Bathroom Planning

Yesterday work started on our patio and so with one project underway I feel I can legitimately move on to another. Who said I’m not a starter-finisher?
This brings me on to our bathroom. You may remember we updated our kitchen on a really minimal budget and originally I was planning on just having a spruce up in here, however as time has gone on I’ve decided I really want to design my own room rather than try and personalise someone else’s space. I’m really happy with the kitchen but if I started from scratch it would look completely different and so I’m using this an opportunity to bring my own (well Pinterest’s) ideas to life.

Once upon a time this was the box room and the previous owners converted it to a bathroom a few years ago. It’s not particularly sizeable but it really does the job. There’s an electric shower tucked away in the corner too which we plan to keep. We also have a shower room upstairs too and a wet room downstairs with power showers so we’re happy to keep this less powerful one to cut down renovation costs.

A couple of my friends are horrified we plan to rip out the suite but as I’ve said before it’s just not my taste and the taps really aren’t great quality so I’ll be happy to see them go.

Inspiration

Aren’t there a lot of things to source for a blinking bathroom? So far I have a sink in mind, am deliberating over taps and I think I’ve settled on the tiles. That’s it so far. Then we’ll need the bath, the loo, the lighting, a radiator and a mirror too and that’s before I even start thinking about storage.

I adore the black cast iron Brockway sinks from my inspiration images but these babies can cost thousands so I’ve settled on a standard porcelain one instead. We stayed at a gorgeous vineyard in Sardinia with a stunner of a wall mounted basin in the bathroom and I’ve found something slightly similar which has gone on the wish-list from Sanctuary Bathrooms. The matching toilet is quite spendy though so I’m on the hunt for something with similar lines that will complement, maybe this one from BathStore?

Wish List

Then on to the bath. Despite it being on the small side I definitely want to have a roll top in here again but would prefer a thinner lip round the top to the modern style one we have at the moment. There’s so much choice about but I haven’t come to close to narrowing it down yet other than it will be traditional in style.

We’ll run the tiles to a similar height as the current bathroom and then I’m thinking of asking James to run a ledge along the top to prop pictures and other such tat on.

For the lighting I wouldn’t mind one or two orb type sconces to go either above or to the side of the mirror. I like these from Heal’s but they’re neither chrome nor bathroom compliant. Back to the drawing board I think.

Talk about deliberation on the tile front. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone back and forth here. In the beginning I was set on a marble herringbone floor but I think I might leave that for when we do the shower room. In the bathroom I’m planning a penny tile floor with plain, matt square tiles on the walls. Don’t get me wrong I love a subway tile as much as the next person but we’ve had them in our last two houses so it’s time to shake it up a bit. I think we’ll keep the skirting board too and probably paint both the trim and door in a darkish grey to separate the two tiling styles.

James has gone away with work for a few weeks and my task while he is away is to hunt down all the supplies for the bathroom so we can start work later on this year. Any recommendations you have for any sanitaryware, lighting or taps, to hell with it, the whole bathroom then please do shout. I’d love to hear how you’ve renovated your own bathrooms too and where you sourced all your bits and pieces from.