Help with small bathroom

[tabbycatslave]

Warning: this is long and I'm writing it quickly in my lunch break, so there may be a few typos.

I'd be very grateful for any help with my upcoming (c. 2 weeks away) bathroom renovation. I've not done more than painting before and DP does not care very much about decor, so it's on me to pick everything.

The current bathroom is awful: early 00s square tiles to the ceiling with random blue dots, slate floor, very little storage, chipped bath, showerhead barely works, and so on.

This is the only bathroom in my Victorian 3-bed flat in London. it's a nice area, but above a business. As a result, we got a lot of space for our budget but there's not much point in investing loads into it, especially as we're likely to only stay here for the next 3 or 4 years. Local plumber reckons he can replace everything for £5-6k using basic materials and fittings. We can afford more but don't want to go crazy.

I've attached the current layout, which I'm 99% sure I don't want to change for cost and disruption reasons. It's light with high ceilings, but obviously small.

I felt quite confident with decorating the other rooms in our flat. They're painted in teal/duck egg/acid/plaster pink, with either wood floors or warm neutral carpet. I have a lot of antique wood furniture, cast iron fireplaces, jute/wool soft furnishings, with 60s-ish artwork and furniture for contrast (plus Ikea and random charity shop bits). I don't know if that's a particular style, but wanted to illustrate the sort of things I like.

I am feeling really lost with the bathroom, maybe because I don't have the space to do what I want. I don't like the look of traditional bathrooms for some reason (maybe as they wouldn't work in a flat above a shop). I also don't like very modern, e.g. with square toilets, either. So I suppose I want something inoffensive, but still in keeping with the other rooms in my flat?

I'm considering the following, not sure about any of it so please suggest/criticise away:

Tiles: fake natural stone looking tiles on the shower and sink wall and halfway up the wall in the rest of the room. Same but bigger on the floor, or maybe encaustic in natural tones or black and white? I have no idea how to match tiles, but don't want to go full Victorian (even though I would love the originals). Definitely no grey.

Paint: maybe something like this dulux heritage shade. I like warm and muted tones, perhaps would go darker with pale tiles.

Toilet: this - I considered wall hung, but from what I can tell they don't actually give you much floor space back? As long as it's not square or enormous I don't mind too much.

Bath: I'd love this as I like the contrast between bath and tile and the curved edge, but I don't think it will fit unless the sink is tiny. Maybe this, but I am not sure if it looks a bit too corner-y. The alternative would be a small built-in bath with tiles on the bath panel. A big shower and no bath would be my preference, but have decided that's not sensible for resale reasons.

Sink: I like this and real wood in general, but it's too big. Considering this Ikea sink or maybe this? Would also consider something painted in a nice colour, but haven't found loads of things I like that are small enough to fit.

Storage: I like this Ikea mirror cabinet. DP doesn't want to rehang the door to open the other way, so the space next to the bath is useless, and the under sink cabinet will be the only other storage that we have. Could shelving work? I was thinking maybe some wooden shelves under the window for soap, a plant etc., but realistically they would look cluttered with my crap unless I'm very disciplined. It's a shame to not use the vertical space, but I can't think of a way to use it that doesn't result in towels falling into the toilet.

Fixtures: I want to be sensible and go for quality without spending loads. I would prefer brushed nickel or antique brass but everything other than chrome is so expensive... Plumber suggested this Hansgrohe shower, which I'm happy to go with, although it's over £1k for the brass version! Question: does chrome look dated (I feel like no one cared about this until very recently?) or look odd with warm-toned paint and tiles?

It has been helpful to actually write this all down... again, sorry for the length and thank you if you've read some of it!

That must have taken up your entire lunch break!

Have you got Pinterest? It's good to browse and pin looks you like.

I've just had my ensuite done in panel boards (alot quicker than tiling) but also so easy to keep clean. And no need to ever paint.
Our main bathroom which is also small had a high ceiling the plumber reduced the height to reduce material cost, keep it warmer etc.
We actually took out our bath (due to disability/noone ever using it) and put a shower in to make it feel larger (but accept if moving on soon/like baths not always best option).
Also put good quality lino down and then we can easily and cheaply relay some more before selling if needed (this was plumbers idea and looks great).

I am actually open to lino - maybe wood look, although then would need to rethink bath panelling. Also feel seen and judged about post length, so back after 5pm. 😀

I would:

• shuffle the bath down to the end by the window. Put a compact bath in (max. 1600 long) and keep it as a standard built in with tiled side (remember an access panel). Those baths with curved ends look a bit naff in my opinion.
• add a slim stud wall at the head of the bath to allow for shower fittings and create a dedicated vanity area the other side.
• keep loo where it is
• vanity immediately opposite the door (where current bath head is) full width to the new stud wall, with cupboard below, big mirror above, and extra high level cupboards for towels etc. Hooks to the side.
• stay away from those dreary off whites and sage green. I like oblong tiles, look at Oska from Mandarin Stone (pricy tho so maybe try to find a cheaper alternative.) Don't be afraid of colour.
• I like that shower but there are many cheaper alternatives. We just used Skudo Core range in our bathroom and the plumber said it seemed to be good quality. We got shower, bath taps, basin and basin tap for less than £700. Not been in long tho so can't comment on longevity but as long as it lasts until you move, then it's not your problem...

My only advice would be to choose your toilet and cistern with care - my one regret with our bathroom refurb is that we didn’t. Knowing what I know now I would prefer to have spent more on a better designed toilet and cistern and saved money elsewhere.
In particular I wish I’d done more research about how the toilet flushed - with ours the flush is quite poor as the water is dispersed round the toilet bowl and the waste appears to leave the bowl horizontally rather than straight down meaning that it often needs flushing twice.
If space is tight I wouldn’t compromise on the size of the hand basin either - I’ve never come across.small one that’s big enough to prevent water splashing out when the taps are turned on.

We are having our bathroom done in 2 weeks, too and funnily, I've bought the same Jill vanity unit you're thinking of! Tikamoon furniture is very well made and worth the extra cost, imo. I've opened the box to have a peek and it's lovely. You can smell the real wood.

We've chosen similar effect tiles, also, but we are doing a black feature wall and keeping the other three painted white. www.gotiles.com/albania-anthracite-textured-stone-porcelain-tile-250x125mm We have gone for oak-effect wooden floor tiles. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-River-Oak-Wood-Effect-Porcelain-Wall+Floor-Tile---150-x-600mm/p/294242

Ah, I've just realised you said the Jill is too big to fit your bathroom. Sorry. We looked at this one, as well...would it possibly fit better? https://www.sklum.com/uk/buy-washbasin-furniture/136205-melvil-teak-wood-bathroom-furniture.html?idc=285330 It's a similar look to the Tikamoon units.

Oh, and we used this company and saved an absolute fortune of what would have cost double on sites like Victorian Plumbing. All of our fixtures and fittings are Scudo in Brushed bronze. https://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/traditional-showers

Have you got a pic of how it is at the moment?

Are the toilet/ basin in good condition or not?

Do you definitely want to keep the bath?

Looking at the plan, I’d invest in a sliding door to create space, good quality sanitary ware and then get something relatively neutral which you can change up/ down, especially if you’re planning on selling soon.

I had a bathroom in our last house with topps tiles wood effect tiles in a herringbone pattern on the floor, large white tiles around the bath and shower in a brick pattern, then v fancy patterned tiles above the sink (v expensive but we only needed 6). It was beautiful.

We are having our bathroom refitted in March. Quite a small room too. Our tiles will be almost identical to the ones you linked. Three walls tiled, one wall painted in a very light blush pink. We have gone for wall hung toilet because it gives the illusion of more space - and easier to clean the floor! We've chosen a shower panel that folds back to the wall for ease of cleaning the bath. The sink will have two drawers underneath and is a decent size - despite space issue, because small sinks cause splashing! For flooring we've chosen LVT in a light oak colour.

Thanks all. Pic of current bathroom attached, taken with me squished in the corner next to an Ikea bamboo shelf thing and our mop (no judgement please, I know it's not the best). Note the oddly semi-built in sink/toilet.

Everything definitely has to come out. I am really tempted by the sliding door/stud wall ideas (genius @StealthyBMI) but for the sake of DP and the cats I want to reduce work time as much as possible... think probably keeping the current layout will do.

Really like the vanity @DameEdnaAverage2 linked, thank you!

I generally like colour, so maybe should be a bit braver. I'm going to have a browse in a few different tile shops today and try to feel a bit more adventurous. I wonder if a dark green paint with white tiles would look nice too, and more future-buyer friendly.

If you move any plumbing around it will cost a lot more. I know the layout isn't ideal but I'd keep it.

Have you thought about just having a really good shower instead of the bath? I had panels rather than tiles for my shower and they were brilliant and then just white metro tiles around everywhere else. Our old bathroom was fully tiled and the walls were a mess behind them.

I think your bathroom could look expensive for not very much once everything is stripped out.

If we were staying here forever, I'd get rid as I only use it once a month or so. A walk in shower would be lovely, but I have heard that it's off-putting for buyers to not have a bath and this is our only bathroom.

How did it turn out @tabbycatslave ?

Those Tikamoon vanities are so expensive! Why not make your own if you like the antiquey furniture vibe? Find a nice unit/chest of drawers on marketplace, countertop sink and all you need to do is drill a couple of holes and I’m sure your bathroom fitter could then plumb it all in. We’ve also sealed one of ours (heavy use) but they look great and are cheap!

They are expensive but think OP liked the inside sink as opposed to counter top.

Have thought of it too but the dyi sounds daunting.

Delayed due to an unexpected long-term visitor :(. I will update when it finally happens. Have, however, decided that Tikamoon would be a silly spend ATM and will go for wood look/just something 'textured' in some way as I saw some interesting ridged designs I quite like.