Standing in my tiny bathroom one morning at 7am wiping steam off the bathroom mirror with my towel, next to the puddle of water at the bottom of my toilet because the grout surrounding it had finally given up after 37 years, I realised I had lost the battle. Those avocado green fixtures that had looked so flashy in 1987 weren’t “quirky vintage charm” they were gross. And that shower door?
Don’t get me started on how much water it leaked. Yet, there was one thing about bathrooms everyone failed to tell me. Despite all the warnings about how bathroom renovations will suck your life savings and leave you showering at the gym for-ev-er, prepare to have your mind changed.
Sort of. Renovating my bathroom was just as painful and expensive as everyone said it would be.
But as I was elbow deep in joint compound, I realised that some upgrades made me happier every day with how much functionality they added and increased the value to my home more than others…I’ll just say this: heated towel rails and I now have a LOVE-HATE relationship.
What made the biggest difference to my experience wasn’t what I expected. Don’t get me wrong I put a good chunk of money into nice tile and a nice showerhead (rainfall style). But the one thing that changed my morning routine?
Ventilation. Yeah. Dry air.
I hired a contractor who suggested a whisper quiet exhaust fan with humidity sensor and I nearly scoffed. “It’s just a fan,” I thought. Girl, I was wrong. That little fan cost me £180 to have installed but it fixed my moldy mirror situation every morning that made drying my hair feel like a job at the gym sauna.
I no longer had to wipe down every surface after showering to prevent condensation from ruining everything. No more foggy mirrors. And the kicker?
No more stale mildew smell in my bathroom after I showered. The smell disappears within minutes. When my friend Jess dropped by to visit a few months later and said, “Something smells different in here.
Clean?” I knew I made the right choice. Sure, the steamy shower area needed some major help. Of COURSE it did.
I ripped those stupid sliding glass shower doors off and put up one simple sheet of glass. Lines look so much cleaner. Plus it was easier to clean!
No more holes where grout would inevitably get stuck and trap water. Removing the bulky doors and shower kerb opened up my bathroom so much too. It almost looked like it was twice as wide!
Worth the £400 alone for that little optical illusion. But instead of breaking the bank for a fancy rainfall shower, I installed a thermostatic mixer shower. Best decision EVER.
Now I don’t have to worry about changing water temperature EVERY TIME I shower. No more jumping back and forth in fear of scalding or freezing water as I fumble to adjust both shower taps with shampoo running down my face. Who knew tile would make that much of a difference?
After weeks of debating between subway style and high end natural stone I stumbled upon large format porcelain tiles that not only looked like marble but were a fraction of the price. £18 vs £80 per sq metre! Not to mention they don’t break. EASY TO CLEAN was my mantra when selecting tiles.
With larger tiles I’d have less grout lines to clean. Did I mention I hate cleaning grout? Storage.
I knew I wanted extra storage space for towels, bathroom cleaning supplies and toiletries. At first, I went a little Pinterest crazy. Floating shelves, built in cabinets.
Who has that many towels that they need towelfeecounters?? Come to find out. I’m the only one who uses this bathroom AND I only own 4 towels.
What I really needed was a nice medicine cabinet and a designated spot to put my hair dryer that wasn’t on the bedroom floor. Speaking of medicine cabinets. The medicine cabinet I bought has these nifty LED lights built right into the edges of the mirror.
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Sounds fancy huh? It was £160 and took the place of my old medicine mirror as well as the ugly oval light fixture that blinded everyone and made them look horrible. Now I can actually put on makeup and see what I’m doing.
Is that a human right? Clearly we need some laws put in place for reasonable bathroom lighting. Where I made a mistake was investing in the heated towel rail.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to step into warm fluffy towels during the winter. But my bathroom is SMALL. And that towel rail took up a lot of unused wall space.
Not to mention it created more work for my plumber in hooking it up to my heating system (more money for him). Would I buy another one? Eh.
Probably not. A simple high quality radiator would have been much more cost effective. Toilet.
We had no choice but to replace this bad boy. Not only was it beige (why were all 80s bathrooms beige?) but it also cracked at some point and someone was kind enough to try to fix it with CA glue. Let’s just say I wasn’t comfortable with “spraying” that toilet again.
I replaced it with a close coupled toilet (meaning the tank is hidden) that flushes better and uses less water. Nothing fancy here. Soft closing toilet seats?
LIFE CHANGING. Am I the only one who wakes up their family at 6am when they jerk the toilet seat open? Vinyl floors.
This almost cost me too much. I spent weeks researching natural stone options until I came across Luxury Vinyl Tiles that mimic natural stone. Not only did it save me thousands (literally) compared to natural stone but it feels warmer on your feet too!
Laying the tile was also something I was able to do myself. It took me a weekend and about 5 YouTube tutorials plus way too much coffee. But it wasn’t difficult!
Originally my lighting plan was to use a single ceiling light that lit everything… well, not very well. It cast dark shadows everywhere. Instead, I installed LED strip lighting under the floating vanity and around my mirror.
Now the whole space feels bigger and brighter. Oh and did I mention I can actually see what I’m doing when I shave my legs IN THE SHOWER? My vanity deserves a shout out too.
I found this wall mounted vanity that not only freed up more floor space but made cleaning much easier. A built-in basin creates a more modern look and gets rid of that awkward open gap below the sink where dirty brushes and q-tips seem to vanish to never be seen again. Yes, it was more expensive than your basic sink and tap.
But the cabinet below allows me to store all of my bathroom essentials without living out of a bag. Paint. Don’t underestimate the power of paint.
Having already painted my house bluegray I knew I wanted to stay in that colour family but not match my bedroom. I chose a pale grey blue that complements both warm and cool toned lighting and it instantly made my bathroom feel bigger and more luxurious. Painting the entire room took me one weekend and cost me £45 including the ceiling.
Of all the upgrades in my humble bathroom, I realised that the things that I loved most and added the most value to my day-to-day were things I hadn’t really considered when planning: ventilation, consistent shower temperature, ample lighting and surfaces that could be cleaned quickly.
Sure, the trendy upgrades were nice, but didn’t add to my daily happiness. You can still find my bathroom on Pinterest. it’s not featured in design magazines but every time I step into that spa-like shower that isn’t filled with fog, I know the best renovations are the ones that you don’t notice because they just work.
Total Cost: £3200. Value to my happiness every morning: Priceless. Would I change anything?
Hmmm. Maybe skipping the heated towel rail. And investing the money into better shower storage.
But hey. We spend an average of 2 times a day in the bathroom. So far, it’s been worth every penny.
