Bathroom reveal!

It’s been a while – we started it in November – but I’m finally ready to share our finished bathroom.

The majority of the renovation work was completed before Christmas but since then we’ve been tying up loose ends and adding the all-important accessories.

First, let me remind you how horrible it was before – resplendent in 1970s blue and with all its ridiculous quirks – and all of the work that went on before we were even ready to put the new bathroom suite back in. It is weird (but also makes us proud) to look back and see how it was before and how far we’ve come now that we’ve lived with the new bathroom for a few weeks.

The main problem with this room, apart from the awful décor, was that it felt so cramped. It’s still a small room but it feels a lot bigger now. We have actually created a little extra space by getting a toilet with a compact cistern and a smaller basin (it may be too small, but we’re living with it for now). But apart from that it feels bigger because we’ve added light, bright walls and laid the rectangular tiles in a brick pattern to elongate the floor. We also switched the door to open the opposite way (towards the radiator instead of the bath).

We didn’t compromise on the size of the bath which is actually wider than the old one, allowing us an indulgent soak and with its ‘P-shape’ a really comfortable shower without bruised elbows.

Overall we spent about £1,000 which isn’t bad, and we feel the bits we spent extra on – like the faceted wall tiles and waterfall taps – were well worth it. It gives a basic white suite the touch of luxury you want in your bathroom. Remember my husband (to my slight amusement) said he wanted it to feel like a spa? I think we’ve achieved it. Well, as much as you can in a suburban semi in Yorkshire.

When you look closely at the wall tiles, you see hints of several different colours, but the overall look of the room – white, grey and chrome – could have looked too cold, without warming it up with walnut wood accessories.

The boxes for our products and toothbrushes were made by my clever dad. I think they look amazing. They’re modelled on a set I found online which was selling for about £60.

You may see a little difference between how the bowl on the cabinet shelf looks in some of the pictures. I gave it a little DIY makeover in between shoots – come back in a couple of days for the full project step-by-step!

Where to buy:

♥ bathroom suite (including the shower screen) and taps from Bathshop 321

♥ wall tiles from Al Murad

♥ floor tiles are from B&Q

♥ towel rail from Screwfix

♥ glass jar on windowsill and mirror from Ikea

♥ towel from Fab

♥ toilet roll holder from BHS

♥ wall cabinet from eBay (unfortunately the seller seems to be no longer active)

♥ product tray and toothbrush holder made by my awesome dad

♥ Gainsborough shower from Amazon

There are still some final touches to add – I’m currently in the middle of a fruitless search for a blind (do you know any good sellers?) – but I hope you like what we’ve done. We think it’s a pretty big change and one that was worth all the blood, sweat, tears and having to move in with my parents! It’s a room we really enjoy being in now.

I’d love to know what you think.