A bathroom can be anything from the all too familiar minimum of a bath, basin, and possibly WC, all grouped together in an alternately chilling and steamy confined space, to a room a good deal larger than many living rooms, lavishly equipped and luxuriously furnished to cater for every ablutionary need and many more besides – including making up, hair drying, keeping fit, dressing, telephoning and just relaxing, to name but a few. In any form, however, bathroom storage contains a number of fittings that are difficult and expensive to renew or move around. No other room in the house is likely to be changed less frequently and the kind of rearrangement that would be routine elsewhere tends to be rarely undertaken, if at all.
It follows that, whether you are contemplating the comparatively simple job of refurbishing existing bathroom storage with, perhaps, a few new fittings and decorations or a more radical rearrangement in an existing space, or even creating an entirely new bathroom from scratch, the greatest consideration must be given to all the factors involved. Whatever the limitations in terms of space and cost, you will have to live with your basic decisions for a very long time, irrespective of any changes you may make to the decorations later on. All bathrooms have certain items of equipment in common. The list gives details of the types of fitting available and their selection. In terms of planning and design, however, there are a number of general principles that we should consider before going on to look at how the main items of equipment – basins, baths, showers, bidets and WCs can be used in the contexts of various sizes of room. The minimum requirement with which we are likely to be concerned is a basin, a bath or shower, and possibly a WC.
