How would you zazz up this shower room for £500

[MrsKoala]

I don’t want to spend a fortune on it as just had our family bathroom done. But it’s looking so crap (bought the house with lots of work needed). I’m hoping to just make it feel less bitty and more unified really.

We’ve ordered a new window which you can’t feel the wind thru when on the loo. So will get a new blind. I’d like to paint the walls but can’t think of what colour would go with the colour of the sink. Maybe grey? The floor has a greyish/marble tile effect lino - not sure if that’s visible.

The room is an awkward L shape.

You could also stick a big mirror above the sink too .

new white sink.
possibly new toilet seat (wood?)
paint the walls one colour.
the tiles can also be painted.

Yes save your money. It's usable so just save up until you can do it properly

Paint it white, put a shelf up and a mirror over the sink - that corner looks rather sad. Get nice plants and towels.

Painting tiles looks utterly naff. Changing the sink will cost quite a lot and you still have the loo waste pipe and the water pipes on show. Why spend money on a new sink when the tiles are awful and the shower? Save up. Make a plan. You won’t be happy unless you refit it completely.

I would box in the pipes, change wall tiles and paint walls neutral white it's a small room and colours will make it smaller , jazz it with some lovely towels and maybe a mat
Look for exceptionally nice tiles , good place to go is tile mountain on line much cheaper than local tile shops but estimate well and get an extra box as shipping can be expensive
If you do decide to replace the shower go rectangular or square , they look much more modern than curved
Unless you do it yourself a tiler will be cheaper in the long run than a local general builder / handyman as a good tiler will have less wastage and work much quicker than a builder
You've said it's an awkward shaped little room but the last two bathrooms I have done have been exactly that but with trendy tiles and neutral walls giving it modern sleek finish it can look great .

Personally, I would paint it a lovely bright colour - peacock blue or emerald green.
Box in the pipes yourself, if you can. Disguise the sink with a fitted cabinet round it. Lovely big mirror over it with a shelf too.
Nice accessories such as soap dispenser, bin, floor mats.
I could easily live with that room as it is for a couple of years until I could afford to redo it properly.
In fact I have lived with a tiny cloakroom for 12 years. It does need a new basin and toilet, the tiles are very dated, but I painted the walls a bright lilac colour put up a mirror and got some lovely accessories and everyone says it looks fab - they don’t notice the old sanitary ware at all now.

I would.

pissoffwhydontyou. All that for £500? I don’t think so. That’s the full refurb!

Agree with replacing window and leaving rest.

It is functional if not stylish. It isn’t one of those foul and disgusting bathrooms you sometimes see where no-one could bear to have a wee in there. Minor replacements won’t make it significantly better but look more uneven - as in unmatched loo and basin.

So do the window and get a bright blind that sits in the room, not inside the frame, plus a nice bright towel. And save up to do it properly. If it won’t need plumbing moved, If think you could get it all sorted out for less than £3-4K in a couple of years. Then you can have a cohesive design which works. Simply replacing EITHER basin OR loo OR shower OR floor OR doing piping means lots of less good bits remain and detract from the nice new new bits. It’s usable, so just leave it.

A square or rectangular shower won’t fit well. The door would catch it or at least awkwardly skim past it.

Oddly I don’t mind the pipe work on show. It reminds me of the Pompidou centre and the ethos of visible functionality. I was even toying with making them a feature, painting them different colours or having them brass against a darker (possibly navy) background. We like bold and quirky design and really hate bland neutrals in all our other rooms.

I’m not sure about saving and doing it nicely. We’ve just spent £12k on the main bathroom and are about to spend £7k on an en suite. Then we need £50k for work on the kitchen. So by the time we have the budget to do this room it’ll be about 5 years I expect! This is very low priority.

I have a big tub of white so I might just paint it and change the blind, do mirrors and loo roll holder etc. Then have to just live with it.

Can’t move any walls as it is already next to the smallest bedroom and at the top of an awkward staircase. It’s in an granny annex on the back of the house which was built as a separate living area. We’ve had a few architects round and they say it’d cost about £200k and a 9-12 month build to consolidate it into the main house. We aren’t going to do that so it’s making the best of the layout we have.

Colour wise I would opt for white with a colour wall behind the loo- looks very crisp and clean (seen someone do it in their bathroom- they had gold letters spelling BATH on their wall too- far classier looking than it sounds)

Yes, just put up with it and live with it. Doesn’t sound like it’s used much anyway, so because it’s perfectly functional, if it’s not a high priority amongst other work, best just to leave it.

Cold draught from window with gaps isn’t nice when you’re on the loo or getting out of shower, so might be good to do that. There are loads of far worse tiny shower rooms which people use just fine.....this isn’t urgent at all and will still be usable I. 5 or 8 years.

So do the window and get a bright blind that sits in the room, not inside the frame

That’s the second comment about blind not in the window recess. Can I ask why? I always thought blinds looked neater fitted in. Less bulky and off the peg. Our blind makers have always recommended fitted in if possible. I don’t like the look of an oversized blind I think it looks I’ll fitted and more just bunged on.

Box the pipes in and get a wall hung vanity sink unit.

@WombatChocolate

Yes, just put up with it and live with it. Doesn’t sound like it’s used much anyway, so because it’s perfectly functional, if it’s not a high priority amongst other work, best just to leave it.

Cold draught from window with gaps isn’t nice when you’re on the loo or getting out of shower, so might be good to do that. There are loads of far worse tiny shower rooms which people use just fine.....this isn’t urgent at all and will still be usable I. 5 or 8 years.

Yes, I kind of feel guilty ripping it out when it actually works fine. Everything else in our house is actually broken, leaking and plain bizarre. This is just a bit dated.

I like the idea of a dark blue behind the loo. I’m drawn to navy in this room for some reason. Just what it would look like with the sink. I’d have totally embraced a pink or turquoise sink (we love coloured sanitary ware) but this is such a non colour. The people who lived here did everything on the cheap. Different carpet in every room, no underlay, bad electrics, wood chip on all walls etc.

Replace pink sink with Navy vanity unit with white sink (£200ish) https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/arezzo-500-matt-blue-floor-standing-vanity-unit-with-rose-gold-handles?campaign=googlebase&gclid=CjwKCAiArbvBRA8EiwAYGs23IOd8pFvHwmUiv-M4uo71y4iaS4JoyOeHxxvj-pjaqZUHgo5jQ09xBoC5gsQAvDBwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Paint behind loo navy
Paint pipes navy (per your idea!)
Navy towels and blind

Leave the Lino. I love that linked too but my husband would never be able to go into a loo with Lino like that. It plays havoc if you have a vestibular disorder.

I’d paint it neutral, though I like the idea of navy too, maybe an off white and wait until you can afford it.

I don’t think it looks that bad. If it were me I’d paint everywhere white or a shade there of. Replace toilet seat, circular mirror above the sink, maybe a storage unit that fits round pedestal basins, striped towels and bath mat. Try to introduce some texture.

After that you might want to do a feature wall colour or something.

Thanks everyone I’ve got some ideas I like now. I think I’ll put shelves above the loo for towels. As the lack of storage is a pain - if you want a shower in there (which ds1 does more now) we have to go up the main stairs to the aiming cupboard. So having space for stuff so you can just jump in the shower would be great.

New white sink, large mirror above, paint window sill, walls and pipes the closest colour match to tiles as you can - gives the illusion of a larger room, pop of colour for the blind bright as you like, the tiles can take it. Shaker hooks by shower for towels, proper toilet roll holder, shelf over toilet for plants - get fake ones if the room isn’t used often, so you don’t have to remember to water them. Funky shower mat the same colour as the blind, pops of colour can change the feeling of a boring room.

Re the blinds outside rather than within, just to soften the hard edges and balance the size a bit.

I’d take the tiles off the wall. Cost you nothing though will be work to get rid of grout etc.

Tiled bathroom walls make it cold IMO.

Love the dark blue wall posted above. Shelf etc with towels on to add warmth.

I like blind outside frame too - softens edges and looks more luxurious

I’d quite like the shower cubicle replaced with one like this (not with the black shower tho). But as a pp pointed out the tray atm is very deep and the wall is built out on the left, so I assume there’s a lot of pipe work to be housed.