Mum and Dad's Bathroom

In my previous blog I mentioned about my parents deciding to get a new suite for their bathroom so I thought I would use this next blog to show what was done. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take a picture before the avocado suite was ripped out and as I'm not prepared to share any childhood bathtime photo's with you, you'll just have to use your imagination (of the bathroom!)!

The old suite had originally been put in by my Dad well over 25yrs ago and I do remember the bathroom being decorated in the early 90s with flower wallpaper and various peach accessories. But after years of abuse from a large busy family (before houses had ensuite!) and several leaks, the room was looking rather sorry for itself so my parents decided it was time to sort it out.

 No more avocado suite!

After months of research they eventually decided what they wanted and before they knew it the builders had arrived and had completely gutted the whole room. As well as a new suite my parents decided that it would also be a good time to have a new boiler and a solar panel put in (just to make it easier while all the floor boards were up!). The shower runs off the solar panel which is a lot cheaper when its just the two of them using it for the majority of the time.

The layout of the bathroom was designed very carefully by my dad and then I came in as the adviser for the style of the suite and the colours that should be used. In fact there are only two pieces of the suite that are from the same design and they are the toilet and bidet, the rest are separate styles. But by looking for pieces that complemented each other with similar shapes and curves a suite could be made up (being white helped too!).

Deciding on which colours would be best. 

Renaissance Italy was supposed to be the inspiration behind the blue for the bathroom but somehow a sophisticated beach theme occurred. My parents received a couple of decorative beach themed tiles as a gift and I think that was what made them change the theme of the room (pictured below). I remember consulting about the colour of the floor tiles and carpet with the wall paint (as you can see from the picture above) and I did not like the yellow (?) but equally I remember the blue being a problem. Various lighter blue paint testers were made up but they all just made the room seem colder so we went back to the original mix which seemed to work better with all the accessory colours.

The finished look. 

The directors chair was originally mine but wasn't being used and I realised that it would work really well with the theme of the bathroom if the fabric was changed to match the blinds. The carpet (normally a big no no in bathrooms) shape was inspired by the effect you see when the sea tide flows over the sand with the most carpet being used where you would step out of the bath or shower (they do have an extra mat for here!). No carpet layer seemed to want to put the carpet down so I ended up helping my dad by holding either the bath or shower to one side while he cut it in to place. I would like to add that my dad and my sister Clare's partner James ended up plumping the shower (nicknamed "the pod") in themselves on Christmas Eve so that it could be used by the extended descending family! 

What impresses me the most about this bathroom design is the fact that all the parts of the suite stand alone pretty much away from the walls and that there is very little use of tiles except on the floor and skirting. Plus the bath is great for keeping the water really hot (to the point where it can actually get too hot) and because of the way my dad has had the bath positioned you can sit in it and drift away while staring at the trees in the field next door (reminds me of Center Parcs!). To this day, after nearly 3yrs of being completed, my parents still get visitors who get very excited about it and it's always great to hear the reactions!