Bathroom Remake Ta-Dah!

 TA-DAH! Here it is. The bathroom. We used all the two weeks of our Easter Holidays to get it functioning and a bit of time each side of the holidays to prepare and do the last little bits. This was not a simple cosmetic revamp, but a total "rip everything out and put it back again" -job. And what's more, it was redoing bits that had been done badly. We had few hitches, but it was a learning experience and we now have a lovely working bathroom.

We did it in MOMO spirit - Modest Modern. Partly because we had a modest budget, but also because we did not feel that a full blown "luxury hotel suite"-style would have suited the house. Ours is a modest Victorian terrace and we wanted the bathroom to mirror it.

                      BEFORE                                                  

                     AFTER

 
The toilet has been changed to a normal, traditional white one instead of hugely wide beige throne. This has made cleaning around that corner easier, it was a really annoying job before.The little radiator with a towel rail above has been removed and replaced by heated ladder style radiator-towel rail. The walls are now white rather than magnolia-cream-something. The floor is essentially the same colour, although even the "before" floor was installed by us as an emergency measure instead of a smelly carpet.

                                                     BEFORE                                                                                                                       

   
                      AFTER

The bath was changed from a beige plastic monster to a plain white enamelled bath. The screen is now a folding one, which makes climbing into bath/shower easier. Before we practically had to stand in the toilet to make it. The mixed tiling was changed to one style, sand beige-grey big tiles and we did tile whole of the bath area.

Again the cleaning is SO much easier because I don't have to have my heart in the mouth while the screen is hanging outside the bath or banging against my legs and bottom in order to access the shower end of the bath. The old screen was actually not intact either and it was hanging wonkily. I had all sorts of ideas of having some natural pebble tiles, but realised that the amount of grout would mean that the cleaning would be a nightmare. Although the look might have been nice, I want to my everyday life be easy and simple.

                     BEFORE

                                                                 

                     AFTER  

 

The sink area was very dark and was fitted with a sink with a gap of 2mm between the sink and the wall. Why is that important? Well it's big enough to have muck gathering, but nigh impossible to clean. I leave the result for your imagination. The mirror was ok as such, but I was desperate to have space for all the tooth brushing stuff and such easily accessible, but hidden, so we bought a cabinet. I am now hopeful for the sink area to keep tidy. you can also see the patterned tiles in action. They are slightly lighter coloured in reality.

I bought a metal soap holder for the wall, but in the end didn't like how it fitted into the space. The walls surrounding the sink make it a bit tricky to dress this corner.At least we have a light fitting above the mirror cabinet. The soap dish was something I had already in the house. I filled it with some smooth pebbles, so the soap keeps dry. It works and looks nice.

                     BEFORE                                                                  

                     AFTER

The stand under the sink had a cupboard with two doors and a shelf. One of the doors actually came off, because the cabinet had been soaked due to the leak inside the wall. When I removed it, I also found a mushroom growing out of the cabinet wall. Charming! As the bathroom is narrow, I wanted draws under the sink to maximise the utilised space. IKEA had the most reasonably priced units. I was totally amazed what some firms were asking for similar cabinets. And no, the materials were no better... I also like that the sink is just a part of the moulded top. It makes it easy to clean. You should think I am obsessive about cleaning, but actually I don't like it, so anything which makes it easier/quicker is good in my book.

                     BEFORE                                                                       

 

 
                               AFTER

The old shower looks unusable in the picture, but in the reality, we had just taken the head off to use with our emergency shower arrangement. Our "luxury" was to buy a new shower with a nice big head and a separate hand shower utility. The only bad thing about it is that it is too good. Eh?!? We stand far too long under it as it is so lovely! We also have bath taps in the same end, so when in bath, nothing drips on your head. The bath taps are a modern take of Victorian taps, again very plain style. The good thing about them is that they are easily turned with toes.

If you peek on the right of the picture above, you can see that the door glass is covered by a blind inside. It was an ok idea, but I found the blind looking really out of place, heavy and big on the door, so did not want to replace it with a new one. Instead I went for a granny option; a curtain wire and a curtain made of a lovely vintage table cloth. I am so happy to have found use for this piece of loveliness in my house. It looks sweet from both in and outside. This is how it looks from the hallway, coming up the stairs:

 

Yes, the hallway and the stairs are our next project. As this is my favourite door at the moment I need to show you the effect closer by:

 

I love it! It's like a fine old lady and makes me smile every time I see it.

Well done if you made it to the end of my bathroom report. Anyone else having a show and tell of bathrooms? Leave a link if you have, I would love to see!