, so those three panels are being replaced with a contrasting darker colour. The toilet is being replaced with a new one, I'm getting some nicer taps for the basin, and the radiator's being swapped out for a big chrome towel rail.

What else can I do to make it look more homely and less institutional? It's a big room and feels quite cold and clinical. I think I need something in the gap between the loo and the sink, but what?

If you're renting it out - accessible or not - I would keep it as a wet room.

SO much easier if you have kids/dog that get messy. Means people with limited mobility can use it. Much easier for renters to keep clean etc.

Anything you put in there needs to be maintained and will get damaged at a very high rate compared to in a family home. You won't be looking at it so that doesn't matter.

We had a similar flooring problem in our kitchen and bought a vinyl mat for £250 which is lovely and patterned like Moroccan tiles: www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/moroccan-tile-mats-and-runner

I'd put that down to deal with the floor, and then agree with others that wood and plants will deinstitutionalise the room immediately. You could even get an old chest of drawers, cut a hole away from the top and slot it around the sink since it's built into the wall. To look something like this: www.rosesandrolltops.co.uk/2016/07/makeover-turning-chest-of-drawers-into.html?m=1

and here are some instructions: www.rosesandrolltops.co.uk/2016/07/makeover-turning-chest-of-drawers-into.html?m=1

Xiaoxiong - I LOVE that mat and it's the perfect colour, thank you :)

Okay, so reasonably big mirror with a storage unit under it between the sink and toilet, ask my brilliant carpenter to build me a wooden storage unit which makes the basin look countertop, blinds for the windows, full length mirror on the wall you can't see between the shower and the door, and a large low-maintenance plant of some sort. Think I'm going to have to go for a free-standing towel rail as the entrance to the shower is going to be several steps from a wall.

Thank you very much, everyone - as preferred all round :)

I like the floor!

I wonder about wood tongue and groove panelling to half height? You’d have to take the basin off and refit it but that’s not a huge job. Then you could easily paint the panelling a nice colour, perhaps a darker version of the floor colour. Add matching shelves and hooks as a place to put decorative items/guests washbag.

Do you particularly want to keep the bathroom configuration as it is?

I would move it around and put a bigger sink on the wall betwen current position and toilet. It could be set into a vanity unit (not to the floor but one with nifty storage arrangement in it) and a large wide mirrored cabinet above it. That way most toiletries, perfumes etc in the dark as they should be.

If you like the current layout then on that wall you could either put a towel cupboard, a tall towel radiator or a bidet. Colour and lighting will make a big difference.

Have a look at some bathroom brochures online (even if only B&Q, Homebase or IKEA) to get ideas of what you could do.

A vanity unit.

Sadly tongue and groove wouldn't be right stylistically with the rest of the house which is quite 1920s (still have some wonderful original bakelite art deco door handles!)

Current plumbing and electrical layout has to stay as it is, otherwise we're into taking up the floor and the panelling coming off and I can go back to the original plan. The electrician and plumber are more or less at first fix (just waiting on the joiner to put one new stud wall in, which is happening tomorrow) so if I make any major changes now they will all kill me :)

A tall cupboard is a good idea, will have a look round online. The other issue is that a lot of places won't deliver to my postcode because although I'm on the mainland, I'm so far north I can see Orkney.