My first bathroom project

[Supercoley1]

Hello, I am just setting about doing my first full bathroom DIY job (not pro at all) and have managed to do most things through internet research etc.
The project in question is a bathroom that currently has a shower over bath, W/C, sink and a wall hung radiator. The room is approx 280cm across the breadth (window wall) and 270cm from the door to the window wall. There a dog leg to the room as the airing cupboard is set within this room into a seperate area on the left of the door.
I will be keeping these apart from the wall hung radiator which I want to remove and then put a towel radiator in another place. I don't have a problem with the plumbing and radiator aspect.
We have had the bathroom like this since we moved in 30 months ago and all we did was to change the bath taps for a shower mixer type, tile the shower area on the window and half the bath side wall (It only had a 420mm high splashback around the bath previous to this), put up a shower curtain rail and laminate the floor. Pretty basic 'quick' but ready to use. The picture below shows what this was like:

After planning to redo the bathroom we decided to do it early July and it would take a few months to complete due to the budget (Each month we can afford the 'next step')
So on 10th July we started to plan the bathroom. The W/C and sink will remain in the same place. The Bath will still be on the wall but will be moved so that each end is an equal distance from the wall. A frame will then be built around the bath so that I can tile under the rim and make it look like the bath has been 'sunken'.
The radiator which is currently on the right as you enter the bathroom will be removed and then the plumbing redone to put a towel radiator behind the door as you enter the bathroom.
The area where the bath is will be tiled in black, white and lime green inspired by a picture on Toppstiles here:
Fusion Kiwi Wall Tile | Topps Tiles
however we don't have anywhere near the budget to use those tiles and get the exact design. I have sourced some lime green, black and white tiles that are all a lot cheaper and are 150mm x 150mm. The design of this area is here (These plans are rough guides as they don't allow for grout joints. I will line them up properly when I get the tiles to gauge the number across etc when the tiles come.)
This is the 'fold out' design and what you will see facing the bath. The lime is bit bright in these pictures where the tile I have bought is more subtler more like the ones in the Toppstiles picture:

And this is the plan from above:

The green/black/white combo will only go as far as the bath surround and the rest will be plain white.
This is the lime tile I have bought. 2 boxes:
Tiles, Ceramic Tiles, Wall Tiles, Gloss Lime Green Tile
The floor will also be tiled with white 330x330 tiles. Very crisp very clean, very bright with the single 'feature' area of the bath drawing the focus.
I will update tomorrow on what I have done already.
Regards
AC

 

[Supercoley1]

however this page (it is an aquarium one) has some comparisons to show what I mean

James' Planted Tank - T5 Lighting On The Cheap

The light I have is pretty sharp I must say. The colours really good but I think next time I will go for the 20W rather than the 15W. lol

AC

 

[Pebbs]

Why have you changed the colour lay-out? On your original drawings the bands are clearly shown to be running on the three walls, and now they are not. I wish you had carried the bands around the three walls, it would have tied it up very nicely.

Pebbs

 

[Supercoley1]

because when I drew lines on the walls to mark the 'finish point' level with the bath it meant rather than being a ofcal point it was a huge area. Would've looked like I ran out of tiles half way round the room. lol

AC

 

[faithhealer]

Nice job Andrew, good project management all the way

 

[Supercoley1]

Hello guys. Don't worry I haven't abandoned this thread.

Just a measure of how tight we are with budget here. School uniforms, a little overspend on the previous month and a little less income meant that the money I made from shrimp and aquatic plant sales went on survival instead. lol

However a tiny little bit of progress was made.

3rd September 2010

I bought a coupler (male to male) for a couple of quid to link 2 shower hoses together and a couple of metal fluorescent tube clips to hold the existing 'microphone' style shower head we have a temporary ceiling shower.

Also at zero cost as the old broken camera and accessories sold for £23 on ebay I bought a U shaped shower rail for £14.99 off ebay. Its stainless steel not chromed plastic tubes. Quite good quality.

It needed about a foot cutting off the side rails so that it was level with the bath and the ceiling mounts the same. I may well cut another 4" off the side rails as this is the gap between curtain and wall on both sides when it is fully stretched out.

Next month will similarly be delayed because car tax is due and Christmas approaching fast, although I do hope to complete the walls by Christmas.

The 'microphone' style mixer shower head will return to the wall holder eventually as a hand shower when I get the overhead thermo one in. Maybe next year now.

A couple of pictures of the previous 'extendable' white shower rail.

The U shaped shower rail kit spread out.

and mounted

And with Curtain

p.s. These pictures are all taken with the 6400K light in the ceiling. I will do the comparison shots now I have gotten used to this new camera to show you what I meant about UK energy saving 2700K bulbs vs American 6400-6700K ones.

My wife who is Portuguese wants these lights in the whole house now. In Portugal they use 'daylights' too. Its just us 'superior' Brits that have to suffer with these 'warm white' as standard.

Like I said earlier the 2700K is warm white and gives a yellow glow to the room where the 6400K is daylight and gives a crisp white look to the room.

Here's a quick preview although a picture I've pinched. UK 'warm white' on the left, US 'daylight' on the right:

Just a note to admin. Is there a way for pictures to resize to fit into the thread? This is happening on many forums at the moment where they are moving to newer versions of vbulletin

AC

 

[faithhealer]

thanks for the update, original shower idea there

 

[DHTiling]

Pics fit ok for me..?..

 

[Supercoley1]

Maybe its just me then. I've ot the PC hooked up to the TV in the lounge at the moment and half my screen is used up on the left for adverts. Then in the posts on the right I get half the picture and have to use the scroll bar and then I only see the right hand side as teh left disappears with the scrolling.

AC

 

[Supercoley1]

4 and a half years. Now I know why my wife has been getting more depressed. lol. Its still like the above pictures but will be finished this weekend. I sent her off home to Portugal for 10 days and am currently doing the nightmare kitchen floor.

The kitchen floor (under the old vinyl tiles)consists of a zillion different screeds / SLCs / Bitumin / cracky cement hidden under the tiles there so a lot to get sorted in prep for tiling. Going to be a Slurry coat and then SLC on one end of the kitchen because last metre is all over the place heading mainly downwards (use to be another room and wall has been moved I think.)

Fingers crossed and finished pictures should be up on Tuesday/Wednesday (she gets back on Tuesday...eek)

 

[White Room]

You on a price or day rate:yikes:

 

[si.cleary]

Hi, I like the colour scheme but, I think if you had carried the coloured rows all the way around the room, it would have wrapped it up nicely and looked great. How did the window turn out? I was concerned to see that you hadn't put any trim on the edges! A picture update would be interesting to see.
Anyway, well done for taking on the challenge, even if it did take four and a half years. (Almost a tile a day, ha!)

 

[Supercoley1]

Just to answer your replies

It was more like 3 months work............then 4 years left half done.

The windowsill had edging put in during the first 3 months probably just after the last picture on the previous page

I am on the usual rate of receiving moans until completion

On the colour scheme, this was a project on a very tight budget at the time. That was the main reason for it remaining half done early on as getting the floor sorted and a few other things (like my wife falling pregnant again) wiped out even the tiny budget I had. White tiles are £5 a box at Wickes. The green ones were a lot more. Think I paid £50 for the 3 boxes of them and the black ones were something like £12 a box. Thats why it was just the feature wall the colour scheme was used on.

There will be pictures. 10 days of my wife being away has meant that I have completely redecorated the kitchen. Walls painted. Bit the bullet and completely re-levelled the floor from kitchen through corridor through to downstairs loo. The corridor and downstairs loo nearly completed. Just grouting to be done.

The upstairs bathroom which this thread is supposed to be about is close to completion. One wall to do and the edges of the floor.

So in about a week's time I'll give you a tour of a DIY council house improvement

 

[White Room]

I want a mug like that:lol:

 

[Supercoley1]

I am useless at getting sidetracked and not updating. I will sort the photos out this week of the 'finished' bathroom. HAs had a fair few months to age now so won't be as shiny as it would have been but..........

 

[Qwerty]

Would like to see the finished product