Three years after we finished renovation works on the rest of the house, we finally decided to sort out the master and ensuite bathrooms upstairs.

These were in a pretty dire state (see my previous posts on them here), having progressively deteriorated over the course of this period: there were tiles were held together with tape, regular leaks, a suspicious squelchy feeling underfoot (most likely water under the linoleum) and water kept mysteriously gushing out of the ensuite window – I still have no idea why this kept happening.

Tackling each of the bathrooms in turn, we decided to do both in roughly the same style and went for a look that I’ve seen in a lot of bathrooms in modernised mid century homes: square basin, 10×10 square tiles with contrast grouting, terrazzo-style flooring and a wall-hung toilet.

We did avoid one design cliche, however: black tapware and accessories. It’s not that I don’t like it (I do) or think it’s a passing fad – it was more the hassle of finding the more obscure items (waste and bottle taps etc) in the same finish as the taps and shower unit. As such, we ordered all of the fittings in standard chrome.

The other key differences between the two bathrooms are the bathtubs (my partner insisted on a larger L-shaped tub in the main bathroom even though this doesn’t leave a huge amount of room to actually climb in, given the fixed panel) and the basin/storage combination (under sink storage in the main bathroom and a large medicine cabinet with under-lighting over a wall-hung basin in the ensuite).

One thing that I really wanted was a Japanese-style washlet in each of the bathrooms. Having grown up with a continental-style bidet, I’d long dreamed of having the next generation version installed in our home. They used to be obscenely expensive (and still can be – a top of the range model from Toto, the Japanese brand most associated with washlets is about £10,000) but we managed to find a more basic model (with all of the functionality built into the seat rather than the pan) from a Victorian Plumbing for just under £500.

We asked the same builders who did the rest of our house renovation to do these two bathrooms and they did a good job for a reasonable price. It did take slightly longer than expected, however: around 3-4 weeks per bathroom due in part to the relatively small size of the wall tiles and general fussiness on my part.

1. Orchard L-shaped shower bath with 6mm shower screen from Victoria Plum
2. Orchard bath filler set from Victoria Plum
3. ENHET / TVÄLLEN wash-basin cabinet from IKEA
4. Grohe Essentials toilet roll holder from Victoria Plum
5. Bianco Wall Hung Smart Toilet with bidet wash function and dryer from Victorian Plumbing
6. Terrazzo floor tiles in Cori Grey from Victorian Plumbing
7. Spellbound Matt White 10x10cm wall tiles from Walls and Floors
8. Mode Spa round thermostatic shower set from VictoriaPlum.com
9. SVENSKÄR wash-basin mixer tap from IKEA

1. Orchard Square edge straight shower bath from Victoria Plum
2. Aqualisa Midas mixer shower with bath spout from Victoria Plum
3. Roca Senso Square wall-hung basin from Victorian Plumbing
4. Bianco Wall Hung Smart Toilet with bidet wash function and dryer from Victorian Plumbing (as before)
5. String pocket shelving in black and white from SCP
6. Spellbound Matt White 10x10cm wall tiles from Walls and Floors (as before)
7. Terrazzo floor tiles in Cori Grey from Victorian Plumbing (as before)
8. Hudson Reed three-door mirror cabinet from Victorian Plumbing with under and over-strip lighting from Amazon
9. Delabie toilet roll holder from QS Supplies