Another room done...

[MdB]

As people were asking for some finished pictures, I thought I would post the following. Unfortunately, our house is mainly modern (1970s) so there are no period features to show off.

Before:

Yes, that is woodchip wallpaper and lino tiles on the wall.
The washbasin and toilet are still available if anyone want to come and collect them ;-)

During:

The airing cupboard at the back went shortly after this as well which enabled us to add about 0.5m to the bathroom and a bit to the bedroom too.

There is a state in each rooms development which is always rather depressing.

Now:

It is worth it in the end though.

I was going to list what has changed but it is easier to say that the only things that are the same are the section of floor under the bath, some of the ceiling and unfortunately, the plastic window though we did change the window sill.

The whole room was done on a tight budget but we did add some bling to the mirror...

This is the wife in her best clothes.. My tiling isn't that bad, its barrel distortion in the camera honest!

 

[Nigel Watts]

Great job! I especially love the floor - what is this made of?

The bath panel, which you kindly described to me in reply to my post about my crumbling bathroom, looks very solid and you wouldnt know it is removable, which encourages me to find a similar solution.

 

[MattW]

Looks great and a massive improvement! Not sure I will be queue for the old bath :wink: Like Nigel I really like the floor.

 

[philpjuk100]

Surely a blue bath in a 70s house is a "period feature" phil,just joking,it looks great!

 

[Feltwell]

Very posh! You must be starting to feel like you're getting there now - a finished bedroom and bathroom! I can't believe you got rid of the retro suite though..... :wink:

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_style/bathrooms/retro_bathrooms.html

http://www.brokenbog.com/

http://www.bathroom-ceramics.co.uk/

I'm sure they will come back into fashion one day, but I can't believe that white will ever go out of fashion, and I for one would far rather have white!

I remember looking at a "lovely" house with an Avocado suite and cork tiles stuck to the floor - and bath panel - and walls - and ceiling...... :shock: The estate agent, who hadn't been round the house before and who turned up in a red Porsche (a cliche but true, I promise), had been spouting guff about "potential" all they way round this over-priced run-down dump - even he finally shut up when he entered that room.

I am intending one day to commit PP heresy by sorting out our bathroom and moving a wall - we have a ridiculously narrow bathroom, by taking part of a wall out I can turn it into an L shape, reducing the size of the en-suite that is next door.

 

[MdB]

Thanks all.

The floor is a bit unusual and is made out of compressed mulberry bush. I believe it is the waste product from silk production. It is all encased in plastic which is unfortunate but it does enable us to have a wooden floor in the bathroom without having to worry too much about it getting damp.
http://www.onlinebamboofloor.co.uk/natural_mulberry.htm
It was only a small area so we thought we could splash out on the cost.

The bath panel looks good and the silicon grout lines don't show up as different at all so that is a solution. It will be a heavy awkward job to remove the panel if ever I need to but it should be possible with only a small amount of swearing. If I did it again, I think I would make it out of two pieces with a divide down the middle. I don't think it would show.

I think the previous owner had a friend in a lino shop. The downstairs bathroom had it from floor to ceiling.

The bath is currently acting as a water trough for our neighbours horse.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: A great story with my kind of ending - don't think that lovely horse will worry about the colour much!

Thankyou SO much for posting that and sharing the encouraging story of your house's development, it really is nice o see other people's work and that we don't have to stay stuck with horrid bathrooms forever.

I also think the floor looks great, and the white is a huge improvement. I like the tiles you've used as well, just simple, with a slightly 30s look to them - I'm interested in replacing my peacock shockers with something like that.

Well done MdB - a bedroom AND a bathroom, pure luxury!

 

[Flyfisher]

Nice horse, but I bet the blacksmith bills are rather high. :shock:

 

[MdB]

The tiles where something like £4.50 / sq m which is probably around the cheapest tiles you can get. I think they were less than £100 for the entire room. The grey band is made from slate floor tiles cut up and chamfered which worked well though drilling the holes through it at an angle for LED lights around the mirror was a bit of a pain.

Points to Flyfisher for observation...

The horse is for sale as are these two though the neighbour is having trouble getting rid of them for some reason. The white one is called Laa Laa. I'm not sure why.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I just noticed the legginess of your first horse.

Did you have a little sister MdB? And did your tease her mercilessly?! :lol: :lol:

There's a lot to be said for budget tiles, they look nice, and free up cash for elsewhere.

Feltwell- those links are hilarious.

Not my perfect day out, up and down the aisles of colourful bogs, I have to say!

 

[MdB]

Did you have a little sister MdB? And did your tease her mercilessly?! :lol: :lol:

It was more the other way around. When she wound me up, I generally just hit her....

(I do now have great fun teasing her little daughter though )

 

[Penners]

Yes, that is woodchip wallpaper and lino tiles on the wall.

What?? And you said there were no period features?!

MdB - coincidentally, I have today been looking at the bath which I've just installed in our new bathroom, and mulling over how to make the bath panel look solid and permanent, but leave it removable. How have you achieved this?

Is the bath an acrylic one with wood blocks set into the underside of the rim?

Smashing bathroom!

 

[MdB]

It is a bog standard glass fibre / plastic bath supported on three sides around the edge by a shaped piece of 2x2 bolted to the wall. It was shaped so that the edge of the bath fitted into a grove allowing the underside of the bath to be supported properly - if that makes sense.

At the front, I made a frame positioned a bit back so that there was room for the 12mm ply and the tiles and adhesive. This meant that it wasn't easy to support the bath at the front as it angled at 45 degrees at this point. I ended up grip filling some wooden wedges onto the top of the frame and the underside of the bath. This has really stiffened the front edge of the bath up.

The front panel is 12mm exterior ply covered in tiles. The bottom edge has a wedge type arrangement bolted to it which causes it to locate as the panel is dropped into position. The top edge is just held into position by the layer of silicon which goes all around the edge. My mate had a similar problem and came up with a better solution, he used magnets to hold the panel in place. You can by packs of suitable parts for cupboard doors.

To remove the panel, it is a matter of running a knife around the silicon and then pulling carefully at each corner. If this turns out to be a real pain, then removing the upper corner tiles will expose a large finger sized hole cut into the ply to allow some leverage to be applied. Hopefully it won't need that though.