We spent many years living in London before POD was born. Way back in 2008 we had a loft conversion fall through although it ultimately resulted in us remodelling the rest of the house! Being a Victorian property, our main bathroom was downstairs so we turned this into a kitchen and the existing kitchen became a dining room. Upstairs a room we used as a study was transformed into our new bathroom. With access to it only from a bedroom, we had a corridor built so it was easy to reach. We never imagined such a small room would be able to accommodate a shower, a sink, a toilet and the roll-top bath we craved. The end result was superb – Victorian fixtures and fittings in keeping with the house coupled with the most beautiful tiles.
We ended up moving from London to Surrey in 2010 and daughter POD arrived on Christmas Day that year. With a love for old houses with character, we’d again opted for a Victorian property. The bathroom, while a good size, has always been the room we’ve wanted to gut (although the kitchen is not far behind now). It’s quite modern in the way it looks with large Travertine tiles on the floor, shower and some of the walls.
We’ve wanted a bathroom similar to the one we had in London for several years now although we have made changes to the existing bathroom over recent months. The sink, bath and toilet that were concreted and boxed in have all been removed. The bath is now a fabulous white Victorian roll-top that has (according to five year old POD) black ‘dragon feet’. The sink is also Victorian with the plan to give the toilet and shower the same Victorian style treatment.
We currently have no tiles beneath the roll-top bath with many missing around the toilet and sink. Exposed floor boards has meant baths have largely been replaced with showers. Even POD has taken to doing the same so she can splash to her heart’s content! We’d love to get all the tiles ripped out and start again hence entering the Blog Your Dream Home Competition with Walls and Floors. They’re giving away three tile voucher prizes – £1,000, £600 or £150. If we won this competition we’d love to share the journey from what our bathroom looks like now to what its transformed into following its stylish makeover! To give you a feel for the kind of traditional classic style we love, check out these gorgeous bathrooms and our bathroom inspiration Pinterest board below.
If we were able to do up the bathroom, we’d relish the opportunity to re-create that ‘wow’ factor we had in London. We were contemplating going down the cream/beige route again but these Moroccan style Fiore tiles would look beautiful beneath the roll-top. They’re pictured below in a large hallway but it’s easy to visualise what they’d look like in the bathroom. Another appeal of these tiles is that they work with underfloor heating which is the one element of our current bathroom we’re keen to retain. With such an eye-catching floor, we’d keep the tiling around the bath, shower and sink simple with these timeless Metro Brick Chalk Farm tiles.
Finishing touches could come in the form of door knobs for a built-in cupboard from Jim Lawrence and door hooks from Anthropologie. Nice to haves would be this superb Hawthorn Heated Towel Rail from the Victorian Emporium, a new set of Egyptian towels from John Lewis and window blinds from Hillarys. We’d also love to replace the existing toilet (and perhaps shower) with furniture from the Bathstore. Along with a lick of paint, I think our dream bathroom would look amazing!
This post is our entry into the Blog Your Dream Home Competition with Walls and Floors. Wish us luck! For more information about Walls and Floors, check out their website.
