Planning: Size of your bathroom

Bathrooms are usually the smallest areas of the house and yet one of the most important. This is the room in which you are preparing yourself for the outside world and will return to after a busy day at work to relax with a refreshing shower or an indulging bath. So it is important to make use of this space the best you can.

Measure, measure, measure!

Measure your bathroom and draw a plan, with the original fixtures included. That will give you an idea of the existing shape of your bathroom and the placement of piping and drainage. Especially if you work on a budget it is important to leave the fixtures mainly where they are, as replumbing can cost quite a bit more. If you've got more space in your budget, you can play around with cut-outs of your fixtures and plan on paper the best place for them in your bathroom. That way you may be able to save a lot of space that can be used for for example an extra shower cubicle or a relaxation area with a chair to use for grooming or dressing the children.

One thing that is important is that, when you're planning your bathroom, you allow enough space to move around in. For example, that when you're sitting on the toilet, your knees don't touch the side of the bath.

A smaller bathroom but wanting it all?

If you haven't got enough space to put a separate shower cubicle in but still want to enjoy a refreshing shower, a bath with an overhead shower can be an idea. Just buy a good closure or shower curtain to prevent splattering.

Nowadays, not all baths are rectangular anymore. If you've got an odd shaped bathroom or simply not the space for a traditionally shaped bath, you can now choose for baths that save space around the foot-end or baths that are deeper so that you sit more upright, saving space lengthwise. Corner basins are also available for even the smallest of corners.

Larger bathrooms: space to play with

For larger bathrooms there are far more possibilities to play around with the planning. It's a good idea to assess which fixtures you want to incorporate. Do you want just a bath or would you like to have a separate shower area, so that two people can use the bathroom at the same time? Would you like a bidet, a sauna or a relaxing area to groom your self and maybe read a book or magazine? If you've got a big enough space designated for the bathroom, almost everything is possible. Just let your creativity speak in your planning and design!