The (badly needed) Bathroom Makeover

When we bought our house  back in 2010, I really wanted to change both bathrooms. They  were very dated and ugly. Unfortunately everything worked perfectly, so there was no urgent need to do anything with them. Over the years we got used to them. Finally, in 2013, the some tiles literally fell off the wall of the downstairs bathroom and I siezed the opportunity to start planning a new look. I wasn't into Pinterest yet then but I have a half ton of interiors magazines in piles in the guest room. I spent many happy hours ear-marking pages, ripping out pictures and imagining a brighter, prettier bathroom.

To give you an idea of what we had been living with, below is a close up where you can see the mottled beige tiles (yuck), the grey-beige bath (yuck again) and the old fittings. If you think that is bad, what you can't see here is that these tiles were floor to ceiling on all four walls of an approximately 3.5m square room.  To complete the look, there was a tiled picture of a field of wheat in various brown and beige tones above the bath. Believe me when I say it had to go.

So, eight weeks before Number 3 was due to arrive we got the builders in. After day one, the bathroom looked like this and I was thrilled with the progress. If I hadn't been highly pregnant I would have asked for a go of the sledgehammer. 

Even at this stage, we still hadn't completely agreed on a concept for the new bathroom, but we did know that we wanted it to be bright and not too bathroomy looking. The builders we'd got quotes from gave us a few stange looks when they heard we wanted a bathroom that doesn't look like a bathroom. They were all very keen on tiling every surface and creating a super modern, glossy bathroom. They didn't really get that we wanted something unique, less clinical and more like a room. In the end The Bavarian put it bluntly, "We don't want a slaughterhouse. We only want tiles where they are needed". 

Then we spoke to a builder from Sicily and he was able to imagine the kind of look we wanted. So he got the job! By and large we are pleased with the end result. Here's what it looks like now.

  

The antique wash stand came from a second hand shop. The Bavarian gave it a few coats of yacht varnish to waterproof it. The white 30 x 60cm tiles come half way up the wall that the sink and loo are on. At the bath/shower the tiles go to the ceiling.

The rectangular sink sits on top and, despite its modern style, fits well with the shape and proportions of the wash stand. 

At either side of the wash stand are towel rails. We use the one on the right for a handtowel and have adapted the one on the right to a toilet roll holder using two decorative S-hooks and a ribbon. 

When the curtain is open, our apple tree is reflected in the mirror (from Ikea).

A framed print of Salvador Dali's wife painted by Dali himself is one of my favourite possessions. I bought it in Figueres on our honeymoon. 

A little arrangement of scented candles and a vase. I always like to have fresh flowers from the garden around the house.

One of the electric sockets we have on either side of the wash stand.

Our bathroom sockets have flip up covers which hides them from view and makes it all a bit safer for the kids too.

We chose wood-effect tiles for the floor. It did take us a while to find realistic looking ones but we are really pleased with the shape, texture and colour of the ones we finally chose.

To make the room as bright as possible and to add to the non-bathroom look we wanted, we decided to install a clear glass window and a curtain rather than the traditional bathroom window glass. A couple of years ago I fell in love with this curtain from Mirabeau online shop. Luckily The Bavarian, who normally has no opinion on fabrics, liked the curtain too. The extendable curtain pole is also from Mirabeau. The ivory colour of the metal pole matches the wall tiles and walls very well and the decorative ends are a perfect match for the floor tiles. 

The bath / shower area the day the tiler finished it.

And finally, the loo. We chose a modern style. The children are obsessed with the way the lid closes softly by itself! I love the fact that when mopping the floor I can just mop underneath it since it hangs off the wall and has no connection to the floor.

The small tiles behind the loo are from the same range as the floor tiles. We used there here to break up all the white and also used them in the bath/shower area.

We are really delighted with our new bathroom. It is so much brighter and airier than the dingy old beige one we had.