Wednesday 15 January 2014

An Ideal bath that I won't be taking a sledge hammer to!

 
Things seem to be progressing nicely, albeit the house very much resembles a building site with every room either under construction or being used as storage for materials, tools etc.


Thought I'd share the bathroom transformation so far. My choice here was very much based on a simple, clean, non-fussy look. I'd rather add interest with things like towels or maybe odd bits of furniture than being stuck with a patterned or coloured tile, for example. But that's just my preference.

We've opted for a plain white, fairly bog (excuse the pun) standard Ideal Standard bathroom suite, partly because of cost and partly because I wanted plain, bog standard design! Ticks in both the style and budget boxes.

In our last house, a cottage, we had a roll top bath and though it looked the part, when it came to a nice long soak with a good book and a glass of something, I realised that from a comfort point of view it just wasn't happening and spent the next few years craving a standard bath! The low point came when I was pregnant with my son, and in the early throes of labour.  A nice, warm, relaxing bath would ease the agony, I thought. Instead, had there been a sledge hammer handy, I would have taken my stress out on the roll top! The moral of this tale....if you are considering a roll top or similar style bath, make sure that you (dry!) test run one first. Climb in and have a recline. Consider the upright nature of the ends. Reclining is almost impossible. They also take for ever to fill, unless you have super powerful pressure...and by the time you have optimum volume of water, it is invariably too cold!

So, here it is so far. Half way through I guess.

 
 
 

 
 
Sanitary ware and shower screen from Ideal Standard. Shower - Mira. Taps - Vado. Tiles - Imola Porcelain, Creacon (approx. £22/m)
 
In all, so far, we have spent approximately £1,400 on kitting out the main bathroom....including lighting and chrome heated towel rail, both still to be installed. We are re-fitting an additional en suite and a downstairs cloak in this phase of works which will, in total but excluding labour costs, come in at around £3,300 for the 3 rooms.
 
I've also taken delivery of a towel ladder/storage unit as seen below.  Some nice, bright towels will inject some colour at some point. John Lewis 'House' Bamboo 5 tier shelving unit - £80.