The day we moved into our house we knew the ensuite needed a makeover. The problem was we didn’t have the money, the time or an idea of what we wanted. The one thing we did know we needed was bathroom storage, but also it needed to be efficient in space. As with all makeover blog posts, we have the before and after photos.
Ensuite Before.
Firstly the ensuite was as left by the builders. We’ve lived here for 7 years now and the house was built about 8 years before that, so it is 15 years old and it was showing it’s age. The tiling around the walls wasn’t that bad, with an accent of blue glass. Our biggest gripe was a lack of storage. With a pedestal basin and toilet. There wasn’t any hidden storage. Any shelves would look too on display, for toothpaste, shaving foam etc. As a result, we rarely used the Master Bedroom Ensuite! We never got around to installing a mirror as we felt it was a waste of time!
The next bugbear of the ensuite was the shower. It was pathetically weak and barely covered you with water. The Shower tray had a slope on it which meant the water would collect at the wrong end and turn into a soapy scum.
And that’s before I mention the step up onto that tray. It was about 10 inches up from the floor. I’m sure the door handle is supposed to double up as a handrail to haul yourself up that step. Then we’ll mention that all the plastic in the room was starting to go yellow too. We absolutely hated it!
Our Small Ensuite Ideas Pictures
We looked around for a lot of ensuite inspiration and started to bore ourselves stupid. We looked everywhere for small ensuite bathroom space saving ideas and cool modern tiling. The one thing we agreed on most of the time was that what we were looking at we didn’t like. What started as a low budget project started to creep up a little bit.
At the end of the day, it needed to be right and if it cost a little more, then it had to be.
Making a Small Ensuite Look Bigger
To make the most of the limited space, we decided to smooth out the walls. The back wall used to have a step in it. Also instead of the white framed shower door, we chose a plain sheet of glass as a screen. Add to that the Large plain mirror and the room feels twice the size.
We’d been looking at modern radiator ideas and almost out of nowhere the concept of a copper radiator popped up. A quick search on Ebay found this tall towel warmer radiator. It’s bright colour against a neutral, natural tile colouring really stands out and became our accent colour of choice.
There was a moment when we also looked at copper shower heads, but they were only available on import and I wasn’t 100% confident in their quality.
Walk In Shower / Wet Room
All we wanted was a smaller step into the shower. A Small 2-inch step would have been acceptable. The thing was I knew I wasn’t going to have the time to do the full project myself so asked a friend to give us a hand. Kevin Shek (Custom Fit), has helped us out many times, finishing jobs I’ve started and simply cracking on when I’ve got distracted.
It was his idea to go with a wet room instead of a shower tray. I took some convincing as the first thing I thought about was leaking. After lots of research and double-checking, we went for it and it was the best decision we’d made.
With a lack of storage before I really wanted to add a place for shampoo bottles etc. So we installed this nook opposite the shower. It’s handy and reachable for all the bottles and it doesn’t get wet.
Our new more powerful shower has a rainfall and waterfall function. The square head can either shower you off or massage the back of your neck with a sheet of water. In addition to this, we have a handheld nozzle too. The Shower was purchased from Soak.com
To keep everything neatly organised, we decided on a basin with a unit below it. somewhere to store the shaving foam, toilet rolls and accessories. This unit we found in a bundle at Tecaz. It is a combined toilet and sink unit. Although it wans’t what I was looking for at first, the moulded basin and worktop keeps everything looking clean.
One of Kevin’s secret obsessions is gadgets. As a surprise gift to our project, he donated a perimeter mood light. The LED strip lights down the tiled walls and is more than bright enough for a relaxing shower. The mood lighting is linked to the nook lighting, which is controlled by remote control.
Down either side of our mirror, we have vertical LED lights. These are separate to the main lights and mood lights, so can be turned on when needed.
Finally, we get to the toilet. A toilet is a toilet, I can’t really say that much about it. Although you can see how small our ensuite really is.
Overall we’re over the moon with our Ensuite makeover and use it all the time. We’ve managed to turn a large toilet room into a regular use room.
Next project officially is our Master Bedroom, which has been started and hopefully will be complete later this month.
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