Step inside this small bathroom apartment renovation

There’s nothing like a renovation to breathe new life into a drab and outdated space. And after buying their first apartment in Sydney’s Edgecliff, NSW, Alicia was determined to give a facelift to the small bathroom space that had seen better days. The bathroom she was working with has no windows and was on the smaller size at just 1.6m x 2m, plus a compact adjacent WC. The idea was to overhaul the room in order to elevate the whole apartment, according to Alicia.

Taking cues from TileCloud’s social media accounts and after doing research beforehand like chatting to experts and getting style advice from friends, Alicia set off to make her bathroom design dreams a reality.

“We drew a lot of inspiration from TileCloud’s Instagram and Pinterest. Tilecloud helped us choose what would look best with design, colour etc for the space,” she explains. “Once we had chosen the design and tiles/fittings we engaged Beau Renovations to carry out the works. This took around 4.5 weeks from demo to complete.” 

For the bathroom space, Alicia opted for Warm Brushed Nickel tapware, teaming the Ceiling Shower Arm and Head with the Shower Hose and Sprayer. Also incorporated into the design were the Shower Diverter and Mixer, the Wall Spout and Mixer and the Shampoo Shelf – all from the Warm Brushed Nickel tapware range.

In terms of tiles, Alicia chose to use Paddington White terrazzo look tiles and Newport matte white subway tiles to complete her vision for the bathroom.

Alicia says going into TileCloud’s showroom during the research stage of the process proved to be beneficial.

“We put the terrazzo tile on the ground next to the matte white wall to get a feel and measured out our bathroom against the showroom options to get a feel for space and what would look good (including the vanity and the fittings),” she says. “Because we did this, we didn’t need to order samples.”

Thanks to her experience, Alicia was full of praise for TileCloud and the tile options they have on offer.

“Love their designs and their service,” Alicia raves of TileCloud. “The tiles and fittings have been chosen so carefully that I felt confident that the options we had to choose from would all look good together (was enough choice – but not too overwhelming!)”

Ultimately, the biggest dilemma in the design process was whether to include a bathtub or not, which Alicia describes as a “hot debate”.

“In the end we went with a bath and a wet room – which everyone is pleased with!” she says.

As anyone who has gone through a renovation or new build journey themselves know, it’s rare that there isn’t a hiccup or two along the way. For Alicia, the renovation wasn’t without its challenges. She admits juggling the bathroom renovation with transforming other areas in the apartment simultaneously – and managing all other trades that come with that – added extra pressure.

“We were simultaneously redoing the flooring in our apartment and painting so needed to make sure access and right of way was fine for each of the trades,” she explains. However, Alicia shares that she kept any potential issues at bay by keeping the communication lines open. 

“We just tried to be super communicative with all trades people and all in all, they were accommodating and flexible,” she says. Fortunately for Alicia, she was living elsewhere while the apartment was being renovated (rather than inside it!), making the logistics a little less of a headache day to day.

“It helped that we weren’t living in the apartment at the time so we also didn’t have to juggle our own movements,” she adds.

While the end result was fantastic, Alicia has some hot tips for those embarking on a similar renovation thanks to one problem she encountered along the way. She says making sure to have any important design plans down in writing is key.

“We also missed adding the heated towel racks in the original design which meant at the end we weren’t able to install them (we only verbally spoke about this with the trades people),” she says. “So next time, I’d triple check that everything was on paper to avoid that.”

Another great suggestion that Alicia shares is to consider your final budget carefully.

“Add in a buffer to your budget (at least 15%) in case things come up – because you’re only (hopefully) going to do this once, so may as well do it right!” she says.