I am at my wit's end about the bathroom

[BathHell]

DH and I bought a house last year which is in need of updating. My DF very generously offered to do the work for us and currently we are working on the bathroom. It is week 4 and I am losing the will to live.

My DF is combative and annoying, he mocks me relentlessly and tells me he's just joking.

I wanted a traditional bathroom but he persuaded me ground me down to go with modern to suit the rest of the house. The trouble is we have a small budget and I have ended up with this sink unit which is so bland that I don't know what to do. I don't want white tiles as I think it might be a bit much to have white on white but I am out of ideas and he's pushing us to buy tiles by end of week and I just don't have any ideas.

I am just so tired of this that I want it over and done with, but I don't want to make any other decisions which I will regret.

What colours do you like? Remember you can paint it a bold colour and add a jaunty shower curtain to give it pizzazz.

Choose a plain-coloured square tile – square is more modern than subway so your dad can't argue; also easier to fit than something more unusually shaped, so again he can't argue. (Though you should stand your ground and return the unit you don't like.)

Pale pink squares, maybe? Or go subway tile but with a colour or crackle glaze.

Pale pink square tile bathroom, not bland modern:

www.instagram.com/p/B32OYW6F-ey/?igshid=1p580poia86eb

my advice would be don't tile the whole room, just tile around the shower/bath/sink where you absolutely need it, and like a pp said then you cant paint / wallpaper / do whatever you want to the walls, and you can change it if/when you get bored.

we have a floor to ceiling tiled bathroom (bought it like that unfortunately!) and I despise it. In our prev house, we had white subway tiles around the bath/shower and over the sink, one wall with flamingo wallpaper on it and the rest of the walls a v light grey. I loved it, and it would have been really easy to change if i'd wanted to.

Actually, white tiles would look great I think, but with grey grout.

You could return the sink unit, couldn't you, if you don't like it?

I particularly like @katerosemorgan on Instagram - shows how you can turn what was a pretty basic bathroom into something beautiful - obv she might not be to your taste but shows how its achievable :)

Very odd that you’re focussing I’m doing up your bathroom
When he seem to despise the person you will be sharing this bathroom with and instead should be considering counselling with him or leaving him!

menorca her dad is doing it I assume he doesn't live there!

I would go white tiles if I was being pushed in a rush! And paint the walls a lovely bright colour.

@lovemenorca it's her DF being a pain not her DH.

I'd go white too, but minimal tiling and jazz it up with paint and accessories or wall paper (I know wallpaper in a bathroom isn't great but you can replace it when you've decided what to do!)

My bathroom is fully tiled, with a modern suite, all in white with grey grouting and a dark grey tiled floor. By the time you get all your stuff in there (mirror, toothbrush holder, towels, shampoo bottles, kids toys etc) it won't look empty and boring.

I've got a similar unit in my shower room, I've used mosaic tiles for a splash back and the walls are painted plaster in a toning shade. I've got the same tiles in the niches in my shower, which is tiled in slate effect tiles. It should be fairly easy to change the colour scheme in the future if I get the urge!

burritofan

God I love pink. DP has vetoed it though.

The unit can be returned but at a cost unfortunately. Everyone is saying just do a modern bathroom because we will sell it on eventually. Which is maddening because I have to live there in the meantime.

Our rental places had minimum backsplash tiling and so I associate it with being unfinished and rental - but I appreciate that it's my issue!

Bollykecks

Haha he has semi moved in to the spare bedroom when he's working on the house. Cabin fever is high!! He loves to wind me up by sending me "joke" appliances eg RGB light shower heads he thinks he's hilarious but I just feel so tired and run down with all this. Yesterday it was the bloody spotlights, he said choose warm or cool - I asked what he thought, he said it was up to me. I asked what he usually did and he said one, I said ok let's go with that. Then he said but maybe you want the other? Now it's muddled up in my head.

I regret taking him up on this offer.

Yesterday it was the bloody spotlights, he said choose warm or cool

But that's a reasonable question. Maybe you're so fed up with him you're not seeing the point of that one.

Lighting nowadays is available in different types.
"Warm" usually refers to a more gentle overall light.
"Cool" refers to the bright intense white light, like some modern car headlamps. Great in kitchen task areas, not so amazing to take a long look at yourself in a bathroom mirror maybe?

What sort of lighting do you prefer for the bathroom?
www.lights2you.com.au/blog/warm-white-vs-cool-white-led-lighting

I know, but I just want whatever is standard. He's done this before, he can advise us, but oh no, he's got to wind me up.

Ah bless, I’m not going to be “that” poster but my DF probably doesn’t even know what colour my bathroom is let alone help do it up 😂

However a person very close to me is a decorator and our relationship has never really recovered from “which white?”-gate of 2019 so I feel your pain.

MayFayner

No, I do understand how lucky I am that I'm not having to pay for labour on an already expensive project, but professional relationships are far easier to navigate than this mess.

After spending too many hours on Pinterest and zero hours doing my actual job, I think we'll have to play out safe and go with white on the walls and dark grey on the floor. DP is desperate for blue, which isn't helping the situation. I suppose with white at least neither of us will be happy??

I've already told him that the next house better have 2 bathrooms so that we can design one each

Have you considered beige or grey? That might look quite classic. I feel that with white you need to do it really well to avoid it looking budget. Or for sth jazzier, you could paint it blue and have funkier floor tiles.

You could add contrast by using Yuseal

How about a very dark blue on the walls so you can have plain white tiles and paint again if you feel the need?
Or you could have a patterned tile?

If you can't agree a colour, I'd definitely only partially tile it. If you like traditional, could you add a wooden dado rail and tile below that?