Creating a fresh bathroom look that won't date.

I really love seeing how people create peaceful bathroom spaces in their homes. I find that bathrooms are a really private space for so many, and often and understandably one of the most used rooms in the house. As we only have one bathroom in our small house it has to one, serve a lot of people, and two be quite fuss free to make it easy for the kids use too. For me, space, an easy to clean surface and in a style that wouldn't date were the important features that drove us to create this space. I just wanted something that would mainly be easy to clean as that is the at the root of running a family home well. Nothing with lots of open shelving and surfaces for dust to gather. Cost was also a big feature. We live really modestly and quite simply can't afford exactly what we want in an instant so home developments have been running since we first got this house 10 years ago and they will continue to do so.

This bathroom though was an opportunity to reconfigure how it is laid out a bit and really utilise the large space that it is.

Storage is always on the top of my list. Everything needs a place to live, preferably behind closed doors because I love that you can hide mess and disorganisation. There is no way that you can constantly keep on top of organisation so I like to create spaces that I can organise but then cover and not worry about. Piles of towels in no colour coordinated order for example. Beauty products that don't all match in a spangly new way. Reality is that I lived with display shelves and it is constant work making them look nice. This time round, I have hidden it all!

Rob made our floor-to-ceiling cupboard and our under sink cupboard with this all as the main thought. Hidden washing basket, towel piles, toilet paper rolls all hidden. Water toys, Hidden. Travel bags, hidden. I love it. Hidden away for only me to look at. Storage cupboards like this are my favourite.

Having decided that the cupboards were vital we then built the rest of the bathroom as easily as we could around them. The sink stayed in the same place meaning mains pipe work didn't need to change and we were able to refit the shower easily as it meant that we could move all pipework to the same wall. The toilet also stayed in the same place so again, there created less disruption to the room, it still meant that Rob had to put a plumbing hat on though; one of the many he can now change between.

With bath time not being an important thing (by that I mean all of us prefer a shower) the bathtub that had served us well left and we opted for a full sized walk in shower. Part of me thinks it was a mistake removing the option to bathe but I have to be honest; until this week (approx 18 months since finishing) I have never wanted a bath! Our kids absolutely love playing in a shower too; it's like when you go to a water park and it's playtime but with splashing, they get in, toys and all and can easily have a half hour shower! That led to the next important choice I suppose. With the shower we knew we would need a large glass screen. I would have really liked a black framed one but at the time it was just a huge expense so we went for a plain one. That and the shower itself (again, my gold shower unit was just too expensive) are the only things I would change.

When it came to painting we knew we needed something that would be protected from the damp air. Rob installed a better extractor fan unit which actually changes everything and we avoid the damp like we used to get. The paint; we could have gone with a household one but as we made the units out of MDF, also tiled them and knew that we had small children who are messy and get water everywhere, so we pretty much wanted a waterproof wipeable paint in a dark colour. In came Cuprinol outdoor paint which we have had such great experience with in the past on the outside of the house. We knew this would need little care and stand up to the dampness and water splashing of a family bathroom. It is completely wipeable, I can use house hold products on it, there has been no water damage at all and it pretty much is the most robust unit (paint wise) this house has ever had. In fact the fact that the pictures have been taken after 18 months of use really shows that.

I knew I wanted gold fixtures so buying the t-bar handles, tap, and shower head and pole were vital. Like I said, there are electric gold shower units available, but maybe after this one breaks we will splurge then.

The biggest part of the whole rebuild was the tiling. Rob had never tiled before so that was a first and I was quite insistent on the double herringbone pattern. This took weeks to complete. The longest part by far but to be fair, it wasn't a problem though because the result is fantastic. We tiled the whole 3 shower walls: side, front and back. We have one whole wall untiled and behind the door is also untiled. This was exactly right. It means that where there is water there is the abilty to wipe and clean easily. It also helps cut down on walls getting damp and paint damage.

The main aim of this bathroom was to create something that wouldn't date. House trends change so quickly but you want bathrooms to just always look nice, clean and up to date. Clashing the stark white against a dark blue/grey was the best way to go for this house. With a few green plants to decorate and some beech wood mirrors the style is at this point on trend and undateable.