I stumbled upon this article on hometohome.co.uk about traditional white bathrooms, and it reminded me that some of the very best bathrooms are incredibly simple, with a white suite and light walls and window dressings.

Whether you want to go for a roll top bath, or a built-in suite, if you’ve got a relatively small room in which to create your dream bathroom, then choosing white is often the very best option.

But how can you make sure it’s not boring. After all, a plain white room with no quirkiness or style isn’t going to make it into the pages of an interiors magazine.

Some clever ideas that will make all-white work really well include:

Inspirational white bathroom design from housetohome.co.uk

Adding drama

You’ll be amazed the impact an oversized ornate mirror can have in an all-white scheme. As you’ll see in this brilliant photo from housetohome.co.uk, placing candles in front of the mirror can make the whole room seem very grand indeed.

Adding texture

You could think about cladding the walls in tongue and groove, or pick tiles that have an interesting surface rather than the standard glossy smooth. Fabrics and textiles can also add texture – perhaps choose curtains with a self-stripe, or bath mats and towels with waffle or ridged textures.

Light the space well

Highlight the most attractive features of the room – whether that’s interesting architecture, or a particularly amazing bath. This will help draw the eye to the best bits and break up the monotony on the white.

Newlands floor-standing bathroom sink counter top from BathEmpire

Avoid clutter

For all white to work well, the mess has to be hidden. Install some bathroom cabinets like these sleek ones from BathEmpire, and make sure the only things that are on display are beautiful and white – or at least pastel shades. Display them on a glass shelf  if possible.

Make it ridiculously glamorous

All-white rooms an synonymous with glamour, so make sure you take the concept all the way. We’re thinking a chandelier, clear glass mosaic tiles on the walls, marble floor… the whole celebrity treatment!

Hopefully this post has inspired you to see all-white bathrooms in a new light.

But what makes a house a home?

Storage from BathEmpire

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I’ve just moved in to a new property and am struggling to make it feel like my home.

In particular I don’t feel at home in the bathroom I have at the moment – the bath isn’t comfortable, and the whole room is a bit cold and unwelcoming – and because I’m just renting, I can’t install a new one, as much as I’d love to.

I’m dreaming of having a gorgeous white roll top bath and enormous walk-in shower. I think if I could have a bathroom like that then this place would certainly feel more like home.

When it comes to the bathroom, the things that make it feel like your own seem to be:

1. Great storage and work surfaces so there’s somewhere to put all your belongings, and everything’s right at hand, just where you expect it to be.

Constance freestanding bath from BathEmpire

2. A comfortable, clean bath that’s positioned well so you can get in and out easily and can totally relax while you’re taking a soak (so that means no mildew on the grouting and no dripping taps!)

3. A spacious, powerful shower – with places to put your bottles while you’re washing.

4. A clean, efficient toilet that flushes well and looks good.

5. Attractive décor – nothing too ‘corporate’ or faceless, but nothing too loud either.

6. A warm reception. Draughts are definitely not welcoming, a cosy bathroom is essential and towel radiators are the perfect finishing touch.

It’s pretty easy to get all of these things right if you’re installing a new bathroom in your house or flat, so take some time to really get it right.

After all, as much as people talk about the kitchen or the living room being the heart of the home, if you think about the place you go to relax, have privacy and just ‘be’ then the bathroom comes top of the list, so it’s really important that you make this room feel like your own.

But what about the wow-factor? What’s the ultimate dream bathroom that would leave you lost for words.

For some of us, a girlie bathroom, with luxury fittings, pinks and shimmering silvers is something that will really appeal to our feminine side.

Of course, it wouldn’t appeal to everyone – it’s the opposite of a Yorkie bar: it’s not for boys!

Roll-top bath fit for a princess

But if you’re a fairytale princess at heart, or just want to create one space in your home that’s all about unashamed prettiness and romance, then this could be the scheme for you.

So where to begin?

As with most bathrooms, start with the bath. It’s got to be a roll-top – ideally an old-fashioned and rather ornate one that’s fit for bathing in at length, not just taking a ‘quick dip’.

The shower should be as concealed as possible – perhaps go for a wet-room style with just a single sheet of glass (see below right) as lots of chrome or plastic doesn’t fit with this rather traditional scheme.

Wet room-style shower

The added extras in the room should be ornate – choose items that you’d normally have in a bedroom like a mirror with scalloped edges, a French-style cabinet, perhaps, and even a plush upholstered armchair if you have space.

Every princess needs space to hang her ball gowns and somewhere to put her precious lotions and potions when she’s getting ready, so set aside an area of the bathroom as a changing area complete with hooks and a dressing table or beauty cabinet.

As for colour scheme, well it’s got to be pink, of course.

Towels should be the highest quality you can buy and palest pink or white.

Bathroom chandelier from Gustavian

You can glam it up with a touch of sparkle – a chandelier would look amazing as long as you choose one that won’t rust in the humid atmosphere.

Stripped light wood flooring would complement the pale pink colour scheme, or you could create a castle atmosphere by using stone flooring – but make sure there are bathmats as princesses shouldn’t get their toes cold.

Interior designers have ‘tricks of the trade’ that can make any room look better – including the bathroom.

I’ve been trawling the internet to find all the advice I can, and these seven tips are the most interesting and relevant if you’re renovating your bathroom.

1. Plan the space

Good rooms don’t just happen accidentally. If you want your bathroom to function well and look great, you need to plan it out.

Measure the space, draw it to scale on some graph paper and then plan where you’ll position your bath, showers, toilet and sink.

Make sure you get measurements from the manufacturers so you can make an accurate plan.

You want to make sure that there’s enough space between fixed items so you can move around properly, and check that you’re not preventing yourself from opening the door properly, for instance.

And as interior designer Nina Campbell explains here, it’s better if you aren’t confronted with the loo as soon as you walk in!

2. Go for luxury

There’s one thing that interior designers know how to do very well, and that’s create a luxurious environment.

Sometimes it’s just little things that make all the difference.

For example, Kirstie Allsop, when she was decorating Meadowgate, her country property, positioned an armchair in the bathroom. This is such a nice touch if you have the space – it really makes the room seem like a luxurious pampering space.

Matano back to wall toilet from BathEmpire

3. Hide the technology

If you’ve ever looked around a show home, you’ll notice that there are no trailing power cables or unsightly adapter sockets anywhere – all the technology is hidden away.

The same can apply in the bathroom.

Choose pieces that have concealed pipework so the bathroom takes on a streamlined look. At BathEmpire, for example, there are toilets with concealed cisterns and built—in baths.

Even sinks can be neatly positioned within cabinets so the underneath isn’t visible and storage is maximised.

4. Choose the unusual

Interior designers manage to go beyond the bare minimum of creating a safe but boring interior scheme – they tend to add quirky and individual touches that show character and creativity.

One way to do this is to use wallpaper in your bathroom.

People tend to be concerned that wallpaper won’t work in a bathroom because it’s a damp environment, but wallpapers can actually be pretty tough.

Mae bathroom wallpaper from Graham & Brown

Obviously, make sure you protect areas that are likely to get really wet – using tile splash-backs around the shower and sink, but other than that wallpaper should be fine.

These days many suppliers have realised that home owners want to use wallpaper in their bathrooms, so they’ve created ones with waterproof coating that won’t be ruined by damp or steam from the shower. Take a look at this range on Graham & Brown, for example.

5. Colour it pretty

Colour co-ordination is easy in bathrooms as there are towels, bathmats and blinds available in all the colours you can imagine.

For an interior designer twist, don’t choose an obvious colour combination – you could go for red and orange, for example to give a hot, Moroccan look, or you could keep it cool and contemporary with lime green and grey.

6. Frame the best bits

Interior designers know to shine a spotlight, metaphorically (or literally!) on the most attractive aspects of a room.

If you’ve bought a gorgeous roll-top bath, for example, then showcase it by having an accent wall of coloured tiles or even wallpaper, behind it.

If the architecture is gorgeous, use up-lighters to direct the eye towards the period features.

Stainless steel mirror cabinet, BathEmpire

7. Tromp l’oeil

…or trick the eye.

A classic trick of the interior designer is to use mirrors to make spaces appear bigger than they actually are.

It’s now easier than ever to do this in a bathroom. Not only can you fix a huge mirror to the wall, you can buy mirrored furniture – which we stock at BathEmpire – to reflect the room, and hence make it appear bigger.

It’s always nice to fill your home with pieces that evoke memories, and the bathroom is no exception – you can buy a bathroom suite, wallpaper, tiles, flooring and free-standing furniture that has a retro or vintage vibe.

The key, as ever, is not to go over the top. You don’t want your bathroom to look exactly like one from the 1950s or 1900s – just retain some elements and combine them with modern design and technology.

Remember that when it comes to retro, a little goes a long way. If you’re fitting retro-inspired lino on the floor, make sure the rest of the bathroom is fairly cutting edge.

And if you’re going for a Victorian-look roll-top bath then teaming it with modern striped blind and plain brightly coloured walls can look better than creating an entirely mock-Victorian room.

The best advice, which I talk about time and time again on this blog, is to play it fairly safe with the big ticket items such as the bathroom suite.

The Ropar bath from BathEmpire has 60s-style curves

You can opt for funky retro shape free-standing baths or beautiful roll-top tubs, but always choose white so you can change the look with paint effects or new soft furnishings whenever you like.

Freestanding baths with curvy shapes evoke the mid decades of the 20th century. Groovy baby.

Often giving the room a retro or vintage look is simply about choosing the right shapes. The 60s was all about big bold curves, while the Victorian era is more about scrolls and more subtle curves (see my previous blog post on vintage bathrooms). The 70s look is more hard-edged and geometric.

Just bearing this in mind when shopping for your bathroom can help you create the atmosphere you want.

The Victoria traditional towel radiator from BathEmpire

As well as general shapes, think about incorporating pieces that are replicas of traditional pieces from the past. An old fashioned towel radiator, for example, can look very chic in a modern bathroom.

Once you have a white suite in place you can go to town with colour. Think of hues which would have been used in your home when you were a child, or take a look in any DIY store and you’ll see vintage paint ranges.

Orange, yellow and pastel shades, if used correctly are great for evoking previous decades. (For inspiration see my previous blog post on jewel tone bathrooms).

If you’re on a budget then opting for a vintage or retro feel bathroom is a great idea as you can mix in pieces you find at second hand or vintage shops, or on ebay, and you can even scour your own attic for items to put in the room.

We love this funky retro bathroom as feature on redonline.co.uk

A funky twist is to use furniture that wouldn’t traditionally have been found in a bathroom.

For example, we love if you click on the retro bathrooms feature at redonline.co.uk, you’ll spot a bathroom where a vintage office filing cabinet has been spray-painted to give it a new lease of life. We think it creates a fab look.

I hope this post has inspired you to create your own vintage or retro-look bathroom, and made you realise that having a little bit of the past in your bedroom doesn’t mean you have to install an avocado suite!

I like to think I’m somebody who can see past cosmetic flaws and see the potential in a house or flat, but increasingly I think that it’s actually very hard not to be seduced by a property that’s ‘done’.

A new bathroom could clinch a sale

In particular I’m finding myself drawn to properties which have beautifully decorated bathrooms – often ones with on-trend roll-top baths and separate shower cubicles.

The places with small bathrooms crammed with dated bathroom suites are not appealing to me at all.

Now I’m someone who loves a bit of redecoration, and I certainly wouldn’t flinch at the idea of putting in a new bathroom.

So why am I still more likely to buy the property with the newly installed, attractive bathroom?

I think that the reason may be that I know there’ll be a sense of guilt if I go in and rip out a functional yet slightly old-fashioned or ugly bathroom in the property I buy. I don’t have money to burn.

I’ll feel that I should ‘make-do’ for a few years at least and will have to live with a rubbish bathroom.

If I buy the house with the great bathroom then it’s all done for me, I can’t decide to be frugal!

I think many other buyers must also have the same inclination, but perhaps for different reasons.

Certainly some buyers will be put off by the thought of all the upheaval involved in having a new bathroom fitted, so they’ll go for the property where the sellers have done all the hard work for them.

Others are simply unable to see past a bad bathroom suite and will think that the bathroom is intrinsically ugly, small or badly laid-out.

The moral of this story, if you’re a home-owner looking to sell, has to be that installing a new modern bathroom suite will make your property appeal to more buyers and may even clinch that sale for you.

Phil Spencer (of Location, Location, Location fame) agrees with me. On the Telegraph website he says that a new bathroom will add 2.88% to the value of your home – which could be far more than you have to pay to have the bathroom fitted. You can read his ideas here.

We’d love to know what you think? Are you also drawn to properties with great bathrooms, or would you only buy a renovation product and source the bathroom yourself?

Initially, I thought it was a rather large stretch to connect Hawes with such an advert. But maybe I will correct my first impressions.

Well, I don’t know about you but I enjoy relaxing. And what better way to relax, than with the style of Keeley Hawes featured above. You may know Keeley from Spooks (the MI5 drama on the BBC), and more recently from Ashes to Ashes, also on the Beeb. But she’s also starred in some more period dramas such as Upstairs, Downstairs.

Keeley Hawes, star of BBC drama Upstairs, Downstairs

And this typically traditional, regal lifestyle is total suited to relaxation – especially if you had the benefit of wealthy connections.

Did you see the roll top bath? (Pause at 0.22)

It got me thinking how this once expensive, exclusive statement piece has been transformed into a more mainstream but ultimately luxurious item for the average family home.

So just like a good cup of Kenco Millicano coffee, and a refreshing cycle ride, there will will always be space for a long, luxurious bath in the evenings or weekends.

I’ve already got my favourite brand of coffee, but the advert has made me more determined to update my own bathroom at home!

Keeley Hawes recently stated in an interview that given the size of these tubs, her children can’t resist having a splash about – making it truly quality family time.

If you’d look at the bathroom and think: “Well, that will have to be replaced” then that’s got to be a bad thing.

Buyers are likely to find a shabby bathroom more off-putting than other flaws like untidiness (they know you’ll be taking everything with you) and even dirty carpets, an overgrown garden or walls that need painting, because these are seen as simple jobs they can do themselves.

The thing is, installing a new bathroom is a major hassle that new property owners would rather not have to deal with.

They’re going to have all the upheaval of moving in their furniture and all the admin that comes with changing address and the last thing they want is to be calling plumbers and having the mess and inconvenience of a bathroom installation as well.

That’s why fitting a new bathroom is a particularly savvy home improvement to make before you put your house on the market.You take on the hassle and it’s very likely that you’ll get back more than you spend when you sell up.

Buyers will be much more attracted to a property that already has a stylish, clean and well-laid out bathroom than one with a dodgy avocado suite, peeling wallpaper and mould. Eugh!

Cahora freestanding bath from BathEmpire

Now, if I was a buyer, and I saw a property on the market for say £200,000 that had a disgusting mould-ridden bathroom with an old, chipped bath, stained sink and toilet and little space for anything, and then I saw another property for £210,000 which had a gorgeous, up-to-date, neutral bathroom like the one on the right… well, I know for sure which one I would pick.

So installing a new bathroom really can mean that your is the property that sell instantly, with others languishing on the market.

And the thing is, a new bathroom needn’t cost you that much at all. At BathEmpire we have baths from as little as £219.99, roll top baths from £249.99, full-sized sinks from £59.99, shower enclosures from £129.99 and toilets from £69.99.

Your property particulars can mention that a new bathroom has been installed and the photographs of your property on-line will be much more appealing.

As any interior designer will tell you, if it’s saleability that you’re after you can’t really beat a plain white suite – that way the buyer can stamp his or her own personality on the room without too much difficulty.

Plain white suites will attract buyers

Sure, a gold bathtub or a grey suite might be trendy, but if it alienates even 25% of your potential market, then you may end up taking longer to sell, or having to drop your price.

So install a plain white bathroom suite from BathEmpire; use tiles in neutral tones such as stone, slate or white; dress the room with simple accessories such as fluffy white towels and bathrobes and a vase of flowers, then sit back and watch the offers come rolling in.

When you get to your new property visit us again – we know you’re going to want to recreate the look!

For sale image courtesy of efffective.com

But a funny thing has happened over the past couple of years. We’ve started hankering after old-fashioned design and pretty vintage interiors – from quaint floral fabrics to roll top baths, and from traditional teapots to antique chairs.

Trend commentators have suggested that this desire for vintage is being fuelled by the recession. As we have less money, flashy modern home furnishings seem inappropriate and we all want to surround ourselves with nostalgia.

Inspiring the trend: The King's Speech

There’s now a new driving force behind the trend though…

Unless you’ve been living in a box, you’ll know that The King’s Speech is the film everybody’s talking about right now.

The hotly-tipped Oscar runaway, starring Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI, is set in a pre-World War Two London where home furnishings are reassuringly elegant and typical of the 1930s.

Then there’s the runaway TV success Downton Abbey. Set in 1914 as Britain is on the brink of war with Germany, we all fell not only for the drama but also the splendour and beauty of Downton Abbey itself.

These period dramas have made us want to steal some of the style of the early part of the 20^th century for our own homes.

Traditional towel rail radiator 4 column white and chrome, Victoria

One of the best ways to do this is in the bathroom, where you can use roll top baths vintage-style heated towel radiators and traditional taps to create a look that’s both vintage-inspired, but also perfectly suited to modern life.

Style the room up with a floral blind, heaps of towels in faded tones, and paint the walls with Farrrow & Ball bathroom emulsion.

Be warned though – you may get location scouts knocking on your door when they’re looking to film the next series of Downton!

Bathing, in itself, is something of a luxury – a treat for the body and soul in these time-poor times. The bath is the easiest place to escape to when you want a rest from the daily grind.

If you want a truly indulgent and romantic experience though, there’s just one type of bath that has the right symbolism… the roll top bath.

Maybe it’s because we’ve all been brainwashed by the amazing Cadbury’s Flake advert from the early 90s, you know the one in which the woman lays in the roll top bath enjoying her flake while the water cascades over the top? It’s made us all think that if only we had a roll top bath then our lives would be that much more exciting and artistic. If you can’t remember the advert, then we’ve unearthed it from YouTube so you can take a look.

A bath like the one in the advert isn’t a very expensive purchase – nothing like buying yourself a sports car or a holiday home, but sometimes it’s the little luxuries like this that make us feel that we have a good life, as weird as that seems.

However bad your day at work, however hum-drum things seem, you’ll know that waiting for you at home is a beautiful deep roll top bath which you can fill up and sink into. You can even treat yourself to a Flake if you like. Probably best not to let the bath overflow though, it might seem fun at the time, but think of the mess!

Do you have a roll top bath? Can you explain the attraction?