What bathroom trends date the fastest?

Strong feature colours, very fashionable tile shapes used across a whole room, and heavily patterned floors. They look sharp for a few years and then anchor the bathroom to the moment it was built. Feature elements are safer used in small doses.

What makes a small bathroom feel bigger?

Fewer visual breaks. Larger tiles with fewer grout lines, a frameless or semi-frameless screen instead of a framed one, a wall-hung vanity so floor is visible underneath, and continuing the same floor tile into the shower rather than changing at the threshold.

Is a niche better than a shelf?

In most Sydney bathrooms yes. A niche is recessed so it takes no space from an already tight shower, and it has no exposed edges to collect grime. It has to be planned before waterproofing though, because it is a box cut into a wet wall and needs full membrane treatment.

Bathroom Renovation Ideas That Still Look Right in 10 Years

Ideas are the easy part of a bathroom. The hard part is telling which ones you will still like in 10 years and which are the tiled equivalent of a haircut you regret.

Here is what tends to hold up, from having built a lot of them.

Ideas worth the money

A well-planned niche. Recessed into the wall, so it takes nothing from an already tight shower, and no exposed edges collecting soap. Plan it before waterproofing, because it is a box cut into a wet wall and every internal corner needs membrane treatment.

Practical detail most people miss: give it a slight fall so water drains out rather than sitting on the shelf.

A wall-hung vanity. Seeing floor underneath makes a small room read larger, and it makes cleaning around the base straightforward instead of impossible.

Larger format floor tiles. Fewer grout lines means a calmer floor, less grout to clean and less to discolour. Large format tiles do make demands of the substrate, so the floor has to be flat, but the result is worth it.

Underfloor heating. In a Sydney bathroom this is a comfort item rather than a necessity, but it is the single most appreciated addition we install. It has to be decided at rough-in, because retrofitting means lifting the floor.

A frameless or semi-frameless screen. Framed screens chop a small room into sections visually, and the frames collect grime at every junction.

Proper lighting in more than one place. A single ceiling light in the middle of the room puts your own shadow on your face at the mirror. Lighting at the mirror plus general lighting is a small cost that changes how the room feels daily.

Ideas that date fast

A strong feature colour across a whole wall. Bold tile choices are the fastest-dating element in a bathroom, and they are also the most expensive to undo, because changing them means stripping a wet wall.

Very fashionable tile shapes used everywhere. A shape that is everywhere right now will read as a specific year later. Used as a feature in a small area, it is charming. Used floor to ceiling throughout, it fixes the room in time.

Heavily patterned floors. They look excellent in a photograph of an empty bathroom. In a used family bathroom with a bathmat, a bin and a laundry basket, busy floors read as clutter.

Open shelving in a shower. Everything on it gets wet and grows a film. A niche does the same job better.

The safer approach: keep the tiles, vanity and screen quiet, and put personality into the things you can change in an afternoon. Tapware finish, mirror, towels, a stool, paint above the tile line. All swappable without touching the waterproofing.

The small decisions that matter more than they should

Where the shower falls. A shower waste in the middle of the floor means cuts around it in every direction. A linear drain against a wall lets the floor run in one plane and looks considerably cleaner.

Tile layout setout. Where the first tile lands determines whether you end up with a sliver cut in the most visible corner. A good tiler sets out from the focal point rather than starting at one end and hoping.

Grout colour. Matching grout to tile makes a surface read as one plane. Contrasting grout emphasises the grid. Neither is wrong, but a mid tone is far more forgiving to keep looking clean than brilliant white on a floor.

Silicone, not grout, at internal corners. Corners move. Grout in a moving corner cracks. This is a detail, and it is the difference between a bathroom that looks new in 3 years and one that does not.

Working with a small bathroom

Most Sydney bathrooms, particularly in terraces and apartments, are small. Small bathroom ideas are worth their own read, but the principle is consistent: reduce the number of visual interruptions. Fewer changes of material, fewer frames, fewer grout lines, floor continuing into the shower.

Before you commit

Get samples into the actual room and look at them in the actual light, morning and evening. Showroom lighting is designed to flatter and it is nothing like a north-facing Sydney bathroom at 7am.

When you are ready to price it, our cost guide sets out where the money goes, and our packages are fixed price from $18,999.