My small bathroom makeover: the progress photos

Morning! I’ve been busy behind the scenes working on my latest (and toughest) bathroom makeover for my best friend, Nicola. Her husband has been working all weekends to get the project done, bless him. Before the big reveal, I wanted to show you that the bathroom is shaping up very nicely.

This makeover started back in early October. The bathroom was in dire need of a magic makeover. It was missing tiles, had a scratchy bath and no floor to speak of. My friend had been living with this for six years (I know – poor cow).
You can read about my big ideas for this small bathroom makeover with all the plans for the space, which I posted a few weeks ago. In the meantime, let me talk you though what Nicola and her husband Barry have been up to to get the bathroom looking ship-shape.

Shopping + Plastering

First step was for me and Nicola to book in a brunch where we shopped for a new bathroom suite. We went on-line and grabbed the whole dam lot from one place – Bathroom Takeaway – which promised to deliver the new suite in 24 hours. Ordering from one place we knew that everything would work together and fit. No faffing around. Boom! We celebrate our bit of the deal with cake.
While we did all this shopping, her husband Barry plastered the ceiling one evening, then the rest of the wonky walls the following weekend. Leaving lots of time for them to dry ready for several coats of mist coats. Not sure if he had cake at the end of this.

The Big Tile Debate

I excited got a text from Nicola to say that her Illusion floor tiles from Tons of Tiles had turned up. Look how many boxes for such a small space (it did make me double check my measurements to make sure I hadn’t over ordered). I have similar tiles that I used in my kitchen makeover. LOVE THEM.
The following evening was spent in a frenzy of texting as to which way the tiles should go. This way>>

Or this way >>
Well you can see here the direction we went for >>
In this direction they trick the eye to make the bathroom look longer than it is. Don’t think you can’t have a patterned floor tiles in a small space. It actually makes a smaller space feel larger as your eye has nowhere to focus and is tricked into thinking the floor is larger than it is. Clever stuff.

Spot The Hairy Husband

Barry spent two long weekend tiling the floor, taking the loo off tiling behind it on the walls. He plumbed in the shower and the bath. The new radiator went in. The dark grey carbon finish of the radiator piiiings out against them dam fine floor tiles.

We picked out a dark grey grout for the wall and floor tiles. A/ hides mould B/ looks freaking awesome.
It was around now that I got a text from Nicola; ‘ I’m a little bit in love with the vanity unit’ . The vanity unit is  now home to the usual bathroom clutter, like cleaning products and beauty stuff to keep the space neat and tidy.
While Baz was busy DIY-ing the bathroom into shape, Nicola got on the case with decluttering and selling stuff. Out-of-date beauty products were binned. The old bath, shower screen and sink were sold on Gumtree for just over £100 (money which has been put towards a washer/tumble drier I believe).

Picking A Paint Effect

Nicola went a bit nuts with tester samples. I feel her pain it is hard to get the right shade of grey. Her idea was to colour match it to her Luna light pull from New House Textiles (£17.50) In the end, thanks to a bit of help via my facebook page she made a short list of two greys (the bottom middle and the bottom right).

In the end we decided to do THIS to the walls – just to mix it up >>
An idea she spotted on Design Sponge. With huge coincidence, I was working for Valspar paints on a video shoot that was on paint effects….how strange, it’s almost like she knew. I’m going to pop round do this paint effect across the wall for her.
You should have seen Barry’s face when he heard what we are planning to paint.

All that is left now is the final push to get the bathroom done.

One more weekend of tiling, painting the walls, sealing in around the bathroom. Nicola needs to do some serious shopping for bathroom bits to soften the space. The room needs a mirror, some art and a tiny bit more storage.  Then I’m going to swoop in with some candles and fluffy towels to finish the room.
It’s not been easy, while Barry has been busy spending weekend after weekend plastering and plumbing, Nicola has been entertaining her two young kids. Both of them are drained.
Nearly there.
Stay posted for the end result which I’ll be shooting in a few weeks.
Are you loving this bathroom so far? Don’t forget to pin this post to save for later