[Ad] Our bathroom renovation journey: The realities of designing a small bathroom, with VitrA Bathrooms

This post is created in collaboration with VitrA Bathrooms 

You’ve seen our contemporary double storey house extension start to take shape, but there’s one room I’ve been keeping under wraps – the bathroom. In this post, I’m sharing the long and winding journey from initial concept – through changes, tweaks and adaptations – to final install. Designing a compact bathroom in a tight, narrow, London home is no easy task but I want to share all the ups and downs that have got us to this point: finally seeing our dream bathroom come to life.

We’ve (almost inevitably) had to make a few compromises along the road, but I think we’ve refined the design into a small, but perfectly formed bathroom. The bathroom is in a completely different room to where we originally planned it to be BUT the small footprint now works hard to deliver on style and substance. By focusing on beautiful, tactile materials, textural contrasts and seamless storage, we’ve managed to design a compact bathroom that works for our needs as a young family. Over the past few months I felt like I’ve learnt everything there is to learn about designing a bathroom so I’m hopeful I can share a few lessons (some hard, some easy) here.

Throughout the design process, VitrA Bathrooms has been there supporting us along the way, helping us work out how to make the bathroom function better for us. Their advice has been invaluable, from advising us on cistern sizes and WC projections to adding clever little details that will help the space work seamlessly every day. It’s been a pleasure working with them and I can’t wait to share the results of our labours very soon. But first, let’s go back to the beginning.

A recap of the original design
While we’re excited to have more space downstairs in the extension, we’re perhaps even more excited to have a clean new bathroom. For the past six years we’ve been living with a freezing cold, shoddily built bathroom that deserved zero airtime on Instagram or anywhere else for that matter. Inspiring it was not. But often patience pays off and it makes it even more rewarding when you’ve waited so long for something.

The whole extension revolved around moving the bathroom upstairs and opening up the downstairs to gain a better connection with the garden. The bathroom was previously housed in a single storey extension at the back of the house. It can be fairly typical of Victorian properties, but it just doesn’t really work with today’s lifestyle. It’s far more practical to have the bathroom next to the bedrooms upstairs, especially with a little one.

But where to put the bathroom? We have two bedrooms and really wanted to maximise the extension and add an extra bedroom. Not only do we both work from home, and have guests over occasionally, we were also really thinking of resale value. We didn’t want to lose a bedroom for a bathroom.

Our initial plan (which you can see here) squeezed the bathroom into the generous front bedroom that spans the width of the house. It meant we could have three reasonable sized double bedrooms and give a window over to the new bathroom space. We would have been able to fit both a shower and a freestanding bath, with enough room for a generous vanity unit and storage.

It seemed like the perfect solution until we started to consider the practicalities of getting the soil pipe out of the bathroom and downstairs. It would have either meant running it down through the (already very narrow) hallway (and potentially detracting from the original cornicing), or through the kitchen. The pitch of the soil pipe and the direction of the joists on the first floor meant that we wouldn’t actually have been able to fit the loo in the actual bathroom. That would have been housed separately in an adjacent cupboard. I wouldn’t really have minded that; it almost makes the bathroom more functional for families. But it would have meant we would have lost some much needed storage and our only cupboard upstairs.

The evolving design process: making the space work for our tight plot and purse strings
There was also cost to consider. When we went to tender and started to discuss the design with various builders, everyone said it would be easier to have the bathroom in the extension rather than at the front of the house. That would mean that the bathroom would be essentially moving straight up to the floor above and the soil pipe could exit directly down to where it was originally. It would be cheaper and we could keep the main bedroom unspoiled, sealed off from the rest of the house. We would then have a room to store all our furniture instead of moving everything out.

After many deliberations, we went back to the architect to shift around the upstairs level. It meant letting go of our vision of having both a bath and a shower, and instead inserting a compact bathroom next to the new upstairs bedroom in the new extension. One builder wisely said to us: when you see a small bathroom on plan it looks teeny, but once you’re in it and everything is well fitted, it doesn’t seem quite so small. We worked out the optimum bath size we could fit in (1600mm) and worked the design around that.

We also went back to VitrA Bathrooms with the challenge of a redesign. At first it felt a little disheartening and a bit like starting afresh. But Shahnee Taylor Brown at VitrA London helped us see that we could still retain the main design intention and several of the products we first fell in love with, it was just about optimising the footprint of the space. Shahnee was always positive that we could make the space work and never seemed phased by the changes that needed to be made.

It was actually really valuable to be able to go back into the VitrA London showroom so I could see the products in person and feel inspired again. It also made my life so much easier having everything in one place. VitrA Bathrooms don’t just produce sanitary ware, but bathroom furniture, tiles and accessories too. It would have been so much more complicated sourcing different things from different places and trying to match them into a cohesive space.

VitrA Bathrooms’ ranges are extensive enough that we could find alternatives for our new space. We were able to choose a slightly smaller vanity unit from the Voyage range and swap the wall mounted WC for a floor mounted version in the same style. We could also keep the same tiles, mirror and details that made the bathroom unique. And curve ball, it even allowed me to reconsider the possibility of a sage green basin!

The new and improved design
Our new, adapted design is conceptually the same. It’s just a bit more realistic. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to the struggles of living in a small space and making the most of what you’ve got!

Our new bathroom is 160cm x 170cm. It’s tight but we’ve fitted a 160cm long bath along the back wall of the bathroom, with a long 100cm vanity unit with a countertop basin next to it and a floor mounted WC opposite.

With a smaller space, I thought I could add a bit more of a ‘wow’ factor to make up for the teeny footprint. I think with small spaces you can really go for it. In the previous design we would have had a freestanding bath to draw the eye in. Here we have a wall of glossy sage green tiles from Tom Dixon’s Liquid collection. These are contrasted with off white matte tiles and brushed nickel features. A matte sage green basin (sneak peek below!) adds a pop of unexpected colour, tying the scheme together.

I think if the details are really well designed and the bathroom is well considered, size shouldn’t matter. We’ve exposed the pitch of the roof to add a feeling of volume and inserted a roof light above the bath to let in lots of natural light. We’ve used a pocket door system so the door doesn’t intrude into the limited space. A huge round mirror will bounce light around and prevent the room feeling too cramped. We’ve also created a generous niche at the end of the bath to store a few shampoo bottles.

Where we are now: the new bathroom begins to take shape
It was so exciting to see the form of the new bathroom being built as we had never even seen this room before. During the design process it made it a little bit of a challenge to really visualise what the space would be like. But once the framework was in, we could get a better picture of the footprint and the space we were working with. A hole for the skylight was added as well as insulation.

The exposed brickwork is the back of the house, previously the exterior wall. Here the builders managed to cut out some bricks and install a little concrete lintel so we could have a wall mounted cistern and back-to0wall WC rather than a close coupled toilet, which would have extended into the room too much.

The next step was installing the pocket door frame. That’s when we could really stand in the room for real and picture the end result. The builders did the first fix for the plumbing and we deliberated on heights of shower mixers and the placement of tiles. VitrA had already provided a plan and elevations with measurements, which was incredibly useful.

The most exciting moment came when the VitrA bathroom products were delivered. I couldn’t resist trying out the bath to size. I was very relieved to find that I could stretch out my legs!

Which brings us to today: the bath has been installed and the tiles are being laid out. It won’t be long until the bathroom is all fitted and I can reveal it in all its glory.

During the process of designing my own bathroom, I’ve learnt that a design can evolve and adapt, often for the better. I’ve learnt that with a bathroom you really have to think carefully about the practical details. It might sound obvious but it’s easy to get distracted by the pretty things! At the very start, even before you pick out tiles or finishes, make sure you know where your pipework and soil pipe can be positioned. Think about who you are designing for as well – it’s all well and good thinking about potential buyers, but we’re the ones who are going to be using it every day for the next few years or more. Consider costs and factor in budget from the start; a bathroom design can easily add up and labour takes up a huge chunk of that cost. Most of all, a bathroom should be designed to stand the test of time; you can change up a sofa or repaint a wall, but it’s a lot more difficult (and costly) to change a bathroom. It’s really pays to invest in the design process and take your time to get it right.

I hope this gives you some hope and inspiration if you have a small bathroom as well. Certainly here in the UK and Europe our homes are getting smaller and smaller, especially in crowded, urban spaces. It’s going to become an increasingly common challenge to design compact bathrooms that don’t compromise on style or function. I now believe a bathroom can be uplifting, inspiring, tranquil and calming, however big the footprint is. When I’m designing for clients I actually prefer the challenge of small spaces than the ease of an expansive area. I think it makes you more creative and you can come up with some ingenious solutions to complex problems. I’m sure there’s a phrase that says there’s no such thing as problems, only solutions!