Which bathroom wall panel?

[ChickensMightFly]

I need the collective experience of mumsnet!
I'm trying to choose materials for my bathroom fit out and am leaning to bathroom/shower wall panels instead of tiles because they are lighter and no mouldy grout to maintain.
Am I heading to ghastly bathroom hell or have they come on a long way in recent years so actually look really good these days? (online photo's look lovely)
I have looked at Mermaid walls, wetwalls, and a few others and just wondering if anyone has done their bathroom like this? Did you love to? Was the quality there? Which brand is good ... etc etc

Anyone? DIY enthusiasts or people with lovely bathrooms?

I hope they have moved on - when I last looked they had a look of "communal facilities on a campsite" still. The glass walls are beautiful but $$$$$.

We looked at them in the showroom, even with loveLy lighting They looked a bit communal shower room as above.

Yes sadly I agree with PPs - our builder gave us the hard sell and pointed us towards Nuance, made by Bush Board, which he said were the best. Went to a very high-end showroom to view and YEUCH. Very expensive and fairly ugly plastic.

Instead we went for nice large-format ceramic tiles by Porcelanosa (40% off in the sale!) with Kerakoll waterproof grout - looks lovely and the grout has a 10 year guarantee.

Good luck!

Nuance bush boards. Really good.

They’re made by the same company as Mermaid but better in that they don’t need side trims or profiles, so they look very clean.

They’re also a plastic composite throughout unlike cheap boards which are veneered particleboard.

They’re about the same price as Mermaid but worth the extra cost.

Yes sadly I agree with PPs - our builder gave us the hard sell and pointed us towards Nuance, made by Bush Board, which he said were the best. Went to a very high-end showroom to view and YEUCH. Very expensive and fairly ugly plastic.

Instead we went for nice large-format ceramic tiles by Porcelanosa (40% off in the sale!) with Kerakoll waterproof grout - looks lovely and the grout has a 10 year guarantee.

Good luck!

Nuance by bushboard. Fabulous and look very very good

Nuance by bushboard. Fabulous and look very very good

Nuance by bushboard. Fabulous and look very very good

Thank you for the info, good food for thought and a new place to look. Love the enthusiasm for nuance sluj
I will have a Google.

The multiple posting thing last night was weird! It was happening to loads of threads.
Really don't want to end up with a communal washing facilities-esque bathroom. But if this can be avoided the practical gains are there. Wouldn't it be great if aesthetics and practical went together more. 😆
Think I'll hold on a decision until I can see a showroom, photos on the internet just don't quite convey what you'll get accurately enough. Whatever I do will be there for a long time!

We have them in both bathrooms and are about to have the ensuite done too. Ours look like tiles but are so easy to clean.
A lot of people don’t realise they aren’t tiles until they touch them.
I am not so keen on the ones that don’t look like tiles, bit institutional looking

My parents installed some and I think it's the shiny aspect that makes me think they look cheap compared to tiles.

Ours aren’t shiny and the ones in the downstairs loo are textured

We have a matt concrete looking one and a slightly riven textured grey travertine one. The travertine one looks a lot more realistic than tiles ever would. No maintenance needed at all and no GROUT. We live in a very hard water area too

Yes, I can see matte/shiny could be key difference!
Can I ask what make yours are Hopping green ?

Sorry I don’t know, it was a while since we did them and I haven’t picked any for the ensuite yet

Ah well, thanks anyway. At least I know it's worth looking for the right ones. ☺️

Our friends have put them in a shower in the main bathroom in their detached house in a very nice East Anglian town. I think it looks cheap and nasty. The shower is too small and the boards look awful. So big mistake in my view and down values the house. It’s ok for a bog standard house but in a decent house I expect better. Porcelanosa gets my vote. We have large format and I’ve never cleaned the grout in 10 years. Simply no need.

It’s ok, we are in Yorkshire so no decent houses anyway just bog standard

I always think the yardstick is: do you see them in Homes and Gardens? No. So not in my house either. Depends on value and what buyers might expect. Good tiles are just so beautiful.

I don't even know what homes and gardens is 😟

Think it’s a Home Counties thing chumleymouse , not for the likes of me with my wall panels and Northern ways

We looked at Showerwall, Multipanel and Bushboard brands, picking a Showerwall design.

Pros and cons?
Pros - the design on the panels could not be replicated with tiles so we have a ‘unique’ look. The clean grout free lines , the easy cleaning.
Cons - the wastage. fitting around a bath meant loosing the top 50cm of board and the way the fitter decided to even out the pattern meant all 4 boards were used ( when I was hoping to keep almost a whole one back to use in the en-suite! )
Another con which might be particular to Showerwall is the panel construction is two hard outer skins with MDF material in the middle.
I’m dreading water seeping in to the mdf in years to come and swelling the board up.

Looking at doing the en-suite next year, I’ll look at whether non mdf panels are available just for that piece of mind.

I’m looking at getting my main bathroom updated including putting in shower boards instead of files mainly as I’m in a hard water area and want an easy life. I will still get the best quality I can afford and one I like the look of.

Do what you feel is right for your house, is affordable and you like it.

I feel for the shallow people who base their design judgements on if it is in a particular magazine, on Instagram or is ‘better than you’ rather than what they really want.

Just do what you are happy with and works for you and if that is shower boards then screw the judgemental muppets who would look down on you whatever.