We’ve been in our house for eighteen months now, and we love it, but it came with a list of things to sort. The house was built in the nineties and hasn’t had much done to it since. Everything works, nothing’s falling apart, but it’s all a bit tired. Dated. You can absolutely tell that nobody’s quite got round to it for a few decades.
All three of our bathrooms need attention eventually, and I have a loose plan for how we’re going to tackle them. The main goal is our ensuite, which currently has a bath in it. We have three full bathrooms and three baths, but only one shower in the entire house, which isn’t exactly ideal, so converting the ensuite into more of a shower room is the priority for next year. But that one’s a proper job as we’ll rip everything out and start again.
But I needed a win in the meantime. So I started with the downstairs bathroom.
The Bathroom We Were Working With
We don’t have a family bathroom as such. Every bedroom has its own ensuite, and then there’s a tiny toilet and sink off the utility room that I don’t love sending guests to, especially in winter when it gets cold. So the bathroom I’m talking about — the one off what was originally the master bedroom, which I now use as my office — is effectively our main shared bathroom and the one guests use.
The layout is actually great. There’s a separate shower, a full air bath with mirrors all around it (like a built-in jacuzzi situation), a toilet, a bidet, and this lovely built-in wooden vanity unit with a hidden hand shower for use over the sink. There’s plenty of storage, and I actually like the quirky vanity and mirrors around the bath. It’s always a talking point when we have people visit!
The problem wasn’t the layout. It was everything around it.
When we moved in, the bathroom had green carpet in it. We ripped it out on the first day. It smelled.. I did not want that thing in my house for any longer than it had to be. The carpet had gone slightly up the walls, which left carpet glue stuck to the bottom sections. The walls were a pale blue. The ceramic tiles were fine, perfectly serviceable, and we had no plans to touch them. But the skirting boards were scuffed, the paint was chipping in multiple places, and even after months of scrubbing, the bathroom never felt truly clean. Just sort of grubby around the edges in a way that no amount of bleach was going to fix.
So I decided to actually do something about it.
The Mood Board
Before I touched anything, I made a mood board. I always find this helps me commit to a direction rather than talking myself out of it three times at the paint counter.
I knew I wanted sage green on the walls. It felt right for the space, worked with the existing tiles, and sits well against wooden tones. For the woodwork — skirting boards, door frames, window sill, cabinets, ceiling — I went with a warm off-white to keep everything crisp and give the green something clean to sit against. Towels and accessories in beige and green to pull it all together.
I didn’t use an interior designer. Just Pinterest, some colour swatches, and a fairly strong vision of what I wanted. If you’re planning something bigger and feeling overwhelmed by choices, a mood board is genuinely one of the most useful things you can do before any decisions get made. Even a rough one.
What We Actually Did
This wasn’t a complete bathroom refurbishment. We didn’t touch the shower enclosure, the shower fittings, the flooring (we’d already laid vinyl when we moved in), or any of the sanitaryware. This was a cosmetic refresh — walls, woodwork, accessories. Full installations and the really exciting stuff are coming with the ensuite project. This was about getting this bathroom to feel clean and like ours.
Step one: clean everything
Before a single tin of paint was opened, I cleaned every surface with sugar soap. Walls, tiles, woodwork, all of it. Sugar soap is the best prep you can do before painting — it strips grease and grime and gives the paint something to stick to properly. I also used a carpet glue remover on the lower sections of the walls where the flooring adhesive had crept up. That bit was a faff and took longer than expected, but it needed doing.
Polyfiller and sanding
There were holes, chips and marks to deal with throughout the room. We went around with polyfiller, waited for it to dry, and sanded it back. Not the most exciting Saturday afternoon, but skipping it would have shown through the paint and undone all the other work.
Painting the woodwork first
All the off-white went on first: skirting boards, door frames, window sill, the vanity unit, and the ceiling. Lots of careful cutting in around the tiles. My husband took the radiator off the wall so we could paint properly behind it rather than doing the awkward lean-and-hope method. We also took down a curtain pole that had been there since we moved in. We don’t use curtains in the bathroom so it was just sitting there, and removing it made the window look so much cleaner.
Then the walls
Two coats of the sage green. It’s warm without being heavy, and it works brilliantly with the off-white woodwork.
The finishing details
New handles on the vanity unit. Small thing, but the old ones were dull and a bit worn, and fresh hardware on a painted cabinet makes an immediate difference.
Then the accessories. I wanted the room to feel calm and a bit botanical, so I added plants, one of the best things you can do in a bathroom if the humidity suits them. I also painted some of my own watercolour leaf prints to go on the walls. I knew I wouldn’t find exactly what I had in my head anywhere, so I just made them. It added something personal that you can’t really buy.
I also put some of my other watercolour paintings on the vanity.
The Result
It looks like a completely different bathroom. Everything now feels intentional and clean. The scuffed skirting boards and chipped paint were doing enormous damage to the overall feel of the room, and once they were gone, the whole space lifted.
It actually feels like a brand new bathroom. For the cost of some paint, new handles and a few accessories.
I’m no longer apologetic when guests use it. If you’ve ever moved into a house and spent months trying to make a dated bathroom feel presentable, you’ll know exactly what I mean. I just wasn’t sure how much longer I could use ‘sorry it’s a mess, we just moved in’ as an excuse!
Planning a Bigger Bathroom Renovation?
This worked for us because the bones of the bathroom are genuinely good. But if you’re in a similar position and the bones aren’t great, or if you want a walk-in shower, underfloor heating, or a full layout change, a proper renovation with a bathroom specialist is going to be the right route.
A few things worth thinking about before you start:
Get your bathroom layout right first. Before anything else, work out whether the existing layout is actually working for your daily routines. Moving sanitaryware and plumbing adds cost and complexity, but if the current setup doesn’t suit how you use the space, it’s worth doing it once properly rather than wishing you had later.
Small bathrooms aren’t a lost cause. Some of the most effective small bathroom ideas involve choosing a simple, light colour palette (sage green works beautifully in a small space, for what it’s worth), keeping wall coverings clean and consistent, and being clever about storage. A well-designed tiny bathroom with good bathroom flooring and the right lighting can feel much bigger than it is.
Factor in the hidden costs. Electrical work, extraction, underfloor heating, moving plumbing — these all add up quickly and aren’t always obvious from the outset. Get a detailed quote from your bathroom company or fitters before you commit to anything, and build in a contingency.
For bigger projects, wet rooms and walk-in showers are worth considering alongside traditional layouts. Both have their pros and cons depending on the space. A bathroom specialist will help you work out what’s actually practical for your room.
What’s Next
The ensuite is next on the list. We want to remove the bath and convert it into a proper shower room, ideally with a large walk-in shower, new shower fittings and shower head, better bathroom flooring and new windows and tiled walls. That means bathroom installation from scratch. I’m looking forward to it and slightly dreading the disruption in equal measure, but I’m glad we’ve got at least one bathroom sorted!
In August we’re also having the kitchen renovated and the utility room done, so the little toilet room off the utility will get some attention at the same time. Watch this space.
If you’re in the middle of your own bathroom makeover, or you’ve been putting one off because it feels overwhelming, I genuinely think the small changes are worth starting with. You don’t always need a full renovation to see a real difference. Sometimes sugar soap and a good mood board is all it takes.
Have you done a bathroom refresh recently, or are you in the middle of planning something bigger? I’d love to know in the comments.