New bathroom... what would you recommend, what do you wish you'd done?

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On the brink of starting a major bathroom redo.

Would love to have an idea of (recent) costs - we will need to take out an old hot water tank and boiler, and remove the cupboard the tank was in. Hoping to reuse at least the basin...

Good thread this!

I spent £10,000 on a small bathroom last year. Echoing other posters here:

Get a sturdy bath if you will be showering in it too - mine was carronite and it's good
I used marmoleum on the floor which is warm underfoot, easy to clean and doesn't show every mark
I used Mosa tiles, which come in lovely colours and are reasonably priced; with dark grey grout, so again doesn't look grotty
I'd recommend you get a 3D design done in Sketchup or similar, so you can move elements around and try out ideas

I deeply regret choosing stone tiles for our floor, it's annoying because now we can't get the paint or plaster off it and I am starting to think of covering it up with vinyl. It's that bad. Are they are good cleaning products for paint on stone?

Wish I had put in the heated wall I was thinking of. Kind of like underfloor heating but it’s a wall. And then you just peg your towels. I hate the uneven towel folding of DP slung on the radiator and it just ruins the bathroom!

Super happy with the bath and sink. It’s some kind of stone resin thing. I am so used to it that when I was bathing DS in a normal tub I thought he and I were both going to slip and die. In hindsight Traditional baths are crazy! I don’t know why they are still a thing.
It’s completely Matt which looks nice and if you ever have an issue you just buff out any marks with a fine sand pad. (Would not recommend if your the hair dying type as think that would be an issue).

Do not get Matt black taps. Huge mistake. Wish we had paid more for the brass.

So much helpful info

I was going to say this, but the other way round - I'm in my early sixties and I hope this is my last home so I'm planning for the long term. Builder suggested a 'comfort height' toilet. It's just slightly higher than normal and makes it much easier to get up from a sitting position.

I forgot we had some comfort height toilets! They should be standard! (They’re definitely not as much as 8cm tho)

If you mean acrylic, we had this on cost grounds and because they talked us the talk about cleaning etc, and I HATE it. I fantasize about pulling it all out and tiling it.

No way we can afford it for a long time though (especially as the other bathroom is about 100 years old and needs redoing as soon as we scrape together some more capital).

@Aria999 what is it you hate about the shower panels?

Sensor lighting so you don’t have to touch any switches - light comes on when you walk in.

I'm not 100% sure tbh but they just look slightly plastic somehow- you can tell by the way they reflect the light that they are not real stone, they look cheap.

And they were not cheap! Cheaper than the alternative but NOT CHEAP.

My biggest regret is removing the cupboard which had previously held the water tank. When the tank was removed we had a small radiator put in and it was great for drying clothes quickly. I also miss the storage it gave. We removed it to make room for a freestanding shower which I wish I’d never had either. If I was doing it again I’d have a shower over the bath and a shower screen.

@StaySpicy Clorox tilex daily shower is good for low effort grout maintenance, you just spray it on after showering

@blackoverbillsmothers argh that's exactly what we're planning! There is a boiler cupboard we're going to keep though.

We did the main bathroom and ensuite shower room 7 yrs ago. They have held up pretty well.

Good things: Very tall ladder radiators that also work as towel racks. These are very warming. We got dual controls, so that we can turn off the heating system and put these on electrically before bathing or showering in moderate weather. Very effective all around.

More storage than we thought we would need. Doing my makeup and brushing my hair in the en suite has made our bedroom much less cluttered and more serene. Keeping cleaning and paper products concealed in each bathroom is very convenient and improves the looks hugely.

A good, insulated bathtub

Showerheads on hoses in both bathrooms; the en suite also has a waterfall. The hoses make cleaning the tub/shower area a doddle.

Our porcelain tile walls and floors have worked well. The floors are nonslip and don’t get too cold. The grout was sealed and the walls have been easy to maintain

Small racks or rings for hand towels by the hand basin in each room, so they can dry properly (the radiators fill with bath towels) and you aren’t dripping water everywhere getting to them.

Problematic things: we also got built in shelves and they also puddle in spite of being sloped. Thanks to a PP I am now worried about water damage! We got fancy exhaust fans with retractable vents. They can and do malfunction. I wouldn’t bother. The builder thought he was doing us a favour by sourcing some obscure hand basins on sale. Turns out the porcelain mars easily. I would insist on a well known brand in the future.

Keep it simple. We got a fancy square bath and it is unbelievably uncomfortable. Don't put a bath in front of the window - especially of an older house. Breezes that can’t be felt when you pop in for a wee magically turn into tornados when you’re lying in the nip in the bath. In fact, if I was doing it again I’d get rid of the bath entirely and splash out on a magnificent state of the art shower. Agree with others on a proper flush, underfloor heating, and heated towel rail of your choice.

Im another who doesn't get the shower panel love. I'm planning on ripping mine out as soon as I won't feel too wasteful. They're about 5yrs old.

I hate that you can't give them a good scrub, as you would tiles and grout. They pick up limescale really easily (I'm in a hard water area) and you can't use acid cleaners to get it off, nor can you scrub it off. You have to just gently rub and hope. And they scratch really easily, from who knows what.

And they're not fitted quite flush to the base (tray in my case) and the gap is sealed. But the sealant is quite hard to clean and I feel like grot has got up the back of it. And there are starting to be tiny chips in the very base of the panel where I'm trying to clean the sealant.

It just doesn't feel as clean as tiles, and I am by no means a clean freak.

Pleased we did:

Underfloor heating - we have a tiny bathroom but I love it

Loads of storage - so much easier to keep clean

Regret - more lighting options, we have one big light that is either on or off

Same - my horrible kids took photos of me trying them out in the showroom!!!

@wonderings2 get a dimmer switch fitted as someone upthread mentioned.

I've dimmers elsewhere in my house and though we got the switches changed to suit LED bulbs, they never seem to work properly.

I have 3 switches on my bedroom wall, one for the recessed spots, one for the LEDs in 2 recessed shelves and under the WHB/drawers, and one for the fan. If I want mood lighting, it's lovely with the 3 LEDs.

I hate those shower panels and would never have considered them!!

I insisted on a shower tray that was as low as possible as I didn't want to have a trip hazard as I get older!

Oh and my tiler did a lovely silver grey grout. I've coloured grout in my bathroom too.

@StaySpicy we have acrylic panels up to the ceiling on all the walls surrounding the bath. We could get a really great colour and, as you say, easy to keep clean with no horrible grouting. Our bathroom is really small, but we prioritised a bath that was big enough to get in and out of easily and the right shape to stand in for a shower. And make sure the shower is at the same end as the standing bit of the bath! Ours wasn't, when we first moved into the house. Think carefully about storage space - we got an opening bath panel so that we could store cleaning materials underneath the bath. And consider what height you want the loo. We went for a slightly higher seat because we are getting creaky, but if you have young children you may want a lower seat, or you would need a step. We also have an extractor built into the light above the shower.