A couple of months ago we decided to use some of our savings to redesign our bathroom. I mean, it really needed doing. It wasn’t awful, but it was tatty and could be so much nicer.
Due my husband being made redundant in December (and now me in October) we won’t be able to move house for a while. So we are trying to improve our home in the best ways we can. Make it more of a home, somewhere we can see ourselves raising our little family for a bit longer.
Redesigning a room in your house isn’t easy. Well, unless you have someone designing it for you and organising the whole thing. Last year we fitted a new kitchen. You can see some photos of the finished result here. We bought our kitchen through Homebase and opted for a mid range Schreiber design. The designer at Homebase will go through everything, create a CAD, change things around etc. You can sit and see the finished result right in front of you.
With our bathroom however, we designed it ourselves. Well, we kept the layout the same and just picked the new suite and tiles etc from the catalogue. Luckily hubby has a friend who’s a plumber who was able to fit the bathroom for us, do the tiling, build a new wall to create a cupboard space.
From my experience with redesigning our kitchen and bathroom, I have a few tips for you if it’s something you are thinking of doing in the future.
- Look at what you already have and make a pros and cons checklist. For example, our house was built in the late 1800s so has character. Our old kitchen was very ‘country’ and traditional. There were features that I loved and wanted to incorporate into our new kitchen. Make sure you look at the ways you can keep what you love.
- Decide if you want to buy through a store like Homebase, or if you can buy a new suite from somewhere like Bathrooms.com and have someone fit it privately. Make sure you do your research into both options and decide what’s best for you.
- Do you want a big change? Redesigning your bathroom is your opportunity to really make a change to your home. Can you afford something a little more luxurious? Or do you have a budget to stick to. If you are daring, why not add some colour? Coloured tiles or a bright, vibrant blind. Add some pictures or photos for decoration.
- Shop the sales! We bought our new kitchen when Homebase were having a 60% off sale, plus an extra 20% off, so we saved loads. They have these sales quite often so it shouldn’t be too difficult to save some pennies.
- Think about what you need and what is missing from the bathroom you already have. Our house is quite small and we lack in storage and are always looking for ways of adding more to our home. So we opted for a vanity sink with plenty of cupboard space for toiletries and cleaning stuff. We also
We are super happy with our new bathroom so here’s a few snaps of my favourite parts.
I love our new vanity sink. We actually bought this from Ikea and it came with some fab accessories which we had no idea about! Hooks for the side of the basin to hang towels on and a soap dish etc.
I love our new shower. It’s larger than your standard shower which is one thing I disliked about our old bathroom. I wanted something more spacious that felt more luxurious. It’s also fun when Lamb wants to join me and he has space to sit on the floor and play with his toys!
This section of the bathroom was also part of our old bathroom, however it was wide due to us having a smaller shower. The plumber knocked down the old wall and built a new one whited created this smaller storage space giving us exactly what we wanted – a larger shower and storage space. My father in law is in the process of building the shelves so hopefully I can fill the space with towels soon!
One of my favourite features of the bathroom is the new bath taps. I wanted a mixer tap because Lamb likes to run the water when he’s playing in the bath, so with a mixer tap I can make sure I set it to the right temperature so he doesn’t burn himself. I also love the shower being fastened to the wall. It looks so much tidier.
Like any parent we have a bath full of toys. We bought this bath tidy from Ikea for £7 and it’s one of the most useful things I’ve ever bought! All of Lambs toys have a place that doesn’t make the rest of my bathroom look like it’s being taken over by a toddler!
Finally we added a splash of colour with our new blind. I think this finishes off our new bathroom.
I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. The last thing you want to do when redesigning your bathroom is rush and making mistakes. Think about what you want, what you need and what your budget it.
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1. This has to be one of Lambs favourite toys. Well, it’s not really a toy, it’s a bag, but he loves to carry his toys around in it! Mr Tumble is a household favourite with most toddler, so what more would they want then their very own 
! I think this will be a hit with any tumble fan. I bought Lambs from Tesco, but you can grab one on Amazon for £14.97.
2. We all know toddlers love to get involved with housework (it’s probably the only time our kids want to help us!) so a hoover is a fab gift. We got Lamb this 
from Tesco, which you can also get on Amazon for £15.96. It’s so realistic Lmab actually thinks he’s hoovering with me. Whenever I hoover the house he always say “Jaxson get my hoover” and helps me! There’s 2 buttons for sound/effects. On on the front that makes the balls spin around the drum and one on the back for sound (which I didn’t know about for ages!
3. Lamb is absolutely obsessed with his train set right now. If you have a 2 year old child this Christmas, that doesn’t own a wooden train set, buy them one! There’s so many out there and I’d say they are all of a similar standard. Lamb has the Big City one from ELC, but it’s more than £20 so I can’t include it in this gift guide. I’ve found this 
on Amazon for £19.90 – bargain! 
4. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the odd photo of Lamb walking his trolley to the supermarket and back. It’s one of his favourite things to do! He gets so many looks and comments while he’s ‘doing his shopping’ because he looks so damn cute while he’s helping mummy shop. We bought his shopping trolley from B&M Bargains for around £15 but it’s not on their website so I’ve found this 
from Amazon for £13.99. With the extra pretend food items, I think that’s a really good price.
1. Probably one of Lambs favourite toys I’ve ever bought him are his 
. You should of seen his face when he got them for his birthday. Mister Maker is one of his favourite programmes and he’s obsessed with the shapes. For a good 6 months he carried these around with him everywhere. If your little one loves the shapes as much as Lamb, you can’t fail with these bath squirters. Total bargain for £6.95.
2. More Melissa & Doug of course (I’m obsessed). Their wooden stamping kits are lovely. There’s lots of different ones, but I couldn’t resist this 
4. Ok, so Christmas is a little cold for garden toys, but Lamb still loves running around the garden with his toy lawn mower. This isn’t the exact one he has, but I thought this was a really good deal as you get the accessories with it! Perfect for boys or girls, this will be sure to last the year and get them outside and away from Cbeebies! You can grab this 
from Amazon for £9.29.
from Amazon. Plus it doesn’t make any sounds (which I wish Lambs didn’t).
can be bought from Amazon for £3.49 – bargain!
2. Continuing with Melissa & Doug products, we also bought Lamb this sticker collection for his birthday. With a selection of 500 stickers to choose from this will last for ages and has everything from transport to animals. We bought the blue version, but there’s a pink one too for the girlies. You can buy the 
from Amazon for only £2.09!
3. Boy or girl, any toddler I’ve known or met loves a shopping basket. Unfortunately Lamb doesn’t have one anymore after he threw it into the road while having a tantrum and it was run over by a car! Yep. That happened. We have refused to buy him a new one to teach him a lesson. Although I don’t think he’s really bothered about what happened, he came home gloating about it being run over! You can buy this 
from Amazon for £5.
4. Lamb seems to have discovered a love for puzzles recently. Luckily I picked up a farm animal floor puzzle from Tesco in their sale a few days before his birthday, and we are still playing with it now. I’ve had a look and it’s not available anymore, so I’ve found a similar one from Amazon. For £5 this 
, however it’s more than £5, but you can get the Sparkle Playdoh collection for £3.98! Ok, so it’s a little girly but will the boys really care? Lamb likes butterflies and flowers too! And his favourite colour is pink…
