Bathroom Series: Choosing the right Materials & Products

Choosing the right materials can make or break your bathroom build, or at least affect your peace of mind while you’re enjoying

a soak in your new bath but all you can focus on is that cheap tap that you settled for that is already miss coloured. Pitty.

I know you’re eager to jump straight into redesigning your new bathroom, hammer in hand and hard hat on. But before you start demolishing walls and ripping off the tiles, let’s go through some things to consider when choosing materials for your new bathroom. Here at Savannah Denny Designs, we’ve put together an extensive run down of common bathroom fittings and fixtures and what you need to consider before making your decisions.

We’ve also had a chat with Janelle from Bathroom Envy Devonport about some of the most common questions she encounters daily, as well as industry insider tips to make sure you are well informed and get the most of your new bathroom.

If you’re renovating, keep in mind most older bathrooms can have water damage, termites or rot. Don’t ignore these underlying problems. Get a builder to assess the possible issues now and plan how you are going to fix them before you start demolishing. This is also the perfect time to engage a designer. Not only can a professional interior designer assist you in the planning stage but also the purchasing and construction stages too. We can save you time, stress and money by collaborating with your trades and suppliers to ensure you get the best outcome with as little pain and expense as possible.

When undertaking any sort of work on your home, it’s important to establish a budget for your renovation and gather a realistic understanding of where those nasty hidden costs are lurking, ready to pounce. Throughout this blog, we’ll run through areas where you’ll be able to save money and areas where you should splurge. Some compromises can be made to achieve the bathroom style of your dreams while sticking to your budget, like choosing an off the shelf vanity rather than a custom made one, allowing you to save some extra money to spend on that must have vanity mirror that makes you glow.

Head to the first bathroom series blog, ‘How to define and stick to your bathroom renovation budget’, where you can find access to our free budgeting template. We used this exact template on all of our renovation projects so you can have peace of mind it will give you peace of mind.

Assuming you bathe and are also in a regular habit of brushing your pearly whites everyday, it’s fair to assume that your bathroom is a commonly used space. In high use spaces like these, it’s important to get the ‘foundations’ right, so to speak. Make sure you’re choosing the correct surfaces that can withstand foot traffic, hair straighteners being dropped and potential fake tan smears.

This is where you can afford to spend a little more for the reassurance you’re buying quality and won’t have to spend more down the track replacing these surfaces. Now, let’s get geeky and jump on into what to consider when choosing your bathroom surfaces.

Porcelain vs ceramic tiles. what’s the difference?

Porcelain tiles are incredibly durable thanks to the process that they are made. Due to the tiles dense clay makeup and the extreme temperature that they’re fired, porcelain tiles are less absorbent resulting in them being waterproof and stain-resistant, making them a great choice for high traffic areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. Ceramic Tiles are generally a more affordable alternative to porcelain tiles. The clay makeup of the tile as well as the heat at which it’s fired means that the tile is more porous than a porcelain tile.

What we recommend:

If you want the porcelain tiles but your budget is starting to bulge, we suggest porcelain in the shower as well as on the bathroom floor. Ceramic feature tiles can then be installed in the spaces not being abused so heavily, like behind the vanity. Some alternatives

to tile are stone slabs, which are a beautiful feature but are for the more luxurious of bathrooms.

One of our favourite budget bathroom surfaces is Easy Craft Easy Groove Wet Area Vj Panelling. An internal wet area cladding is a cost-effective solution as it is only marginally more expensive than plasterboard and is a lot cheaper in installation labour than laying tiles. It’s also beautiful and comes in many different profiles. See some of our latest concepts using VJ Panelling below.

The easiest and most noticeable way to revive your bathroom is with a coat of paint. This can create a calming and refreshing space where you can start and finish your day. If done correctly, paint also holds a cunning ability to trick the eye, opening up your bathroom and making it seem larger than it actually is.

If you’re anything like me and enjoy your showers at a scalding temperature, it’s even more important to choose the right type of paint to help keep condensation on your walls and ceiling at bay. We suggest talking to a paint specialist, visit your local paint store and ask their opinion on a wet area paint to suit you. Wet area paint is our go-to choice for bathrooms to help with giving your space a new lease of life, as well as allowing for easy wipe down of rogue makeup on your walls.

This is not too much to ask from your paint.

At Savannah Denny Designs we suggest to splurge a little on your fittings and fixtures. These bad boys get a work out daily, multiple times a day. In my home, there are only two of us, but the shower gets used 3 times a day on average, and we like our showers long, like 10 minutes long. 30 minutes a day right? That equals 10,950 minutes per year, our shower is running. Imagine a household of five.

There are a lot of fittings and fixtures needing to be selected for your bathroom reno, and the market is saturated with choice. Let’s break down these choices.

There are basically two types of vanity, custom or off the shelf. A custom vanity can be designed with your interior designer or joiner if you are looking for something very specific. But an off the shelf vanity is most often a cheaper alternative to custom. Janelle and our favourite suppliers for vanities are ADP and Timberline.

Some vanities can come with an acrylic or ceramic bench top that have integrated basins. These can come in different sizes and shapes depending on the supplier, we find these are a great option for the kid’s bathroom as they are so easy to wipe-down. In your master ensuite however, you may prefer an on top basin. These are often much more aesthetically appealing as there are hundreds, actually thousands on the market, leaving you spoilt for choice when it comes to colours, sizes and finishes. You’ve paid for this renovation, not the kids. Treat yourself. See some of Janelle and our fav vanities and basin suppliers!

As a twenty something year old, I’m already struggling to get out of the bath and it’s not just because I refuse to leave its warm embrace. No. I’m currently battling with one of those way too low inset baths with awful tile surrounds. It’s 2020, builders are miraculous and have the ability to raise your bath higher off the ground for a more accessible dip. This trick works wonders in smaller bathrooms too, so no more excuses.If I were to scroll through your ‘ My Dream Bathroom’ Pinterest board, I could smugly bet that free standing baths would appear numerous times.

Whether it be a back to wall or back to wall corner bath to save space and avoiding trying to clean behind them or a freestanding one floating in the middle of a space, exuding luxury, we love them! There’s a freestanding bath to suit you!

Janelle has put together some of her favourite baths: