My Dream Bathroom

A month ago we moved into our new home, and boy is it in need of a makeover.  First to go is the dining room carpet and wallpaper - seriously, what year are we living in??!!

Next up is the front room, the carpet is soo stained it's horrible.  How can anyone have lived like that?

Fortunately although they need making over the bedrooms aren't too bad and can wait.

The bathroom - well that's a tale all to itself.... it's functional, so in that respect it's going to be the last thing in the house to be done finance wise, despite the fact that after my bedroom it's my second favourite place to unwind and really needs to be somewhere I love to be.

Yes ........  the bath is far too low ...

Yes .... the bath does have what appears to be candle wax covering the bottom of it ...

Yes ....... if you don't put something heavy on the shower curtain then you end up with water on the floor ...

Yes ...... you bash your knees on the sink unit whenever you go to the toilet ...

I live in a house of boys/ men - the toilet seat is always up!

Yes ...... the floorboards have woodworm in (as we discovered when replacing the floorboards in the kids room that run through into the bathroom) ...

Yes ... that is horrible brown paint over nasty wallpaper .... 

Yes ... the only way of closing the door is to lock it ...

Yes ..... once it has another couple of shelves in and new flooring the immersion heater cupboard will make a great storage space for the towels and bedding ...

Yes ..... once we can replace those awful tiles it will look much better ...

Yes .....once we replace the  lino on the floor it will look brighter ...

Yes... the cupboard is peeling ...

Yes...... it needs a decent mirror ...

Taken out of the bedroom and abandoned against a wall.

So it got me thinking, what would I really love from a new bathroom?  

Of course it MUST be functional...

It must fit correctly...

It must be nice and airy...

Ideally it should have a contained shower unit...

I'd like a decent storage space for the towels and bedding...

A nice large mirror would make it appear far more spacious including one built into the shower section for hubby to have a shave...

A modern colour scheme would be beneficial...

and self cleaning would be fantastic.

If money was no issue then I could have the perfect bathroom but funds are limited so when I was asked if I would like to enter a competition between Big Bathroom Shop and Tile Mountain to try and win a new bathroom I jumped at the chance.

I have come up with 3 very different bathroom suites/ designs from their ranges suitable for any budget.

The Black Budget Bathroom

What could be simpler then a black and white bathroom?  This screams simplicity looks really great.

This bathroom has been designed using the Milano Milos Corner Bath Suite which is one of the smallest bathroom suites from the Milano range.    The bath (Estuary LH Corner Bath and 4mm Panel) includes a lovely curved glass screen and wrap around panel. The bath has been pre-drilled with two tap holes which look great with Series 2 Sink Monobloc Tap with Waste  and has been manufactured from ICI acrylic. The toilet (Knedlington) has a dual flush cistern and comes complete with a soft close toilet seat. The sink (Ivo Large Basin 1TH with Full Pedestal) is set off with the minimalist Series 2 Bath Taps.  

I have chosen this lovely matt finish marble effect Matisse Black floor tile which not only reduce slippage but are easy to clean and maintain.   Tile Mountain do offer a matching wall tile but I wanted to add a bit of shine so opted for the Metro Black Wall Tile.  I'd not do the whole wall in this as it would make it too dark but Tile Mountain do a large range of white tiles, such as the Metro White which you could use and just make a strip of black around.  

Milano Milos Corner Bath Suite - £499

Matisse Black floor tile - £1.41 per Tile (£12.95 per square metre)

Metro Black Wall Tile - £0.26 per Tile ( £13.00 per square metre)

Metro White Wall Tile - £0.19 per Tile ( £9.50 per square metre)

The Mid-Price Purple Pick

I'll admit, purple is not my first choice for a colour scheme but if there is one thing Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has taught me it's never to be scared of a touch of colour.

This suite is the Vitra S50 Bathroom Suite.  If you want something modern you can't go far wrong with the square Vitra bathroom suite.  It comes with a square basin with full pedestal and compact toilet with dual flush cistern and seat.  The deal breaker for me has to be the double ended acrylic bath with front panel, no more will there be fighting over who has the end with the taps.   The taps, Slope Basin Mixer for the sink and Slope Deck Mounted for the Bath, are supplied with the relevant wastes and give a great finish.

Flooring wise I have picked a white floor tile from the Andes range.  Again this tile has a flat matt finish that adds slip resistance.  With such a plain bathroom you can afford to go all out with colour and use these gorgeous Mosaic Mix Effect Lilac Wall Tiles to cover an entire wall. Perhaps painting the others in the nice rich purple, or a more subtle complementary lilac if you fancied.

Vitra S50 Bathroom Suite - £750

Andes White Floor Tile - £4.18 per Tile  (£16.98 per square metre).

Mosaic Mix Effect Lilac Wall Tiles - £1.19 per Tile (£12.99 per square metre)

The opulent ruby red

I love this bathroom, it is bright, elegant and just makes you feel like a princess.

It's easy to see why the Ultra Design Showerbath Suite retails at the higher end of the market, and if money was no object I'd not hesitate to buy it   The design of the square shower bath allows you to combine showering and bathing, ideal for a bathroom that can't fit a shower enclosure and bath ... and would stop the husbands plan to knock out my airing cupboard to fit a shower unit.  

The suite also includes a vanity unit and basin. The basin has been manufactured from vitreous china, which means it will match your back to wall toilet. The toilet also includes the furniture unit which hides your cistern out of view.  The modern Titan taps are included with this suite and it includes a pop-up waste. 

The square shower bath measures 1700mm in length and 850mm in width at the showering end and comes in either a right or left handed shower bath.  The mixer taps come complete with a sleek shower head.

Tiles wise I'm going to go all out and lay these sparkly Quartz Stone Red ones.  These are premium quality with crushed mirror pieces injected to add sparkle with a gloss finish. They have 93% quartz pieces, which is the optimum ratio to allow for a great durable tile.   

Behind the bath I would panel with Quartz Stone Red Mosaic and paint the other walls with a high shine white.

Ultra Design Showerbath Suite - £990

Quartz Stone Red floor tiles 600x600mm size - £18.70 per Tile  (£51.94 per square metre).

Quartz Stone Red Mosaic wall tiles - £7.99 per Tile  (£85.89 per square metre)

But that is just the suites, Big Bathroom Shop do a range of furniture to give those finishing touches from cabinets to lights to mirrors.

Phoenix 70x50cm LED Mirror C/W Shaver Socket

Whilst Tile Mountain sell all the adhesive, grout and trims that you need to make your perfect bathroom.

All the items featured (including my horrible house) can be found on my Pinterest Board

Follow chickywiggle's board Dream Bathroom on Pinterest.

Please take a look, and perhaps share a link to the suite you would love to have given the opportunity.

............. Now about that self cleaning element?

Disclaimer - this is an entry into the Dream Bathroom competition in conjunction with Big Bathroom Shop and Tile Mountain.  The dream is still very much my own :)