The Truth About Our Bathroom

Ok, I have to ask the question. How many of you have ever re-arranged a room for Instagram? Chucking kids toys out of the way, draping fairy lights into impractical places, bringing that blanket and plant down from upstairs that don’t normally see the light of day because they’d be great styling props? Yeah, you get me. I’m taking it one step further though because we have a room that often looks quite good online and people seem to like it but it serves no practical purpose. Ladies and gents, meet our bathroom.

Well, before I go any further I should say that it does provide a very useful service as it does have a functioning toilet. Which is very handy since we don’t have a downstairs loo (on our long ground floor extension wishlist) and because we’re very fortunate to have an en-suite means we do at least have two toilets in the house. But that’s where its practical use as a room pretty much comes to an end.

When we moved in, it was obvious that the bathroom needed a bit of an overhaul. Old black vinyl on the floor that was torn in places, a peeling MDF bath panel and a peeling vanity unit under the sink. However since we don’t really use it and the en-suite is fully functioning it’s not high on our list of priorities. I’m also hoping that one day when we do eventually complete the ground floor extension, we may be able to relocate the boiler, currently in a cupboard in the bathroom, therefore creating extra space for a standalone shower.

That said, mini makeovers are never a bad thing and I was very fortunate to work with Carpetright a couple of years ago who kindly provided some stylish new flooring and challenged us to a monochrome refresh. We didn’t want to invest too much money but it’s amazing how small things like painting the old patterned tiles, changing the window handles, and replacing the bath panel with a new bit of MDF that I painted, really created quite the impact. We didn’t spend a great deal at all but it looks very much more an Insta-worthy bathroom now than it was before.

However, there’s one angle of the bathroom that I never show on Instagram. And that’s the 90s hangover, otherwise known as an electric “power” shower. Quite honestly, I will NEVER know why these were ever referred to as power showers. I’ve never known one be powerful. Powerful means that when water comes out of the shower head and you hold it close to the bath, the force repels the shower head away. That’s only possible if you have spectacular water pressure or use a booster. These electric showers always had a habit of making me feel more grubby coming out of the shower than when I went in. It also doesn’t ever seem to get hot no matter what we’ve tried. So part one, this bathroom can’t be used for guests staying over because the shower doesn’t work properly. Everyone up to the en-suite!

The other Insta-sham behind this room is the bath. Sure it looks pretty with my obligatory candles and de rigeur bath tray but we have a serious problem with drainage. Once, a couple of years ago, I decided to have bath in here, mainly because the taps are excellent to prop my ipad up on. Plus the room is bigger and brighter than our en-suite and I thought it would make a nice change. Thankfully Pete was away because when I came to let the water out, it flooded the patio in quite spectacular fashion. I’ve never had a bath in here since.

Now I know, I know. These are all resolvable issues. I’m sure that getting a specialist drain team in could probably correct the issue of the bath flooding the patio and it probably wouldn’t cost that much to replace the power shower with something more stylish and a lot more functional. But as I’m sure you’re all too aware when you’re renovating, there’s a never-ending list of things to do and you have to pick the priorities. The overall moral of the story is, don’t always believe what you see on the ‘gram. It doesn’t always tell the truth.

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