HOW TO CREATE A RELAXING SPA INSPIRED BATHROOM AT HOME
/** Ad/ disclaimer **I received a pr discount on the Crosswater and Burlington bathware on on the Otto, and CTD tiles. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. I wouldn’t recommend any products mentioned in my post if I didn’t love them.
What if you could bring the spa to your own home? This was my thinking when planning our family bathroom over at our ‘Rat House’ Renovation.
Especially since all spa’s are closed while we’re in the thick of Lockdown 3.0.
This bathroom was a blank canvas as it was part of the new first floor extension, which meant I could plan out everything from scratch, even down to the plumbing locations. Although saying that, there were some limitations as there normally always is. Such as the toilet plumbing had to be on the right wall - closest to the external side wall as I had said to the builders that under no circumstances was the waste pipe, or any pipes for that matter to show on the back of the house. Theres no problem with having pipes on the back posterior, but since the house is detached, I thought it would be nicer to keep it all to the side purely for aesthetics and accessibility. But apart from that I had free rein!
I wanted the atmosphere and decor to have that spa like nature, because everyone needs a trip to the spa once in a while, right?
A before shot of our bathroom which was a blank canvas as it was part of our first floor extension.
The Palette
When you think of spa’s you think of clean white lines, minty aquatics, plenty of plants, fluffy robes and soft towels. So, thats whats what I decided the palette should be in here.
Plus with the added extra of copious amounts of brassware, because brass is my favourite material in the world, so it was only fitting that all the hardware and trims would have to be of a brassy gold nature in here.
The Tiles
This bathroom took me the longest to source everything as I wanted to mix three very different tiles together and find the perfect balance. Each were a different thickness, so it caused the tiler some stress with levelling the walls, but we got there in the end.
I chose Zellige 10cm x 10cm tiles from Otto Tiles for the top of the bathroom in an Icy blue shade to bring in that minty freshness into here, then for the bottom of the wall I went for Large format Marmori Calacatta White Polished Tile - 1200x600mm from CTD which I wanted laid in a portrait position.
Then for the floor I searched high and low to find floor tiles which were an off white which could be laid in a herringbone design. After speaking to Artisan of Devizes they were able to source the Lido Ice White floor tiles for me. These aren’t on their website yet, but will be in the spring of 2021.
Wall Tiles - Bottom row Marmori Calacatta White Polished Tile - 1200x600mm from CTD, Top Ice Blue Z-11-04 Zellige Tiles from Otto Tiles, Floor Tiles from Artisan of Devizes - Lido in Ice white. The bath has the Crosswater MPRO Industrial 5 Hole Bath Filler with Spout & Handset in the unlacquered brass £949.00 RRP, and the bath is from Burlington and is the Admiral 165cm Double Ended Bath £1899.00 RRP.
The bathmat and towels are from Anthropologie, and the small white side table is from Pottery barn kids and is the Collins table.
The Bathware & Furniture
I always think its good to mix and match with bathroom brands, and not feel too restricted to buy everything from the same brand. In here I mixed pieces from Burlington, Crosswater and had the bathroom vanity made by a carpenter as I couldn’t find what I wanted off the shelf so I designed it myself.
The bath is from Burlington, its the Admiral 165cm Double Ended Bath £1899.00 RRP. We could have fitted a 185cm one in here, but I liked the idea of it not being too cramped and at 165cm long, it’s still plenty big enough to stretch out in. It’s made of a tough resin which can also be painted. We’ve decided to leave it white for the moment.
All of the taps and brassware in this bathroom are all from Crosswater and are the from their MPRO industrial range.
I went for the MPRO Industrial 5 Hole Bath Filler with Spout & Handset in the unlacquered brass £949.00 RRP, to be set into the wall beneath the window instead of a floor standing outlet as A) I wanted to mix it up and look different to the other bathroom and B) I wanted it central so we wouldn’t bash our heads on it if it was on the end of the bath and we were laying in it.
For the vanity which I designed, we chose the Crosswater MPRO Industrial Basin 3 Hole Set in the matching unlacquered Brass which was £339 RRP.
For the shower we opted for the matching Crosswater MPRO industrial 8” shower head in the Unlacquered Brass, with the matching. MPRO Industrial Crossbox 2 Outlet Valves (1500 Valve), and matching MPRO Industrial Wall Outlet, Single Mode Handset & Hose from Crosswater £189.00 RRP.
My bespoke Vanity unit which I designed myself and had made by a Carpenter. Brass Double Arm Wall Light with Opal Shade from Spark and Bell. Mirror is from Dunelm. It was black, but spray painted it gold. The taps are the Crosswater MPRO Industrial Basin 3 Hole Set in the matching unlacquered Brass which was £339 RRP.
The towels are from Anthropologie .
The vanity idea came about as I couldn’t find anything that I liked, so I decided to design my own. Our builders had a contact for someone in Portugal so it ended up being made over there with our front door and came over on a van a month later. You’ll see from my design that I was always dreaming of an arched mirror, but decided on a wider one in the end and not to go for the cut away splash back.
The arched mirror was originally black and is from Dunelm, but I spray painted it gold and it came up perfect. I’d definitely recommend spraying things that you can’t find to save money.
Our shower enclosure is 1700 x 800 and the screen is the ‘BOARDER’ Drench Showers shower screen, which is in brushed brass with fluted glass and it matches the Crosswater Unlacquered brushed brassware from their MPRO industrial range perfectly.
I loved the idea of having fluted glass in here to make the enclosure feel more private like a spa.
The shower tray is from Crosswater and is the Rectangular 25mm Stone Resin Shower Tray & Waste at £279. I sprayed the waste grill gold to match the rest of the bathroom.
Brushed Brass and fluted glass ‘Boarder’ shower enclosure from Drench showers in size 80 x 1200.
Brushed Brass and fluted glass ‘Boarder’ shower enclosure from Drench showers in size 80 x 1200.
Now, no bathroom is complete without a toilet and we opted for a wall mounted one in here so we could clean the tiles easily underneath. This one is the Kai wall hung toilet £395 from Crosswater. We also bought their 0.98m Height Wall Hung Toilet Support Frame £365, I then added the matching brushed brass flush plate from the MPRO range which was £125.
The Accessories
As we don’t have a close wall to the left or right of the toilet we opted for a marble and brass freestanding toilet roll holder from Made.com which was £39.
MPRO Flush Plate from Crosswater in brass at £125, Kai wall hung toilet £395, and 0.98m Height Wall Hung Toilet Support Frame £365 all from Crosswater.
The toilet roll holder is from Made.com and is £39.
The brass hook is from West Elm which is £79.00.
The towels are from Anthropologie, prices £14.
We already had the brass and marble West Elm coat hook from our old hallway- see our old Hallway post, and since we now have a coat cupboard we no longer need this out so decided to hang it in here. Its great for towels, those fluffy robes and also hanging planters to create that relaxing spa like feel at home.
MPRO Flush Plate from Crosswater in brass at £125, Kai wall hung toilet and brass hook from West Elm which is £79.00.
The towels are from Anthropologie
I chose an electric lacquered brass heated towel radiator from Vogue via Stylish radiators. It was quite expensive, but I couldn’t find anything else that matched the brushed brassware as well. We also added underfloor heating in here so it’s nice and toasty under foot.
I bought a lacquered brass radiator from Vogue radiators via Stylish Radiators
Every spa wouldn’t be complete without the fanciest of face and body creams, and Ren skincare is my go to. Plus, you can never have enough plants - faux and real to really capture that spa experience and give you the feeling of bringing the outdoors in and back to nature.
My bespoke Vanity unit which I designed myself and had made by a Carpenter. Brass Double Arm Wall Light with Opal Shade from Spark and Bell. Mirror is from Dunelm. It was black, but spray painted it gold. The taps are the Crosswater MPRO Industrial Basin 3 Hole Set in the matching unlacquered Brass which was £339 RRP.
The lacquered brass radiator from Vogue radiators via Stylish Radiators . The towels are from Anthropologie
I’d love to hear what you think and if you’re going to try bringing a little bit of the spa to your own home?
If you have any questions about any of the products which I’ve used, then feel free to leave me a comment below, or contact me on Instagram.
I’ve also written a post for CTD tiles on the marble tile trend which you can read here.
CTD have given me a 15% discount code to share with you. Use code : Houselust15 for 15% off.
