My new grey bathroom

It's been just over 2 years since we moved in to our house and the bathroom has always been an area that I've wanted to improve. I finally won over agreement from my boyfriend a couple of months ago so we got the refit booked up, giving us some time to source all the pieces and spread the cost out a bit.

For reference purposes - our old bathroom:

Old bathroom - a bit dated

We started off buying the suite. Based on a recommendation from our plumber we went with Victoria Plumb. He rated the quality you get for the price. After choosing an L-shaped shower bath we decided to stick with the square theme, going with a square basin, toilet and taps. We bought the following:

Boston L-shaped bath with shower screen
Verso toilet
Verso basin
Century basin and bath shower mixer pack (taps)

The century shower mixer from Victoria Plumb looked rather small and only came with a small clip to hold it on to the wall, so we got a separate shower head with a rail (again the square theme) this time from Victorian Plumbing.

The new suite

We also managed to source some bits from eBay:
Towel rail radiator
Custom size mirror
Toilet roll holder
Door stop
Aurora downlights
Chrome light fitting

Downlights and extractor fan

The radiator was an absolute bargain - it was listed as £99.99, but the seller had a deal on for 50% off any purchases over £50. So we got it for £50! As you can see from the pictures, it looks really classy and much more expensive than that. In fact, one of our re-fitters commented on how nice it was.

Towel rail radiator

I'm really pleased with the custom size mirror too. My boyfriend wanted a mirror to be sunk into the wall to sit in the tiles (rather than over the top of the tiles) so I had an idea that we get a mirror that is the exact size of 4 (2x2) wall tiles to keep all the lines neat.

Custom size mirror and Ikea Lillangen shelf

Ikea
Lillangen end unit

Amazon:
Manrose LED extractor fan

This particular extractor fan was a recommendation from our electrician, it's an extractor and a down-light in one. It's very quiet and seems to work quite quickly. You can also adjust the timer on it for how long until it switches off when you switch the bathroom light off.

Manrose LED extractor fan

The tiles was the hardest part. We made three separate journey's to Topps Tiles/B&Q to try and source some wall tiles and made no progress. On the third journey I suggested out of desperation that we check out Wickes (our Wickes is quite small  so that's why we previously discounted it). I'm sure you can guess what happens next  - we found THE PERFECT wall tiles in Wickes. The light grey Richmond tiles; they are a large rectangle matte grey tile.

The wall tiles and mosaics

Jewel diamond floor tiles

Once we sourced the wall tiles, it made the floor tiles and mosaics easier to pick. We went for the Topps Tiles Lynx grey mix mosaic and Topps Jewel Diamond tile for the floor. The mosaics are a mix of grey stone, glass and chrome and look really smart on the wall. The floor tiles are a dark grey tile with a jewel sparkle to them. They look really smart and expensive (actually, they were rather expensive!) with the grey grout that our tiler has used and when the spotlights are on the sparkle is amazing. They look like they have a sheen to them, but because of the texture of them they aren't slippery at all. They shine of them contrasts really nicely with the matte on the walls.

The photos I've don't taken don't really do the room justice. Our re-fitters (two guys) did an amazing job and everything is finished to a high standard. It took them 7 days in total. They ripped everything out on the first day and plastered over some bits of the wall where removing the tiles had damaged it. Then they fitted the bath, tiled the walls, plastered and painted the ceiling, boarded and tiled the floor, fitted the remainder of the suite and our accessories and sealed everything. Can I just mention the sealing too - round the edge of the floor and where the suite is sealed to the floor they used a grey sealant. It looks so smart and I didn't even know grey sealant existed!

We also had an electrician come in over two days to remove existing light fitting and fit extractor fan and down-lights.

The whole project I think must have come to about £3800 in the end. We originally budgeted for £3000, but the electrician took it up about another £600 (£380 for work, then we bought the parts), plus some other minor costs that cropped up. Once you start, you sort of think you might as well get the really nice bits and pieces as who knows how many years until you have the chance to have another new bathroom.

One thing I have learnt on this project is to find the products you want, then shop around online for the best price. Like I said the radiator was an absolute bargain, also the extractor fan we bought is currently £99 in Screwfix but we got it on Amazon for £60. The Aurora spotlights were also a better deal on eBay than other sites.

We've got the bug now for making our house looking pretty, so on to the next room....

Emma x