Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Feb 09, 2013 2:02 pm We are going to demolish our bathroom & kitchen … I’m trying to design a bathroom which will be very narrow, 1.45m wide x 3.90m long x 2.8m high. We’re used to a 1.38m x 1.90m bathroom so the small size won’t be a problem. We’re also doing this for ourselves not resale. Any suggestions re design & fittings would be welcome. The first drawing is a floor plan, there would be a 120mm deep false wall down one side. This would hold the cistern for the wall-hung toilet, and the shower niche, also the fold-up teak shower bench would be attached to the real wall behind the false wall, and the mirrored cabinet would be partly recessed into the false wall. Does this sound structurally possible? There would be 2 windows which would be in a 50cm wall that juts out from the rest of the building, so the windows would look up and down the garden path. Not sure if these would need to open as we’ll have an exhaust fan vented outside but would like fresh air. Maybe tilt & turn windows. We have aircraft noise so windows will be double glazed. There won’t be a shower enclosure. The whole room would be waterproofed & tiled with a linear drain. No bath - we haven’t used ours in 10 years. I’m not sure where the best place for the lights would be and what type. Also, maybe a LED night light. The other 2 drawings are the long walls. One wall would hold the toilet, off the floor bench & basin, shower seat, flexible shower & mirrored cabinet. I’m having trouble finding a recessed basin that’s not too small but would fit on a 30cm deep bench. I liked the Fowler Eclipse semi-recessed basin but apparently it won’t fit. Not sure what to use for the bench - was thinking Laminex Aquapanel but the colour range is pretty limited. It would be about 200mm high and 300mm deep. Don’t want caeserstone or corian, & granite or marble too expensive. There will be a couple of open shelves above the door. The other wall would have the heated towel rail and mixer tap & ceiling rain-shower head (further away from the wall than in this drawing, about 35cm). I wanted to put a mirror on this wall to make the room look wider but my partner reckons it would look like a hall of mirrors .. any opinions? Also the controller for the Rinnai gas water heater would need to go somewhere, not sure where to put it. And would like a timer for the towel rail, I suppose you can buy these. 300x300 tiles on the floor - dark colour - and 600x300 horizontal tiles on walls, maybe off-white. Not sure what sort - probably ceramic. Any ideas appreciated. Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 2Feb 11, 2013 6:38 am Have you considered lowering the ceiling. A long narrow room with a high ceiling feels odd. This also provides some utility space? cheers Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 3Feb 11, 2013 7:33 am Hi lenarufus, The bathroom in our new house is similar to yours except not so long. It's 1.5m wide, 3m long and 2.7m high. It is a wet room with the shower at the end, toilet in the middle and basin and wall-hung cabinet at the door with a recessed shower cabinet over the basin. Unfortunately I don't find it a very inviting room to be in; it feels quite claustrophobic. We have one rectangular awning window that extends the width of the wall next to the shower. I have come to the conclusion that we should have made the room .5 of a metre longer so your length sounds better and, instead of the window at the top of the wall, we should have had a floor to ceiling rectangular window with the bottom two-thirds opaque fixed glass for privacy and the top third opening clear glass. This would at least have enable us to see the vague outline of some green bush or other. We have one light over the mirror and a central light but again I would have put in a solartube instead of the central light to try and make the room not feel so closed in. We also ended up putting in a frameless screen between the shower and the toilet because with our lack of length, everything was getting wet. One last tip - very important - be very careful what tiles you choose because in a wet room they will become slippery when wet. I wanted pool mosaic tiles but got talked out of it by the building designer so we ended up putting the same tiles in the bathroom as in the rest of the house 4.5 x 4.5 ceramic matte tiles. Resul t- I'm now trying to find a solution to stop the slipping and possible accidents. We have dark grey tiles on the floor and white tiles on the walls - think about having a light colour on the floor as well just to give the illusion of more space. If you have the same light colour on floor wall and ceiling nobody will be able to tell where anything starts or finishes! Freshome has lots of ideas for bathrooms so you can see the effect for yourself. http://freshome.com/2012/10/09/30-small ... ign-ideas/ Freshome Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 4Feb 15, 2013 11:21 am leighton Have you considered lowering the ceiling. A long narrow room with a high ceiling feels odd. This also provides some utility space? cheers Hadn't thought of that. But wouldn't it make the space seem even smaller? I was hoping the windows up to the ceiling would help Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 5Feb 15, 2013 11:40 am Hi, I've only just seen your reply. Always forget to hit the notify button. Liliana Hi lenarufus, We have one rectangular awning window that extends the width of the wall next to the shower. I have come to the conclusion that we should have made the room .5 of a metre longer so your length sounds better and, instead of the window at the top of the wall, we should have had a floor to ceiling rectangular window with the bottom two-thirds opaque fixed glass for privacy and the top third opening clear glass. This would at least have enable us to see the vague outline of some green bush or other. That's a good idea, to make the windows go down to the floor. It should help make it less claustrophobic, though we are already used to a tiny bathroom which is even narrower and shorter & has just enough room for a clawfoot bath & pedestal basin, both 1960s (?) avocado green. Liliana We have one light over the mirror and a central light but again I would have put in a solartube instead of the central light to try and make the room not feel so closed in. We also ended up putting in a frameless screen between the shower and the toilet because with our lack of length, everything was getting wet. Will investigate solartube but probably just go with more lights. Just not sure which sort & where. I wonder if we should put in place something so that a glass screen could be retrofitted if necessary. Really don't want one though .. hate cleaning glass! And with a rainshower type shower head dropping from the ceiling hopefully that will lessen water splashing out too far. Liliana One last tip - very important - be very careful what tiles you choose because in a wet room they will become slippery when wet. I wanted pool mosaic tiles but got talked out of it by the building designer so we ended up putting the same tiles in the bathroom as in the rest of the house 4.5 x 4.5 ceramic matte tiles. Resul t- I'm now trying to find a solution to stop the slipping and possible accidents. Yes I've thought about this. I know you can get non-slip tiles, not sure what the best sort is. Liliana We have dark grey tiles on the floor and white tiles on the walls - think about having a light colour on the floor as well just to give the illusion of more space. If you have the same light colour on floor wall and ceiling nobody will be able to tell where anything starts or finishes! Freshome has lots of ideas for bathrooms so you can see the effect for yourself. Thanks for the link - it's rare to see examples of bathrooms which are even smaller than ours! Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 6Feb 16, 2013 6:23 am Our ensuie is almost exactly the same as yours. We have a walk in shower, no door. It works so well at the end of a narrow room! Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 7Feb 16, 2013 11:22 am CuttingEdgeKitchens Our ensuie is almost exactly the same as yours. We have a walk in shower, no door. It works so well at the end of a narrow room! Really, that's good to know. How far is your showerhead from other things in the bathroom? I posted my question on * & some people thought everything would get wet, so I will move the towel rail 50cm further away so it will be 1.5m away and move the toilet 8cm further away so it will be 2.6m from the showerhead, do you think this will be far enough away? I'm hoping those ceiling rain showers don't cause as much splashing out as a shower head that points out from the wall. Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 8Feb 18, 2013 6:02 pm We have the vanity tiolet, shower screen and then the shower all on one wall. The shower is at the far end. You walk past the vanity and toilet to get to the shower. The shower screen is 2000x1000 with a 700mm space. We actually have our towels opposite the shower head in the wet area. Nothing gets wet at all! Anyone that thinks things will get wet have no idea or havent seen a properly designed bathroom. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 9Feb 18, 2013 6:47 pm CuttingEdgeKitchens We have the vanity tiolet, shower screen and then the shower all on one wall. The shower is at the far end. You walk past the vanity and toilet to get to the shower. The shower screen is 2000x1000 with a 700mm space. We actually have our towels opposite the shower head in the wet area. Nothing gets wet at all! Anyone that thinks things will get wet have no idea or havent seen a properly designed bathroom. Yes but we won't actually have a shower screen! ... the 3 walls of the shower are the tiled bathroom walls, and the other side of the shower is open, with the linear drain on the shower side of the toilet ... the shower head is diagonally opposite to the toilet. Does this make a difference? thanks Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 10Feb 19, 2013 6:03 am I would have the shower head on the same wall as the tiolet and vanity with a shower screen around 2000x800 no door. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 11Feb 19, 2013 7:07 am Quote: Yes but we won't actually have a shower screen! ... We had a frameless shower screen retrofitted six months after we moved in so you can retrofit. Our bathroom doesn't have quite the same length as yours and we have a rail shower on the wall not a rainhead in the ceiling so you aren't likely to experience the same issues with everything getting wet that we did. I'll try and post a picture so you can get an idea of the space. Here you go - as you see, not a lot of space, so we did need a shower screen. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 13Feb 19, 2013 10:35 am lenarufus Thanks for the photos, that glass screen looks really unobtrusive. It's good to have that in mind, feel a bit more relaxed about the whole thing now! Thats exactly what I am talking about. The only difference is that I had the aluminium channel put on the wall before tiling. The tiles but neatly up either side and the glass just slides in with silicon. It looks like nothing is holding my glass up! Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 14Feb 19, 2013 11:42 am Sounds great but it does mean that lenarufus would have to decide to put a shower screen in now, which isn't on the plan at the moment. What lenarufus seems to be asking is whether a shower screen is essential to stop water splashing everywhere given the layout of their bathroom or whether they can get away without one. They also want to know if they will still have options to add one later on if they find things don't work out. We found that we had water splashing a metre away from the showerhead so, with everything being so close together, we had to install the screen. I don't know how far away from a rain head shower water splashes but it probably isn't a metre so the heated towel rail may be safe. Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 15Feb 19, 2013 12:11 pm Back again! Just reading the March issue of Handyman magazine. Worth looking at in the local library. There is an article called "our $15,000 bathroom upgrade" and the owners have a rainwater showerhead which they say "has jets of water that go straight down rather than fanning out, reducing the risk of splashes". Mind you they still installed a frameless shower screen but they have a rail shower as well as a showerhead! Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 16Feb 19, 2013 12:17 pm Liliana Sounds great but it does mean that lenarufus would have to decide to put a shower screen in now, which isn't on the plan at the moment. What lenarufus seems to be asking is whether a shower screen is essential to stop water splashing everywhere given the layout of their bathroom or whether they can get away without one. They also want to know if they will still have options to add one later on if they find things don't work out. We found that we had water splashing a metre away from the showerhead so, with everything being so close together, we had to install the screen. I don't know how far away from a rain head shower water splashes but it probably isn't a metre so the heated towel rail may be safe. Yes that is what I'm asking. The toilet is now 2.6m from the rain shower head and the heated towel rail 1.5m away (it can go further, closer to the door but the toilet can't go any further away) I suppose the only sure way to find out is to do it and see, unless someone else has a similar arrangement. Or I could stand in the garden and get someone to hold a hose directly over my head and measure how far it splashes! Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 17Feb 19, 2013 12:41 pm Liliana Back again! Just reading the March issue of Handyman magazine. Worth looking at in the local library. There is an article called "our $15,000 bathroom upgrade" and the owners have a rainwater showerhead which they say "has jets of water that go straight down rather than fanning out, reducing the risk of splashes". Mind you they still installed a frameless shower screen but they have a rail shower as well as a showerhead! Yes we won't have a rail shower .. just a flexible one down low on the other wall. I'll have a look at the mag. Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 18Feb 19, 2013 1:12 pm Something 1.5m away will get small splashes aslong as you have a shower head dropping water driectly down. I personally would still have 1 shower screen to contain some of the water. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: ideas for narrow wet bathroom 19Feb 28, 2013 11:37 am its tough unless you have dr whos tardis... I would use the corners as much as possible.. Thanks again for this information. If you do hear anything different, would be great to know 4 8256 dimensions on your original plan are inconsistent and with accurate dimensions (including site plan, upstairs and down) i could make a proper scale drawing with furniture… 3 7520 So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27729 |