The Bathroom Evolves

We'd planned the bathroom carefully with the builder and plumber.  What would become the bathroom consisted of a narrow room with a single toilet and a small window.  This was next door to a larger room to the right of it with two cubicles, dividing a lovely old casement window.  We would take down the partition walls, making one space, keep the door to the single loo, make the other door a cupboard by blocking it in and moving the door further into the room.  The shower would go in the corner, the bath under the big window, the loo under the small window and the sink between the shower and cupboard.

Once the massive cast iron bath arrived, we went back to the drawing board, worried that it wouldn't fit.  And changed the plan completely, drawing the sanitary ware on the floor, to scale and writing instructions to the builders on every available surface.  The bath and shower stayed as planned.  We scrapped the cupboard and made that door the main entrance, blocking in the other door.  That blocked in wall would then screen the sink and loo.  The first sight for the lucky bathroom entrant would be the bath in all its cast iron glory.

Surely now the plan was set in stone...

Once the floor was down and it was a black porcelain floor and not stone or even a gnarled, old pitch pine floor waxed to a lovely deep shine, our ideas had to change.  It all looked too sharp now for the rustic, wood panelled look that I'd had in mind. 

Black Porcelain Tiles with Black Tiled Skirting

The tiles on the floor were laid in a brickwork formation.  The white 'public toilet' tiles in the shower will be similarly arranged.  The discussion turned to the boxing in of the pipes.  Did we want wooden skirting or tiling?  I took a random sample of five views: three males and two females.  Interestingly, all the males went for tiles and the females for skirting.  This despite the fact that the torus type of skirting that we had in mind is a dust trap and, as we all know, it will be the females who deal with it.  I think there might be a research project in this but, sadly, I'm too busy making decisions about bathrooms to pursue it.

So, a black floor and black tile skirtings.  It's a very sharp look.  Is it too contemporary?  Does it fit with the spirit of the building or, as Kevin would say, is it true to the integrity of the building?  The bath, sink and loo are very traditional and there are old casement windows. 



Casement Windows

The plan now is to keep it simple.  White walls (although I have a Linda Snell-ish hankering for eau-de-nil), probably the same Jim Lawrence towel rings that we have at present.

Jim Lawrence Towel Rings

Hopefully, it will work.  Hopefully.