Ever step into the bathroom at a fancy hotel and think, “This is what my life is missing”? The marble countertops, complimentary towel radiators, rainfall showerhead – it’s enough to make you forget you’re just checking email before your conference call. Three months ago, I stepped into the bathroom at a boutique hotel in Bath and had that thought.
But instead of sighing and walking away like I normally would, I vowed: Right. I’m fixing this. My bathroom wasn’t awful, per se.
But it did feature bargain-bin fixtures aplenty. Shower curtain rod from Home Depot in 2003.
Yellow tile that makes you look sick even if you slept eight hours that night.
A builder-grade mirror that may as well say “Gym Changing Room” across the bottom. But I had €3,000 to spend – and some DIY skills – and I was determined to create an Instagram-worthy bathroom that felt luxe for way less money. Turns out, the luxury hotel bathroom is full of tricks and illusions.
Namely, good lighting, proper scale for the room, and ample storage so every countertop is clutter-free. The fanciest marble in the world won’t make your bathroom feel expensive if it’s topped with a halogen lightbulb and littered with shampoo bottles. Step one?
What I like to call “the squint test.” When you step into that high-end hotel bathroom, what do you first notice when you’re just kind of taking everything in? For hotel bathrooms, there are usually three items of interest: gorgeous surfaces (marble countertops, glass tile, porcelain vanities), statement-making hardware (silver tap!Gold cabinet pulls! ), and task lighting. Step two: invest in those three things.
Start with those surfaces. Whether it’s countertops, shower walls, or flooring, one of the most luxe-feeling materials out there is marble. But even high-end marble starts at around €1,000/€1,200 per square metre.
Which is… a lot. I found porcelain tiles at my local hardware store that looked like the Carrara marble we all know and love, but were only €12 per square metre instead of €120. You read that correctly.
The tiles I ended up choosing had subtle veining but weren’t so perfect that they looked fake. Bonus spending tip: I spent way too much time in the tile store holding the porcelain samples up to the light to make sure the pattern didn’t repeat too visibly. If you can identify where the repeat is within three seconds of looking… so can your guests.
Speaking of installing the porcelain tiles: Don’t DIY the shower. Just don’t. Hire a professional to do that for you, and DIY anything skin-safe you can.
I “installed” the tile around my vanity myself, which was probably a mistake. I almost had a heart attack when I laid the last tile and realised I was THREE short… but then I realised the batches varied slightly in veining so it wasn’t super noticeable. Moral of the story: Shower tile = quartz countertop guys.
Anything else, you can probably DIY. I spent way too much time researching brushed brass taps. Here’s the thing.
Cheap brass fixtures will forever look cheap. They’ll be too yellow, too shiny, like jewellery you’d find at Claire’s. Spend between €180-€200 on bathroom hardware, and you’ll notice a difference.
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The taps I found were just heavy enough that when you twist them on and off, they feel… substantial. They also came with that satisfying click that all good hardware has when it latches into place. They’ve held up to water-jetting torture my boyfriend employs each morning, too.
Lighting made the biggest difference in my bathroom. That awful spotlight hanging from the ceiling was rounded out by two wall-mounted scones on each side of the mirror. It sounds crazy, but for applying makeup or simply shaving, being able to see what you look like makes a difference.
And I scored those bad boys at a lighting outlet store for €85 instead of €300 like the “designer” retail price. They are literally the same light. Same light fixture.
Different (read: giant) markup. Mirror, mirror on the wall… Was the last thing I touched, but it made SUCH a difference. I was originally going to swap out my builder-grade mirror for a larger one.
Bigger = better, right? But then I stumbled upon this trick to make your mirror look like it’s floating (with the help of LED light strips mounted on the wall behind a frameless mirror.) Sure, it takes some finagling to mount and hide the cables, but it isn’t as hard as it sounds and makes your bathroom feel €2,000 fancier. Mine cost me around €120.
Ah, the shower. Probably where I got creative with my budget the most. While a rainfall showerhead will set you back €400+, there’s an alternative that gives you the exact same experience for a fraction of the price.
Call it a luxury version of an overhead shower. While the high-end Rainfalld probably has better internals and longer warranty, how the water feels hitting you in the face is nearly identical. And honestly, once you have the rainfall-style shower, you’ll want to upgrade to a handheld too.
It’s SUCH a hotel bathroom staple. I used this trick of mounting a second showerhead on the ceiling, too. Whenever anyone showers in my bathroom, they always comment on how “spa-like” everything feels.
I attribute that to the hidden soap dispensers we mounted on the wall and that cute little shelf we added to store bath products. It really helps everything feel intentional, plus you’re not tripping over shampoo bottles anymore.
My new vanity wasn’t too shabby, either.
I used IKEA cabinets as the base (for €180), and upgraded the doors + added a stone-effect countertop for another €320. Looks 100% custom, for way less than the cheapest vanities you’ll find at cabinet stores. The key is taking your time to make small details really shine.
Splurge on soft-close hinges, decent drawer pulls, and if you’re feeling extra ambitious, make sure your countertop overlaps the cabinets like a “real” vanity would. If I could go back in time and tell myself one thing when redoing my bathroom, it’s that luxe bathrooms should also feel luxe to use. I’m talking heated floors (electric underfloor heating mats that felt like a dream for €280), exhaust fans (boaring but needed to upgrade), and enough plug sockets in logical places.
Who wants to unplug the heated towel rack to plug in your hairdryer? Not me! For €2,650, I now walk into the bathroom every day thinking I work at a five-star hotel.
Friends who come over think I spent far more than I actually did. Score one for Eating All the Homecooked Meals.
