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Original poster

Advice on renovating a VERY small bathroom please

70 replies

KristinaM · 27/04/2006 12:06

We want to remove the tasteful turquoise suite and replace with a white one with shower over the bath. No room for shower cubicle. Fittings need to stay in the same place. Room is dark as light to window is blocked by neighbour’s extension.

So, some specific questions:

Are compact bathroom fittings worth the extra money? They seem to be about double the cost!!!

Does anyone have a short 1500mm bath and if so, does it feel tiny? The bathroom would mostly be used by our children. We have a standard 1700mm bath now and your kneees hit the corner of it when you sit on the loo!!!!

Tiles - Should we tile all the walls or just the ones we need to, above the bath? It wouldn’t cost a lot more to do all four walls, as room is so small. Would it make the room feel too cold? If not, do we just put up plasterboard and paint them with bathroom/kitchen emulsion?

Some friends say use all white tiles, as they will make room look larger. Others say it will look too cold and clinical! If we don’t use white tiles, how else can we keep the cost down?

Any alternatives to horrid white plastic bath panels?

Are acrylic baths ok or should we fork out for the more expensive ones?

Mirrors – all the magazines say to use lots to make the room look bigger. Do we get these fitted to the walls and the tile around them (cheaper) or get tiles done then hang mirrors?

Storage – I have looked at bathroom cabinet and am Shock by the cost!!! Any suggestions?

OP posts:
Original poster
KristinaM · 27/04/2006 12:10

forgot to ask for floor covering advice

OP posts:
VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/04/2006 12:12

Ikea, basically Grin

For storage etc

Is it possible to change to a corner bath to make more room for the toilet?

You can have mostly white tiles but perhaps have a central border of patterned ones, or the occasional patterned tile dotted here and there?

We have a cheap/ish white sweet from b&q.
I believe they do wood bath panels there too.

We have white tiles with a central/dado type border of blue mosaic tiles around the room.

We ALSO got a large plain mirror x 2 (cabinet in the middle) to put on one wall to make the room look bigger (instead of tiling). They are about 1m x 1.3m each. They need to be mirrors suitable for use in a bath room - we got a local glazier to make them to measure. Cost about £50.

starlover · 27/04/2006 12:12

I wouldn't bother tiling the entire room. Just tile the bits you need to and paint the rest of the room white, or another pale colour if you don't want it to be too hospitally.

there are tons of different bath panels you can get. wooden, plastic.. whatever. I an leaning towards a nice tongue and groove affair on ours as my dad just made some for our bathroom back home and it looks really nice

acrylic baths are fine! my dad insisted on having a steel bath and it's blimmin freezing! acrylic ones aren't as tough as steel ones... but how often do you jump up and down in the bath??

mirror wise I would just put them straight on walls

look in places like b&q or homebase for storage, they often have sales on and you can pick up some bargains

starlover · 27/04/2006 12:13

floor wise I would go for lino type stuff. easy to clean, and doesn't matter if the kids get it wet

arfy · 27/04/2006 12:14

ok I can't help on most of this (!) but our bathroom is quite tiny so some ideas....and have just redone some of it myself

I would tile around the mirrors as it's cheaper and also in a small bathroom everything counts, including not having the mirrors sticking out even a tiny bit. or could you look into actual mirrored tiles?

I personally wouldn't get a smaller bath BUT if it's for your children then maybe it would be OK if it makes a difference

Bath panels - yuk. I've got a perfectly decent wooden one from B&Q which wasn't expensive and I fitted it myself. you could always paint it white if you prefer that

Use white tiles yes, but I wouldn't do all the walls as it can look like a urinal if you're not careful! you could break it up with a line of border tiles. I think all 4 walls might be a bit chilly, so walls you don't tile you could do plasterboard, or maybe you could use that pretent tongue and grove stuff on the bottom part of the wall

storage - yes bloody expensive. I bought some cheapo seagrass storage from homebase online, a shelf/towel hangy thing that goes over the door (except I ended up fixing it to the wall) and a slimlime drawer thingy. you could also look into those metal storage things that fit around the sink - a good space saver.

blimey - you can tell I've had bathrooms on the brain recently....

VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/04/2006 12:14

The floor we bought some blue mosaic lino/vinyl flooring. Cheap, easy and practical warmer than tiles and cleaner than carpet. (We have a 3yr old and a 1 yr old).

Bought a bathroom mat from ikea - white for 99p.

arfy · 27/04/2006 12:15

floor covering - have just done ours with vinyl tiles from Wickes - extemely cheap, not hard to lay, and do look good

arfy · 27/04/2006 12:16

oh FGS my typing

PLASTIC bath panels are yuk - not all bath panels

and i mean pretend tongue and groove not pretent

CountessDracula · 27/04/2006 12:16

re the bath, if you get smaller one make sure it is deeper then you won't notice the difference as you will be more upright iykwim

I would stick with white tiles and maybe leave one wall untiled and paint it a colour

Panels - you can get mdf ones that you paint we have one. Or you could get freestanding bath

VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/04/2006 12:17

And meant to say tile around the mirrors - gives a much better finish in our bathroom. I can send you some pictures if you cat me Smile

CountessDracula · 27/04/2006 12:17

Get a chippie to build you mdf storage

rey · 27/04/2006 12:19

Can I be cheeky and ask what would be advised for the window - blinds? Wooden blinds? Curtains? Venetian blinds? Roman blinds?

starlover · 27/04/2006 12:20

i like a nice roman blind.

venetian blinds are nice, but get too dusty! lol

arfy · 27/04/2006 12:22

a roller blind, takes up no extra space and doesn't catch as much dust (I have a wooden venetian one and it's a total dust trap)

Donbean · 27/04/2006 12:27

Hi, we have just done up out tiny bathroom and i think it looks fab.
We have a white suite which we got on sale from homebase. It is plastic, cleans like a dream and it perfect for kids.
We have got bright jazzy lino on the floor, which was £21 for the lot, went down a dream, fab to clean.
We have got MDF tongue in groove look panel which we bought from B&Q for about £15, i painted it with white gloss. (treated it with primer 1st. Cost about £4 for those paints.
Walls, plain white tiles up shower wall and half way up other walls, on sale in B&Q cant remember how much. (but you are probably getting the picture with me it HAS to be cheap and cheerful!)
We have a nice border tile all the way round the room, but occasional ones look just as good, again bought in the sale at B&Q.
We have papered the remainder of the walls and just walloped with cheap emulsion (which we can do every couple of years to keep it fresh looking)
Only have a small mirror which is enough for us. Also, i am completely blown away by the prices of storage units for bathrooms and so i havent got one yet, im waiting for a bargain, absolutely REFUSE point blank to pay those prices.

spub · 27/04/2006 12:27

...Or buy that frosted window spray or special paper stuff from Brume and make the window opaque but keep it clutter free - less being more in a small room.
If you don't want to go with white tiles then maybe something in a natural/stone kind of tone would be good; still pale enough not to bring the room in but not too cold?
Also, apparently the more floor area you can see in a room the bigger it looks. We have a wall mounted washhand basin in our downstairs loo which does seem to make the tiny room look bigger than having it on a pedestal would.
Harvey Maria do fun vinyl tiles - not super cheap but maybe worth it for funking up a small space?

Donbean · 27/04/2006 12:28

Ive got a nice hold back and a white voil just swayed back to one side, it looks lovely and washes well too.

crumpet · 27/04/2006 12:38

You could also tile the side of the bath instead of buying a bath panel.

starlover · 27/04/2006 12:46

OMG! those harvey maria tiles are truly awesome!

we're moving soon and will have a small bathroom and I am definitely getting some!

LIZS · 27/04/2006 12:46

We have a smallish bathroom. Tiled it completely in white with chrome fittings - looks clean rather than cold but it is south facing with a large window. We have a white bath panel but it isn't plain and has skirting along bottom to continue that on the walls. If you don't want a panel how about tongue and groove which you could paint or stain. We have a solid metal bath and it does feel more substantial and doesn't move like an acrylic one. We have vinyl flooring which is sealed at the edges. Had reservations about it but it is very practical.

spub · 27/04/2006 12:55

I love Harvey Maria. We have the pebbles....

brimfull · 27/04/2006 12:56

we have a small bathroom and to make it look bigger we were advised to use large tiles,they look great.We have mottled/marble effect beige ones with a few tiny mosaic black ones in the middle of a few of the big beige ones.It was how they came iykwim.
WE also got a big mirror made at the local glass mannufacturer about the size of one wall from waist up.It was quite cheap,sorry can't remember exactly.
We tiled around bath and sink/windowsill wall.
Floor is a neutral wood look vinyl

hub2dee · 27/04/2006 13:00

Check out the Ideal Standard 'Studio' range... for example \link{http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1615-0000\here}. They do baths which narrow, rounded off corners etc. Also consider back to wall loo for extra space. Even corner loo is possible (points out at 35 degrees IYSWIM. We've got one. Brill.

If you're working alongside a partition wall somewhere, use the depth of the studs (say 4 - 6 inches) as the recess for your bathroom cabinet... Then just find / buy / make one or two doors IYSWIM...

Finally, consider swinging door open OUT instead of IN... might make things easier. HTH.

Original poster
KristinaM · 27/04/2006 13:01

ooh so many good ideas, I dont knwo where to start...GG were your large tiles expensive? Did you get mirror fitted first then tile around it or vice versa?

OP posts:
BettySpaghetti · 27/04/2006 13:04

In one of the rented houses we lived in years ago the bathroom had a mirrored wall from waist height up (the wall where the end of the bath, basin and toilet were all against IYSWIM)-it really made the room feel bigger and brighter.

You could also think about changing the glass in the window -we had a gorgeous frosted/etched one with small stars in it. Expensive but a great feature as its very effective and a lot nicer than the usual ones.Think you can order it from the bigger glass suppliers.