Any bathroom advice, please?

[Morganna]

Yeah, ours would just be the bath on top of that, so shouldn't be so much more, should it? I'm waiting for another lot to get back to me. I know I should get three quotes for things like this, but I usually just go with the first one if it's roughly what I expected and like the look of the people, but this time I'm going to get more ideas.

[Tsu]

Tiling is expensive and I'm only having the shower cubicle tiled. I'm keeping my heated towel rail and my medicine cabinet.

[Tsu]

This isn't my ensuite but is from an identical house. Just to give you an idea of size.

[Morganna]

Someone is finally coming out tomorrow to do another quote. This is taking ages. Two companies never returned my call, which is rubbish, as it bodes so ill for customer service later. I don't know why they can't just call back and say they are fully booked or whatever. I'll see what this one has to say - if he comes with the same sort of quote as the last one, I'll know that that's just what it costs and choose the one I like best, or if all else is equal the one who can do it when I want it done. I'm hoping it might be a bit cheaper though.

[sally maclennane]

So many companies are bad for that, just not returning calls etc. It drives me mad.

[Tsu]

My usual man is raving busy at the moment so I'm still waiting for my price. Good job I'm not in a rush.

[Morganna]

They must realise that it's bad for their reputation if they just ignore customers, surely? I was out at an NWR meeting the other day, and asked if anyone could recommend a company, and we were all talking about who comes out and who doesn't. People talk about things like that, specially in a small town. I wouldn't mind if they kept people in the loop, but being ignored is so annoying.

[sally maclennane]

They must realise that it's bad for their reputation if they just ignore customers, surely? I was out at an NWR meeting the other day, and asked if anyone could recommend a company, and we were all talking about who comes out and who doesn't. People talk about things like that, specially in a small town. I wouldn't mind if they kept people in the loop, but being ignored is so annoying.

I have moaned about this before but when I wanted a new front door a few years ago, I contacted a local company who were highly recommended on local FB pages. They didn't turn up for the first appointment, I phoned them, they came out the next time. They suggested I visit their showroom to look at different doors, when I got there they were shut (it was a Friday morning so not an unusual time). I phoned them and the guy said "oh you have to book a time to come out and meet you there" I said he hadn't told me that , he said "oh did I not"

I arranged another time, he was there, I picked a door and he agreed to send me a quote. After a few weeks, and no quote, I phoned him and he said "did I not send you that?" OBVIOUSLY NOT or I wouldn't be phoning you to ask for it! He said he'd need to call me back as he was driving. I'm still waiting for him to call!

I gave up after that, and contacted another company. The door cost around 2.5k so it wasn't exactly a small order. I have no idea why he didn't just say he was too busy.

He still gets recommended on the local FB pages and I do occasionally say that I didn't have a great experience with him, but loads of folk seem to think he's great.

[Morganna]

That would drive me mad. It's just so disrespectful, quite apart from sloppy administration.

[Morganna]

Well, he's been. I like his ideas better than the first chap, as he's listened when I said I wanted storage, and has found ways to include far more than the last design. The estimate is higher than the other one though, as he wants to move the loo and put the bath in what is now the separate toilet area, (which will be knocked through). 'Obviously' this involves soil pipes and things #vague, and is more work, but it will achieve more than the other design. It's going to take it to a lot more than I had budgeted for, but it makes sense to get it the way we want it.

We are going into the showroom tomorrow to look at products, and will then get a proper quote and take things from there.

[Morganna]

Oh, and I've just checked emails and the company that has so far ignored me is now planning to get in touch tomorrow to arrange a date to come and look .

[Morganna]

So, we've been to the showroom, and looked at 853 different combinations of baths, showers loos and sinks. Oh, and flooring and tiles. It's a bit mind-blowing, as there is so much choice. The chap is going to get back with a quote and the one from the ignoring company is going to ring me any minute, apparently. He called when we were in the shop, which was mildly awkward. Anyway, this is the combo of tiles, worktop (or whatever they are called in bathrooms) flooring and cabinet/panels I like best, I think.

Screenshot 2024-03-19 at 12.40.11.png

[SunnyMum]

I agree that there us a lot if choices out there. We went down the stone tiles route, with a bit of fancy tiles in the showers.
I can't help with sinks as ours are stone, ancient and effing heavy. They were originally in SunnyDad's grandmother's garden.

[SunnyMum]

Downstairs bathroom sink. It's still a WIP.

[Morganna]

The stone sink is lovely. Your tiles look great, too.

[Marth]

Wow, Sunnymum. I love your sinks. The bathrooms look really good.

[Morganna]

We have finally made a decision . This has been a slog. We've had contradictory advice, various suggestions and different people offering different things. What surprised me was the apparent agendas of the various companies. They should, IMO, have been listening to what we wanted, not trying to push the cheapest, the trendiest styles etc. My priority was storage, but a few designs have had none at all other than an undersink cupboard.

After all this we are going with the combo in the photo I posted, as the salesman from that company did listen, which gives me confidence that he will deliver when it comes to the fitting. We are having a Carronite bath, which I knew I wanted fairly early on. As an example of not listening, one designer said Carronite baths would lose heat, which is the reverse of what they do - their selling point is that they retain heat and can be deeper as they are stronger than acrylic or steel so can take the weight of more water. He reluctantly agreed to fit one, but added an £850 surcharge to do so, and said it wasn't worth the extra money, and they were unpopular. I wasn't planning to offer baths to passers by, so popularity isn't high on my list of criteria . Anyway, the bath will go where the separate loo is now, so there won't be a toilet right next to J's bedroom. I'll have a run of 'units' along the wall under the window, which will change my life for the better. There will even be a 'worktop' along the top. The tiles are the stone ones in the photo, and I'm sticking with that colour scheme as the landing outside is green, so it will blend in without being too much actual green. There will be a large shower - not 'wet room' style as I'd originally wanted, as two friends have wet rooms which cause problems. Instead we are having a shallow shower tray. I'm going for a rimless comfort-height loo and the basin in the photo. There will be a shower over the bath as well as the separate one, for ease of hair rinsing, bath cleaning etc.

I compromised on metal colour, as although I'm not keen on chrome and fancied bronze, the salesman pointed out that there are so many metal items in a bathroom (light fittings, shower trims and handles, doorknobs, taps, the shower(s) themselves, plug surrounds etc) and unless you tie yourself to one supplier it is unlikely that they will all match. I hadn't thought of that. I'm quite keen to get Hansgrohe taps and shower fittings, but they don't make shower cubicles, for instance, so there would be slightly different colours on things like that unless you go with chrome, which is pretty much always the same. The other compromise is that because of the position of the windows we can't have the cabinet with integral chargers and demisting mirror that we liked, but I can live with that.

They are coming in August, and the plan is that we'll go away while they're here. Whether M will be able to bear that when it comes to it remains to be seen, but if he wants to stay behind he can crack on . I'm looking forward to it, but the fretting is setting in - have I thought of everything? Will the colour scheme work? Am I going to like it?

[Tsu]

I'm finally pinning my plumber down. I've ordered a vanity unit, shower tray and door and I think I've decided on tiles for the shower cubicle. Still no date yet though.

[Morganna]

That looks good, Tsu. The navy is very smart.

I know I was originally keen to have mine done in the Autumn, but now it's booked I just want it finished.