Couperwife Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Following the kitchens thread... We are having a new bathroom Mum and dad are paying for it for us Now, our bathroom is tiny, does anyone have any suggestions to what we should consider, or totally reject? I have a bathroom designer coming in next week to give us some suggestions and I will get all bathroom companies in the area to do the same, to see what amazing (and expensive) ideas they come up with Any ideas? I really like space chicks idea of the colour changing taps, I wonder if they do them for bathrooms Cathy x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Underfloor heating. I don't have it, but having stayed in houses that do, it'd be top of my wish list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couperwife Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 ooooh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 For a tiny bathroom I'd forget a bath and have a generously sized shower instead How tiny are we talking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Indeed, how tiny is tiny? My mom has a 2 m by 2 m bathroom and has managed to squeeze her washer and dryer in, together with a "walk in" shower. Instead of glass cabin type for a shower, she has little dividing walls, one made of cement blocks and tiled and one made of those big glass blocks. Brings a lot of light in, without being all in the open. Her drain is in the corner. You have drains in all shapes and sizes today. To create a little basin for where we shower, The man put a cheap tile underneath the nice floor tiles to rase them up half a cm, except for in the walk in shower bit. So the water doesn't run everywhere. But you could also put a long narrow basin at the entrance of your walk in shower. I would forget underfloor heating. In a tiny bathroom, it's of almost no use. And you can't dry your towel in your underfloor heating (or pre warm it) and having both is just silly in a small room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 A heated towel rail to heat the room & dry your towels. Also think about a sink with a vanity unit, so you have somewhere to store your bits & bobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggasperated Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 My very small 'bathroom' has a large walk in shower along one wall instead of a bath as a normal size bath wouldn't fit. I also have a nice mirrored chrome (or maybe stainless steel) corner shaped bathroom wall cabinet that I absolutely love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 A heated towel rail to heat the room & dry your towels.Also think about a sink with a vanity unit, so you have somewhere to store your bits & bobs. I'm with Cinnamon on this! I am lucky enough to have floor to ceiling towel rail and couldn't do without this little bit of luxury now. Likewise sink with vanity unit . Must have double mirrors! Walk in shower too if you can squeeze it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I'm a big fan of hotel bathrooms so I'd be concentrating on making the space look quite opulent - but that's just personal taste. I'd like a large walk in shower, with good water pressure and a shower head that you can move around, rather than a large static one as I'm not overkeen on them. I've also seen large oblong tiles for the walls (about 15 inches x 8 inches) which I like the look of - I prefer to see more tile and less grout! On the practical side I'd look for a large heated towel rail, a mirror with good lighting,and a large enough sink (I hate those tiny ones) ideally big enough to get my feet into for a quick wash with space to put the essentials somewhere close by. I'd also invest in decent quality taps (my plumber tells me cheap ones are a false economy and I now believe him!) I have the laundry basket in the bathroom, shut in a small cupboard, which works well (out of sight and no smells). Ventilation is important - how will that work? Lastly, do you need a bath? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I was brought up in a house with a small bathroom (approx 7' x 6') and we had an over bath shower. The bathroom also had a large mirror over the basin and a floor to ceiling cupboard too! I would think seriously about getting rid of your bath, especially with a little one who may enjoy a bubbly splash about! I have read on a house selling forum that folk expect a bath if there is only one bathroom in a house, even if they don't often use it, so if you are considering moving at some point it might be something to bear in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 That is really interesting! Baths are rather rare over here. Majority of houses only have a shower and most people replace their bath with a shower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I could never ever not have a bath. One thing we did in our bathroom is have a huge mirror covering an entire wall. At the time we couldn't afford the extra tiles & as the Husband is in the glass trade it worked out cheaper, but it also really makes the room seem bigger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Definitely shop around.we have just done our house. We went to a large local dealer and ordered bath stuff,and I think paid too much.when working with the plumber he gave us radiator books and we went to Bassetts.I had picked towel rail setc.The man at the trade counter brought a book from under the counter which had identical copies of the stuff I had chosen for a quarter of the price.It turned out he could have supplied similar bath stuff for a fraction of what we paid.I would speak to a local plumber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Chick Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 My comments: You can have colour changing mixer bath taps for bathrooms, Cathy I'd have a heated towel rail, we have one in the ensuite and it's excellent. I wouldn't not have a bath (I tried to sell a flat which only had a shower, I had a terrible job) If you have a bath, consider getting a whirlpool, it's very relaxing (although a little noisy), I'd go for the ones on the side as opposed to the jets on the bottom, I've had both and the side ones are better (my current one is the bottom one, boo! Also when I've bathed hens in the bath, I've ended up having sand coming up through the jets ) Depending on whether you have a window in the bathroom and the size, get an extractor fan. Get the most powerful shower you can over the bath and a good shower screen. Go for a neutral colour, as these are also more popular should you ever sell. You can add colour with paint on walls. Oops. That was a lot Happy shopping x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 For the reasons given above, I wouldn't get rid of your bath - and I'm a shower person! I am lucky enough to have a big bathroom now, but my flat before had a tiny one, and walk-in showers weren't really around then. It had a short bath with a shower over it, it but effective, and you wouldn't expect more in a small flat. Having done up a couple of bathrooms in my time, my tips would be: Get the tiling done by someone really good and choose the best tiles you can afford - it really shows. Choose a plain colour scheme and keep it simple - patterns and darker colours will make it look smaller. No carpets (a pet hate of mine) a plain, mop-able floor will last for ages, and look good. Good ventilation/extractor fan Good lighting - get lights made for bathrooms or outdoor use so that they are waterproof - my bathroom actually has industrial looking outdoor, waterproof spotlights. Always bear in mind that plain and neutral are best as a kitchen or bathroom are the rooms which sell a house, when the time comes, so don't choose anything too 'individual'. We'd like to see photos of the finished product Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatieB Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 The whole reason I started the kitchens thread was because I've done my bathroom and now wish I had known then when I know now. Lol. Will try not to write an essay and obviously all these points won't be relevant to you. Stick to your instincts. I had planners and spoke to plumbers but the design I ended up with was my own....and that was the correct decision. The professionals tried to talk my out of a bigger walk in shower (they wanted to use a smaller standard size) and also tried to persuade me against moving a toilet slightly (putting it in the same corner but against the different side, if that makes sense) whilst both those points cost extra, it was small in the overall scheme of things and has made my bathroom much more useable and noticeably bigger. We are very happy with both those decisions. You know how your bathroom will work. I do have under floor heating and it's lovely to step on to a warm floor but this was only an issue as we chose tiles on the floor. We have natural floor tiles, shower surround and splash backs. They are marble and travertine and they look IMO beautiful. However big mistake for us. I struggle to find cleaners that can be used on them and living in a hard water area I get limescale which I hate. You can't use limescale remover on natural tiles it eats away at the stone hence I find it hard to keep my bathroom as I would like. In addition natural stone is fragile. We had a fireplace removed from our lounge which is under the bathroom and I know have hairline cracks in my beautiful floor caused by the banging and vibrations. If I had known these issues I would have chosen differently. I also agree that a bath is a must if your house is a family house. Planners and estate agents told us this. I chose a bath I hadn't seen in the flesh and chose as big as I could get in the space. Hence I went for a two person bath. Another mistake. It is SO big it takes forever to fill and I actually don't find it comfortable unless hubby is in too. This is because my feet don't touch the end and I feel like I'm sinking. It has therefore been used less than a handful of times! Expensive mistake and if I ever redo a normal size bath will go back in and I would sit in a replacement before I chose it. On a similar vein having a pop up plug in the bath was a mistake. We kept leaning on it and letting water out Don't chose a shallow sink and a feature tap that is high up - the archy type tap!!!!!! Water invariably ends everywhere other than the sink. I chose a fixed shower head mainly as I don't like how dirty the shower hoses get and thought it would look nice. Makes it far harder to clean the shower though and the fixed head gets dirty and then has to be taken down from the ceiling to clean. Not an easy job for a short person. I would go back to a normal shower head and hose. As you can tell I don't like cleaning and would make my decisions again for an easier life! I hope some of this is relevant to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Yes try out baths, however daft you feel you need to climb in them I spent ages researching and deciding what I wanted and shopped around on line for each component separately and reduced costs a lot but it was complex and I ended up ordering my fancy bath taps in two parts from different places. I was doing a bathroom and en-suite at the same time. My major regret when I was working to a budget was buying diy store loos. I thought a loos a loo but I was wrong. I have concealed cisterns and I'm very aware the cistern's are cheap and poor quality and our plumber has to sort them out every so often but because they are now built in I can't easily replace them. which reminds me must call the plumber again they have ended up being expensive loos We have a good local plumber so I had him fit everything which was a good decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Waterfall taps? I have promised myself these when we finally get round to doing up our horribly updated bathroom! We have floor to ceiling tiles on an interior stud wall and have been told that its possible that the studding will have to be repalced when we take the tiles off and this - extra expense - has really put us off! And yes.......pics of finished article please PS Am adding to all todays e mail sorry for any typos....can't find reading glasses so trying to touch type! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 hope you find your glasses soon. We too have a stud wall and all of the walls are plasterboard lined and we have floor to ceiling tiles which put us off doing the job because both of our neighbours had to have their plasterboard replaced when they had bathrooms done. One had the to the and groove panels that are made of UPC and the other had large tiles put up. I am afraid after trying to get a couple of quotes one of which came in well over the odds and the other guy didn't even bother getting back to us. I just updated ours with white painted tiles new bath seal and a new flooring. I would like to get the job done properly at some point though. I have been impressed with theDulux tile paint that we used. It was water based very quick drying and hasn't yellowed or marked at all in the year since it was done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 As has been mentioned a couple of times already..... Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. That much moisture in any bathroom is bad enough, but in a small one is even worse, so an extractor fan with a decent flow rate is a must unless you want to take out shares in mould cleaner and mop up drips constantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I dont know what windows you are considering but if you're not having a blind be careful when the lights are on and its dark outside that you cant see in I have a short walk in the mornings from the car to my place of work in a residential street. At 7.30am its just getting light and I was taken aback to see the silhouette of a young man clearly out the shower drying himself thoroughly in the upper bathroom window. Didnt know where to look i felt sorry as someone should point this out to him as I bet hes not aware hes there in all his glory So be warned frosted glass may not offer the privacy you think it does. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 that reminds me of when I used to get the train into London to work; the track ran past the backs of houses and the things I saw.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 My son had a fixed shower head - huge in his shower over the corner jacuzzi bath he put in - I hated it - you could not clean the bath, glass shower screen well as could not use the head to rinse it - so a non fixed head would be certainly something to think about - It is really easy to clean the shower with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I agree, mine has both so that I can clean the shower cubicle easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 My daughter has just done hers and has both and likes it - it is also lower for small child to shower and eases cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
