A bathroom in need of an overhaul is a depressing place. The last thing you want to see when you first get up is a scruffy, poorly organised bathroom. A bathroom that has adequate storage space for all the towels and toiletries that a family needs, will be a much nicer room to use and if you decorate it with attractive colors, whether bright and cheerful, or subtle and relaxing, it could become one of the most popular rooms in the house.

The decoration of your bathroom should reflect both the style of your property and your family’s unique personality. There is a wide range of bathroom fixtures currently on the market, from nostalgic Victorian and Edwardian styles to contemporary ones.

Whichever you choose, the finished result should provide your family with a practical environment in which to bathe, groom and relax. Decorating a bathroom can be a costly undertaking, but with careful planning you can avoid expensive mistakes.

Your family’s needs

Make a wish list detailing the bathroom requirements of each member of the family. Older members of the family may prefer to take refreshing showers, but babies or younger children will obviously require a bathtub – use your wish list to highlight such situations. Consider all options carefully so that you can prioritise your needs and achieve a finished bathroom that meets most, if not all, of your family s demands.

Choosing a style

Once you have compiled a wish list, you are ready to choose your preferred decorative style. Bathroom fixtures and linings come in an extremely wide range of styles, and once you start to look around you are bound to find something suitable for most decorative schemes. One factor that will influence your choice of style is the size of the bathroom furniture that complements it. If your bathroom is very small, a grand, free-standing bathtub with claw feet simply won’t work, so choose a couple of options before moving onto the next stage, which is drawing up a scaled plan of the layout of your bathroom.

Bathroom layout

By making a scaled plan, you can ensure that your chosen fixtures and fittings are suitable for the size of your bathroom, and that the room functions efficiently for all members of the family. Examine the plumbing options available prior to finalising the layout, as key pieces may have to be positioned in certain places. Try to avoid placing all of your bathroom fittings around the perimeter walls of the room, as this can result in a large wasted space in the central floor area. Instead, try positioning the bathtub so that it juts into the centre of the room. Alternatively, add dwarf walls against which bathroom fixtures can be placed, or perhaps introduce a raised floor area to add visual interest to the layout.