Family Bathroom Renovation

A standard family bathroom that had dated badly — small patterned tiles, a boxed-in bath and no storage anywhere.

The room was stripped back and the pipework exposed and re-run before anything went back. Old bathrooms tend to hide the same things: corroded feeds, an undersized waste and a floor that has been patched around rather than repaired. It is worth looking while the walls are open, because it is the only time it costs nothing to fix.

The new room uses large-format tiling in a warm neutral, which reduces the number of grout lines and makes a small room read as larger. The bath is panelled to match, with a shower over and a fixed glass screen rather than a curtain.

The fluted oak vanity is from Lusso Stone and was the single most expensive item in the room. It is also the one the eye goes to, which is usually how it should work — one piece carrying the room and everything else quietly supporting it. It holds the basin and all the storage the old bathroom had nowhere for.

The bath filler and overflow are a combined unit, so there is no separate spout and no visible overflow plate on the bath. It is a small detail and it is most of the reason the bath reads as modern rather than standard.

The rest of the storage is built into the wall rather than added to it: a niche was formed within the stud, finished in the same tile and fitted with oak hardwood shelving. It takes everything that would otherwise sit on the bath edge.