Small bathroom help shower/bath or shower over bath

[MBJ15]

We are in the process of buying our first property, albeit late in the game…

the bathroom is 2 x 1.8m so it’s pretty tight. Currently it has a large storage area that houses the hot water tank and storage above it - we will be replacing boiler to a combo, so we will get that space back. The bath was removed and a huge shower/sit down mobility type unit is now in its place. It’s actually in good condition, but we don’t have mobility issues!

Our current home has a shower over a bath and it I dislike it, I’d love a lovely walk in shower. Baths tend to happen when the weather is cooler, so I don’t want my decision based on how I feel with all the heat waves we’ve had…

Our children are all older, in fact one is off to uni and one’s moved out, so we will be down to just 3 in the home.

we plan on being here for a long time and so I’m not too worried on the resell issue, after all it’s not put us off.

what worries me is the regret. For context I’m the type of person who loves the romantics of a bath, runs it for an age, gets in for 10 mins and is over stimulated by the heat and has to get out 😂

husband and son don’t mind a bath after football, but also love a good shower…

I really want to achieve a nice spa like feeling, I really thought I could “squeeze” in a shower where boiler currently is, but I think it’ll look and feel cramped. The space is wider than longer.

budget will also be pretty tight as we will be replacing boiler too.

any thoughts 😬

Certainly is and I’m not really wanting to consider the resale. I’ve waited so long for this it’s the last thing I could be wanting to consider 🙈😂

I think I’m more scared to regret it, it would love to feel like I have a luxurious spa space rather than hating the look of a bath panel which I do 🙈😂

We have a Japanese soaker tub with shower over in our bathroom. It gives that spa feel (and is lovely for muscle pain) without needing much space.

We have a standard bath with shower over in the family bathroom as teenage DD loves a bath!

I could manage quite happily with just a shower though.

@MBJ15 you won’t regret it, when I had a flare up with my back a few months ago having the freedom to get in the shower unassisted was brilliant, the other thing we did was making sure the controls were easy to reach the bliss of being able to turn the shower & not get cold whilst waiting for the water to get hot is a real bonus, we also used quite big tiles so lot less grout to clean (matching mosaic tiles on the shower part as they are easier to angle for the water drain away) shower niches are handy keeps the washing stuff tidy.

I’m going to sound crazy now, just had a bath, to see how I felt about it😂

all cleaned today, so maximum potential

Took an age to run, got in immediately got hot and bothered, shaved my legs and did a scrub. Then got out. 😂🙈

is shaving legs in a shower as easy, as I also thought to myself I only tend to do that in the bath 🤔🙈😂

😂 actually that’s a good point I take a plastic step (one of the ikea ones my dgd’s used for reaching the sink) so I can balance my leg comfortably it does the job I’m looking for a nice Japanese washing stool which no doubt would be more aesthetically pleasing.

Oooh good shout, I’m loving “Japandi” style at the moment!

We don't use a bath but when we refreshed the bathroom we knew we needed it for when we came to sell. But we wanted more space when having a shower. So we bought a P-shaped bath. It's only a few inches wider but they make all the difference. Definitely worth investigating.

I’ve looked at these and if we do retain a bath we would get the square style one, but I just can’t get my head around the style being less what I want.

resell is also not really something I’m thinking of, I’m planning to be there for a long time, if ever move. We also looked at so many houses that had removed the bath which really opened my eyes too, far more common now than I realised

We have a P shaped bath (installed by the builder, wouldn’t have chosen it). It’s actually a great solution, our family happily use it, while we have the walk in shower in the en suite. I would say if you have a shower over the bath you want the bath to have a flat base that will take a non slip mat, and you want to have room to step over the side easily without the shower screen getting in the way. Ours is a rounded one and the screen swings out, but it’s big and needs space.