En-suite Bathroom Makeover

I’ve been a rubbish blogger recently. I’ve even been too busy to do much on Instagram as this en-suite makeover has taken over my life (& house) a bit for the past couple of weeks. Everywhere has been a building site with random bits of wood, paint & all sorts gracing rooms which I haven’t even bothered to clean because workmen are messy little tikes so it’d be completely pointless.

I feel like i’ve lost my ‘mojo’ slightly due to this as firstly I haven’t really left the house or seen anyone much with workmen (who you can never trust with a bargepole half the time) wondering round the house. Did anyone play the sims & when they didn’t leave the house they’d get all miserable? Well that’s how i’ve been feeling; stir crazy.  Plus when the house is messy I just end up feeling a bit deflated & stressed out by the whole situation, BUT, boy oh boy has it been worth it.

So this is actually the last room to be decorated in the entire house. We moved in when I was 8 months pregnant in March, so have basically made-over 16 rooms (including hallway/landing & so on…) in 7 months whilst either heavily pregnant or with a new baby & a 2 year old. Call me crazy….I think you may be right. The en-suite had been redone about 18 months prior to us purchasing the house with probably one of the biggest baths you’ve ever seen, however it really wasn’t my ‘style’. The bath was so big that it offered no support & i’d just bob around in it like a swimming pool, the shower had some sort of problem so always came out cold, the toilet would leak at the bottom, the drawer on the sink unit would always randomly open & all in all it was just a bit too modern/plain/black & white (literally).

We visited The Pig – Brockenhurst last month for our 1 year wedding Anniversary (see my blog post here) & I literally fell in LOVE with the place, but mostly with the roll top bath that graced our room. I immediately knew I just HAD to have one. Everything kind of went from there….I saw the floor tiles via Instagram as someone had visited a showroom & (thankfully as I literally couldn’t love them more…) posted a picture, I absolutely love panelling so that was an obvious choice. The Mirror I found on Gumtree & the angel wings I bought from Home Sense last month but hadn’t found a suitable home for them yet.

This is the timeframe (if everything had gone to plan!) –
Friday 2nd October – handyman remove existing suite (1/2 day)
Saturday 3rd October – we remove all the tiles….which obviously also removed half the wall (1/2 day)
Tuesday 6th October – handyman put up new plasterboard (1/2 day) then plasterer comes to skim it (3 hours)
Thursday 8th October – handyman fits new skirting board & easi-panels (like in our hallway & downstairs toilet) fitted (full day)
Friday 9th October – handyman tiles floor (full day)
Saturday 10th October – I grout the tiles (3 hours)
Sunday 11th October – I then paint the skirting, panelling & walls (full day)
Monday 12th October – new suite fitted (full day)

COST –
Handyman – £340
Plasterer – £100
Plasterboard (walls) & plywood (flooring) – £88.74
Tiles – £150
Bathroom suite – £480
Radiator – £125
Panelling – £175
Paint – £10
Skirting – £36
Mirror – £45
Angel Wings – £25
Other supplies including tile adhesive, grout, glue etc – £60
TOTAL – £1634.74

I found the suite on eBay for a bargain price (including taps & all fittings) for £480 including P&P from Comparethebathroom.com, I also got the most beautiful radiator/towel rail from them too which was £125 including P&P. Unfortunately you get what you pay for & they really aren’t great quality at all so expect to pay a plumber to use better quality fixtures/fittings than those supplied….I can’t fault their customer service but still wouldn’t purchase their products again. 

I did budget £1,300 however lots of things came up unexpectedly like plasterboard/plasterer. I think with projects like this you have to over compensate as things always seem to crop up…or in my case several things. I managed to sell the existing suite for £150 on Gumtree, the mirror for £10 on Gumtree & the radiator for £20 to the handyman so it wasn’t too bad. It is worth every penny in my eyes though. 

This is now my absolute favourite room in the house. I can’t stop staring at it & it is my idea of bathroom heaven! I’m looking forward to many hot bubble baths over the next few cold months of Winter.

Love, Charlotte x