As Autumn rolls in I've spent a long back-breaking day in the woodland stream at Gamekeeper's clearing away the fallen leaves and branches, which were stopping its' bubbling meander down to Lower Pond.
Meanwhile the build is progressing well and the rooms on the lower ground floor are starting to take shape. So after a well earned hot bath, it seems like a good time for a blog on the bathroom design.
The master bedroom's ensuite bathroom has a wall of glass at one end, framed by the blue #YorkshireBrick shown below. The glass door will open to the light well outside, making it possible to step outdoors onto the decking in for a breath of fresh air.
The bathroom layout has already been decided with the Architecht at the planning stage.
An oval white bath will be visible though the glass window on the left and a single basin with storage below is to go on the right.
The back wall as you walk in though the glass door will house the walk though shower and possibly be tiled in a dark glazed brick such as #Terzettostone Majorca charcoal ceramic tiles to complement the external Yorkshire blue bricks.
So, with a layout already planned and key decisions forming on the colours and textures as shown above, then what next. Time to visit some bathroom show rooms and source the actual products. In today's world finding the ideal pictures on Pinterest or Houzz to stimulate ideas and inspiration is easy but following through with actual decisions and purchases is a lot harder.
The internet provides a vast area to compare prices and products from #victorianplumbing or #ukbathrooms.com or you could go to one of the many large chain bathrooms suppliers such as #Bathstore.com or #Easybathrooms who regularly have sales and good discounts available. The benefit of using a big company such as Bathstore is they will put together everything you need to complete your look from a stylish shower screen or wall light though to the behind the scenes, valves and waste.
Bathrooms come with as lot of separate bits and unless you have a very willing plumber or a lot of time to check the minutiae then going to a large supplier can be time and cost saving. They will also help with layouts, a CAD drawing of how you can expect the finished bathroom to look and delivery of items is normally within a few days.
However, going down this route does limit the products on offer to you so if you are convinced that only Hansgrohe or Grohe, and they do have an excellent reputation, is acceptable for the taps and you have to have the beautiful new Matki shower screen (left), its on my list too, then possibly a mix and match solution or using an independent store such as my local, #EveshamBathroms is better as they will supply across a wider brand list.
Once again all of this is time consuming so to get the best price and finish it might be best to use the skills of an interior designer (www.farringtons.design) who will have the experience of the right products and suppliers to create that Blissful Bathroom for you.
More from me on my next blog on how to deal with low water pressure. Gamekeeper's Lodge being at the top of a hill and some distance from the Severn Trent supply at the main road is not blessed with a particular high water pressure. This means decisions made now on how to improve that pressure by using a cold water storage tank, pumps or by choosing taps that work well with low water pressure, such as #Crosswater are key to the bathroom actually working as it was designed.