Ten years we have lived in this house. And for ten years I have wanted a new bathroom. We said we would do it as soon as we moved in. It was the one thing we new we wanted to change, despite it being brand new. To the untrained eye our bathroom ticks all the boxes: tiled floor / tiled walls / all white / big window / nice recess with shelves / heated towel rail / huge jacuzzi bath tub. Dig a little deeper though and our bathroom is a disaster. It feels like an operating theatre with all that white, and it is impossible to keep clean. The cistern isn’t attached to the wall so the whole loo wobbles. The pedestal under the sink doesn’t match the sink so there is a gap you can see if the door is open and you are looking at it as you walk up the stairs. The tub is for two people so you can’t actually lie in it. Oh and it doesn’t fill with hot water because we have a combination boiler that doesn’t produce enough hot water to fill it.
<and breathe>
Shall I go on?
I could go on for hours
I have gone on for hours.
For ten years.
Right about now every year is when I stare out of the window and think about finally ripping it all out and redesigning it. A bit like a new year’s resolution but in December when I am wondering how we will get though another week over Christmas with 11 people in the house. Even if we just got rid of the bath it would be an improvement. I mean who puts a two person bath tub in a house designed for a family? No family is ever going to need that. You couldn’t possibly bath a small child in it, well not without getting in with them. And the water would only be lukewarm. I haven’t had a bath at home for ten years and would love to, with candles and a good book. More than once a decade! Rather than it being a treat when we stay in a swanky hotel.
So when I have finished staring out of the window thinking about what I want I fire up an app like Houzz and start planning the layout of the bathroom of my dreams. Nice dark coloured floor tiles with a heated floor and those clever tiles that look shiny but are anti slip. A freestanding bath with big silver feet. A separate shower with a lovely rain shower head. Speakers built into the wall so I can listen to music, or maybe even a TV recessed into the little alcove that used to be a window so I can lie in the bath and watch The Gilmore Girls on a loop. A lovely big bathroom mirror with lights around it so I can do my make up with decent lighting for once.
Maybe 2017 will be more than just the Chinese Year of the rooster but also the Barrow year of the bathroom
This is a collaborative post.