talk to me about bathrooms

[Citygirlrurallife]

we're renovating a sad 1970's house, general "look" is suppose kind of Scandi, maybe a bit Danish cos more colours but a comfy family home with loads of natural light and natural decor (with colours?!) anyway CLEARLY I am not interior designer!

We have a downstairs wetroom that has no windows, and I'm quite keen to lean into it being a dramatic space that doesn't necessarily have to feel like the rest of the house. I love it when you go into restaurant loos and they have bold, dramatic, witty (I dunno like lemurs in top hats) wallpaper and wondering if something like this will work considering the rest of the house - doesn't it matter if it doesn't match?

And then if you think no, to hell with conforming do what you like - where do you start??? Find a wallpaper you like and base it around that or something else? And how the hell do you light it? It won't be used much as a bathroom (friends with wheelchairs occasionally) mainly as downstairs loo but I don't want it to feel too cavelike

Anyone want to go big and bold with me and help with the starting ideas???

What size is the room?

We have a decent size bathroom with a v small window and went black walls and floors and surprisingly it isn't as dark as you would expect.

We have a mirror with built in leds running round the outside and have spotlights. We never use the spots and just use the leds in the mirror.

We have a modern basin and bath etc, some gold rustic looking decorations and some small gold/black plant pots on timber shelves.

love your suggestion of printed wall paper with lemurs. Check out the Facebook group called Maximalist Design and Decor. Tons of inspiration! I get stuck on lighting, so hopefully someone will come along with good ideas.

I like light and bright so don't think I'd have the cohones to go dark, but I did see a gorgeous bathroom set-up when I was looking for mine - it was dark and moody but really well lit, and it had those huge black marble tiles on the walls and floor, with white veining.

Recessed lights, lighted mirror, LEDs under wallhung washbasin/drawers, wallhung loo, recessed shelves with LEDs in them.

Not sure how well wallpaper would work in a wetroom? But I also did see crazy patterned tiles that would create the vibe you're looking for too.

yeah tiles could totally work too - I'll check out the maximalist group. As there won't be any natural light I feel like maybe just go the other way and go big or go home?

Juts no idea where to start really

Find yourself a good independent bathroom showroom and a really good salesperson.

I got my en suite done in the summer and the guy I got was so patient and so resourceful! I spent hours on numerous occasions going through the design, and he was excellent at coming up with workarounds for what I wanted. See if your friends have had anyone who's good. I guess I just lucked out really.

Shop around until you find someone you can trust.

10y ago I needed to replace the basin in our en suite. A very bland, utilitarian room. I don't mind utilitarian, but there was no colour at all. Everything was off-white.

The basin is now black, in a white vanity unit with matte copper doors. I added a mirror cabinet with black sides, and grey-and-silver pinstripe vinyl on the floor.

Love it. No idea whether it's trendy or not, and don't care. It's dramatic and pleasing.

You do whatever pleases you and don't worry whether it is 'in keeping' with, well, anything.

(Though I won't get a black basin again. Looks beautiful but needs wiping down after every use, otherwise every single drop of water dries and leaves a mark. And I'm too lazy for that.)

https://westonebathrooms.com/collection/tiles-and-wallpaper/waterproof-wallpaper-wall-and-floor/

Waterproof wallpaper?

I also saw some amazing maximalist wetroom.panelling somewhere. Will see if I can find it

https://showerwall.co.uk/product-category/the-acrylic-collection/?filter_pa_design=image,print

that's very cool @Geneticsbunny

We have a 1960s house and are leaning into a Mid Century vibe. The downstairs bathroom will be more dramatic though, but in keeping with other colours in the house (the lounge is dark blue, for example).

This is my current moodboard. Blue towel rail, dark blue panelling, fun wallpaper.

If it will sometimes be used for showering/bathing, I would look at getting spotlights for the ceiling. Enough light for showering but shouldn't be too overpowering if you just need the loo as the dark colours will absorb some of the light)

I'm 100% all for having fun with a small dark space and going bold. However wallpaper and wet rooms aren't very compatible.

Is the wallpaper likely to get splashed? Have you got incredibly high powered extraction?

How big is the space, what are you fitting into it? Shower, loo, washbasin, anything else.

I think you should look for fun in tiles and a good quality bathroom paint on any non tiled areas. You can heat the back of mirrors to avoid condensation.

I agree with @WildCherryBlossom . If it's just going to be a downstairs loo with a handbasin, then fine, otherwise you'll need tiles, or specialist bathroom paint at the very least.

Personally I don't like small rooms to feel too oppressive, so I wouldn't go for anything too dark, especially with no windows. But large format marble effect tiles can look really good in a small space.

Marble is lovely, and not necessarily as expensive as you would think (particularly as you only have a small area to cover. Or you could play around with tiles. Herringbone tiling is very popular at the moment for example. That could be quite striking. These ones from Topps Tiles come in quite a few colours

The same tiles but different pattern & colour

Those tiles are lush! Am not really a fan of marble to be honest