How to revamp your ensuite for less than £2,000: How I did it

October 6, 2009 – 10:42 pm

How I achieved my natural-stone looking en-suite for less than two grand!

As you can see from the pictures my en-suite was in desperate need of an update. With property prices dropping and the credit crunch still rife, I didn’t have a huge budget, but I really, really wanted to make a change. So I contacted Stone Deals (the UK’s leading natural stone distributor to the trade) and asked for some advice.

Where the shower used to be

Hole for the new fan to help with ventilation.

After scouring their website and falling in love with their range of natural stone and porcelain tiles I decided on the Ampuria Porcelain tiles 9491mmx491mmx 9mm) with a Myra Noce marble boarder (75×285x10). Their sales team were exceptional - they guided me through the whole process and advised me on what I would need to help me achieve the look I wanted. With the sealant, grout, adhesive and delivery sorted (such a relief not to have to work out how much I would need all by myself), I waited for my next day delivery to turn up. Which it did, on time and before I had to head off on the school run. The delivery guy even helped me decide the best place to keep them safe in my garage.

The leak in the shower caused stains on the kitchen ceiling.

I have been wanting to update my en suite for ages. It was mainly painted and due to a lack of ventilation (the fan broke two years ago), mould had started to appear in the corners, despite my attempt at bleaching it away. Only the shower cubicle was tiled with large blueish tiles, but as the shower hadn’t been fitted correctly in the first place we had had a leak last year, which resulted in the kitchen ceiling being left with water damage. Insurance luckily covered my kitchen ceiling, but not the shower, so my en-suite was left unused and pretty much the vain of my life for sometime. I had always admired the natural stone bathroom-effect but was worried about cleaning them. Again the website provided me with some useful information on how to clean the tiles, but I decided to go for the porcelain tiles as they look exactly like natural stone, but you don’t have to be as careful with the cleaning products you use. As I have a cleaning obsession, we decided the porcelain was for us and would suit our budget well. After dragging my husband around various DIY shops, tile showrooms and bathroom shops we found the best prices and quality on the Stone Deals website.

I took photos along the way and thought I’d share them all with you. We were able to stick to the budget as one a family friend fixed the shower, which involved re plastering the whole wall and fixing the leak, he removed al our original units including the sink and under storage cupboard and fitted the tiles all at a great price. It’s a competitive market out their at the moment so it’s worthwhile shopping around for the right fitter.

The walls were painted before, now it's top to toe in tiles.

We treated ourselves to some new accessories such as the towel hooks, toilet roll holder, new fan and a 3 door mirror to go above the sink to provide some extra storage. We tended to go for a more modern look to complement the tiles. We also had the tiles fitted horizontally rather than vertically which made the room seem much bigger (plus I’d seen them designed that way in a home magazine and I really liked the look it created).

Laying the tiles horizontally makes the room seem bigger.

You can see the results for yourself - a new en suite for less than two grand isn’t bad- especially as people who see it are convinced that the tiles are natural stone. I believe it has added value to our home which is what all the financial advisers are saying is the best thing to do through a recession - who knows? All I know is that I am over the moon with my new en suite and I can’t thank Stone Deals enough for making it all possible.