Idea file: ensuite

The existing bathroom will be reconfigured to become an ensuite. The door that leads from the hallway via the toilet will be sealed off, and a door added from our bedroom, adjacent to the east wall. By having the door in the same line as the wardrobes, only the last foot of the opening arc will actually be in the bathroom. The bathroom is a smidge over 2.4m x 1.9m.

The shower will stay where it is, the loo will go where the door was, and a basin will go where the bath taps are currently. In other words, the only plumbing that will be new/move will be the toilet.

I rather like the Ikea Hemnes dark chocolate washstand, so that is the starting point for this bathroom.

Hemnes washstand (W80xD47xH83) with Rattviken sink (W83xD49xH6)

Matching mirror/cupboard (83WxD16xH98 cm)

Given that, I'm looking at a coffee-cream wall and floor tile (all renovated bathrooms must now have a tiled floor, so we can't retain the existing baltic pine floorboards). I spotted a vaguely Art Deco ish feature tile to run around the room, say chest height, with another row of plain tile above it (to the height of the shower stall). Given we've got 10' ceilings, we'll use a matching paint for the final metre or so. (Why yes, I do use feet and metres in the same sentence.)

Porcelain glass wall tile with feature tile

Different cream, matte floor tile, gloss wall tile (porcelain)

I'd really like a built-in nook for both the shower and beside the toilet, but I think the lath-and-plaster walls make that trickier.

Recessed nooks for shampoo, etc, backed with feature tile. (Photo of magazine picture)

Recessed nooks for toilet paper and books (not towels). (Photo of magazine picture)

But then it occurred to me: we could have a chest-height privacy screen between the loo and the shower. The glass on top would be flush with the outside of the half-wall, providing a shelf within the shower. And the loo side could have shallow recessed shelves on its side.

Chest height privacy wall, would also have shelves for shower & loo

Oh, and I quite like, but am not sold on the idea of a double shower head. We're on permanent water restrictions here, so I feel guilty about taking a long soaking shower for the hell of it. (The benches in shower stalls in many of the American home improvement magazines boggles the mind.) Having a flexible hose mounted shower head helps when rinsing the shower walls, so that's a given.

Here is my sketch of the layout.

Bath to the left is the ensuite (the other is the general bath. Windows face east.