The challenge…

I have a bathroom decorating challenge on my hands.  Tots100 and RatedPeople.com challenged us to create our dream makeover for the chance to win it.  I rent my house, but if I owned it my dream makeover would include knocking down stud walls, attic conversions and completely repositioning the spare room and the bathroom, oh and making the garden safe.

But I don’t own it and while I’m lucky enough to have a landlady that lets me decorate it with my own paint choices there is one room that I really, really hate and will not be redeemed with a lick of paint.

The bathroom…

The bathroom is tiny, the only advantage being that it is easy to clean.  It has horrid tiles, a mismatched bathroom suite, taps that need replacing, the light doesn’t work, the shower rail fell down leaving broken tiles and it has rotten floorboards, which I only found because I was going to replace the carpet with vinyl to make it easier to clean.

The layout to your left is more or less to scale, and no, I haven’t made a mistake, the basin does indeed overlap the bath, it is the only way that everything fits in.

The floorspace is about a metre square, if I were an estate agent I’d describe it as bijou.  But I’m not, I’m a single mum of a four year old so I’m going to describe it as a small dingy horrid room.

I’d love it to be a petite refuge, easy to keep clean, with storage and a bath to wallow in and a shower to blast away the morning blues.

I love my house, but I hate this room with a passion.

The video evidence…

The tour…

No lighty, no likey ~ an introduction to atmospheric bathing

Bad taps ~ water and money down the drain…

Mind the gap ~ something rotten behind the loo…

It’s not all bad though ~ the bits I’d keep…

Small bathroom inspiration…

The house was built in the mid 1920s and most of the rooms have retained some original features.  I’ve tried to find curtains and furniture that compliment the house and would love the bathroom to have a nod to its art deco heritage.  I’d love a roll top slipper bath but with a 4 year old this wouldn’t be very practical and with such limited space I’m sure it would be a beggar to clean under.

Instead I’m taking my inspiration from the tiling and detail of the period.

The makeover….

I raided the recycling box and my daughter’s doll house to make a model to show you how I’d create the shower alcove inspired by the green bathroom in the inspiration picture.

• Replace rotten floorboards.
• Replace loo and basin with contemporary compact loo and vanity unit, to provide storage.
• Replace bath, set it back against back wall.
• Replace all tap fittings.
• Replace shower.
• Replace light and fixings.
• Create an arch across the bath forming an alcove for the shower, add shelves up the side wall of shower alcove.
• Tile the floor and walls in white with accent vintage art deco tiles – in blues and greens.
• Tile the inside of the arch in blue and install pinprick lights to create a star effect.
• Hang a wall of vintage mirrors on the wall above the towel rail.
• Run a bath, find a good book, pour a glass of wine, relax and enjoy.

Gutting, refitting and retiling the bathroom is a massive job and one that would have all kinds of positive effects on my and my daughters life. We’d save time, money and stress and could enjoy life that little bit more because of it.  Fingers crossed!

I’ve really enjoyed devising my bathroom decorating ideas, you can see more of them on my Bathrooms Pinterest board.