10 Bathroom Design Ideas That Just Make Sense

Who would’ve guessed that designing a bathroom would require so much thought? Surely it is just a room where you brush your teeth and shower? Think again. Designing a bathroom really does take a lot of patience, research and imagination. I suppose that’s why so many people need the help of professionals, just like we did. As much as we love to do DIY, we knew our limitations and we knew that we needed professionals to help us.

Here are some things that we learnt from them. #bathroom #bathroomrenovation #bathroomideas #bathroomdesign

Sunken Basin

The very first thing I said to the bathroom designer was that I wanted a round basin sitting on top of a vanity cabinet just like you see in all of those gorgeous pictures floating around Instagram and Pinterest. That idea was barely entertained as the professionals quickly deterred me from what I thought was my favourite design feature in a bathroom. They explained that whilst it looks good, these types of basins are unable to have an overflow drainage hole. This means that you are automatically more at risk of accidentally flooding your bathroom. We don’t want that do we?!

So instead I opted for a gorgeous basin sunk into the vanity unit. I have found this so much easier to clean as I just have the basin itself and the flat surface around it. I don’t know how I would’ve coped if I also had to get into all of the awkward corners of the basin sitting on top of a vanity unit. The professionals clearly saved me some long-term pain here.

Handheld Shower

Speaking of cleaning, I’ve always found it so much easier to clean a bathroom with a separate handheld shower. After scrubbing your bathroom and your tiles it’s so nice to rinse the bath and tiles surrounding it with your showerhead.

Plus it has the added bonus of when you enjoy your bath, if you decide to wash your hair in the bath then you can just rinse out the shampoo with clean water.

Large Floor Tiles

This is where I realise that most of my points centre around the cleaning aspects of the bathroom. I clearly want to make an easier life myself!

The larger the floor tiles, the less grout is used, and therefore the less grout there is to keep clean.

We all know that it’s much easier to clean the tiles themselves than it is the actual grout in between them.

Grey Grout

Continuing with the theme of cleanliness, we all know that pale grout can get easily discoloured. Opting for grey grout not only look chic but is less likely to discolour and therefore easier to keep clean.

Handles in the Middle

Moving away from the cleaning aspects and more towards the useful things in the bathroom.

In order to make life just that little bit easier, we decided to have the handles for the taps including the temperature, the handle for the bath, as well as the handle for both showerheads in the middle. For the simple purpose of not having to lean around the shower screen, reach in and turn on the shower whilst getting my head wet in the process. Why aren’t they all designed like this anyway?!

Extra Wide Bath

As we only have the space for a shower over the bath, as opposed to a separate walk-in shower, we decided to have a wider than normal bath. This gave us a bit more of a luxurious feeling for the shower as we had more space in there. And needless to say we have a shower screen as opposed to a shower curtain. I cringe at the memories of my uni days when the shower curtain would stick to my legs in the shower!

Steel Enamel Bath

You know that sound a bath tub makes when you step into it? That sort of bending plastic sound? Well a steel enamel bath won’t make that sound. It’s resilient and sustainable, so it will last for longer than a standard plastic tub. Worth the investment I would say.

Deep Basin

One of the things that bugs me the most about washing my hands in poorly thought out restaurant bathrooms, is how inevitably, water pools on the surfaces at the sides of the basins. The simple reason for this is because the taps are too low and the basins are too shallow. So there’s nowhere for you to actually wash your hands. Unless of course you’re happy to get a little tiny bit of water on one hand.

Anyway, you can probably tell this is one of my pet peeves. So to get around this we have a deep basin which means we are less likely to splash water all around the basin. Simple.

Shower/Bath Combo

For us, this made sense. Different people have different priorities but if you’ve got a small bathroom, or even a medium-size bathroom, having a separate walk-in shower and a separate bath tub will mean that your bathroom is more likely to feel cramped.

I was desperate to find a way to have a separate walk-in shower and bath. We were knocking down the wall to make the bathroom bigger, so I was determined that a separate shower would fit. The professionals did all of the plans and came to the conclusion that we would just be knocking into something at every turn had we have gone down that route. They said that physically it could be done. But they would not recommend it.

I am so pleased that we listened to them because it is amazing how our big family sized bathroom feels like a big family sized bathroom and yet I cannot envision how or where we would put in a separate shower. I would much rather have that big bathroom feeling than feel cramped.

Heated Towel Rail

This may sound like a simple one, and a little bit obvious. For me, I have never lived in a property with a heated towel rail. Whilst I know of course that they do exist, to me this is a luxury. So I couldn’t write a blog post without mentioning it. What I would say, is get the biggest one possible. It is amazing how many towels you will want to hang up on your lovely new heated towel rail.

Your bathroom may very well be the smallest room in your house but I am sure that it is one of the most used as well. Be sure to take your time with the design and imagine how you would use your bathroom and how you want to feel in your bathroom. My main focus throughout the whole design process was to end up with a bathroom that made me feel like I was visiting a spa. I believe I’ve done just that. Good luck with yours!