Real Life Shower Room Refurb Case Study - Day One

I have decided to do a real life video case study of a shower room refurbishment to show people what to expect when they are having work done in their home.  For the first time in a long time, I am going to be the client.  The client from hell probably! but I will try to be reasonable!  I started recording last night and will get up some video footage really soon to show you what my shower room looks like at the moment.  We are going to do a day by day breakdown of a real shower room refurbishment so you can see what it is really like before you take the plunge!   I must admit, I feel very excited to think that, in a couple of weeks, I will have a beautiful new shower room which will last me 10 years or so.



Just so you have some background to this case study, there are two reasons why I am doing it.   The first reason is that actually, my shower room was leaking to the kitchen below!  We discovered a trickle of water through our kitchen light some months ago. Though the little gap in the tiles has been patched up with silicone, we all know that something more serious lurks beneath the loose tiles in my shower room.  So, we have bitten the bullet and decided to get the whole thing ripped out and a new one shower room fitted.  It had to happen or we would have had on going issues with leaks.  The second reason is because so many people do not know what to expect when they have their shower room refurbished.  Without a doubt, most people have no idea of how much work is involved in carrying out a proper refurb.  There is dust and devesatation for a while - and you need to be prepared for that!  Also, people do not know how they will react having people in their home.    It can be really tiring having someone there all the time banging around and the reality is that you have to be prepared to take a great big chill pill to get you and your family through it! 

Here is my shower room as it looked yesterday:

                                                          Here is my existing shower room

                                                 Another shot of my existing shower room

WHERE DO YOU START? 

So, where do you start with a project like this?  My first top tip is BE ORGANISED!  the more you do in advance, the less your bathroom fitter has to do. This will save you your hard earned pennies. 

First things first.
The first step is to stop and think about what you really want. Now is your opportunity to create a bathroom that will see you through the next 10 years. It requires a lot of thought!  So before you do anything, think long and hard about what you really want.    I started by looking in magazines for inspiration. Magazines like KBB (Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms), Homes and Gardens and other lifestyle magazines. Just tear out pictures of bathrooms that you like and stick the pictures on a mood board or if you are techie, then you could copy and paste photos from the internet onto a page.    You don't have to be a designer to do this, you just need to block out some time to really think hard about what you want. 

This is an example of a mood board. 

You will soon get to know what style you like, whether it is traditional or modern.  The good thing is, that whatever your style, you will be able to find bathroom furniture which is in your price range. 

Now you are well into stage one of the preparations for your new bathroom.   In my next blog, I will tell you about the next stage of the process.  Let's talk about money and how much you can expect to spend on your project.