Thank you @Creative Style Interior Design and @bigreader @Creativelychallenged - Thank you for your nice words. We are indeed very happy with the result. We also went through all these stages you describe, so don't feel depressed... there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Our research stage was so long and quite discouraging at times. We've always wanted to live in a queenslander, but our house is not one. This didn't stop us on going ahead adding some character to our bathrooms design (and kitchen). We started with the idea of making these bathrooms with a colonial touch but we found that it was not easy to find the elements we wanted (tiles, furniture, tapware) at a cost that would fit our budget. We learned that the type of tiles we liked (encaustic) were VERY expensive ($200+), traditional looking furniture was also very expensive... So we shifted to a more modern design...(not very happily though), and after a while of collecting ideas for modern tiles, furniture etc.. we felt quite depressed because we were compromising... updating our bathrooms with something fresher, but far, far away from what we really liked. In our view modern furniture looked very plain, streamlined and... boring, but we were doing 2 bathrooms (on a budget) so we were not prepared to spend a fortune, and we settled with modern. We ordered marble type tiles for the floor 900x600, and wood like tiles for the walls, and booked the builder to start demolition. Luckily for us National tiles called us saying that there was an error and the tiles they promised were not going to be available for 3 more months!!! Depressed again.... It took us so long to find something we liked (kinda) and now we were back to square one. Then my lovely wife said... Why don't we give it another go and try to make a more traditional design as we originally wanted.... So to make it short... we went back online with 'refreshed' energy and pressure (demolition already started) and found many things I coudn't find before: Floor tiles @ $25/m2 Subway tiles for walls @$16 the box on sale... Ensuite furniture and basin from Ikea Main bathroom furniture was an antique dresser we found in an op shop for $150 repainted and repurposed.... etc... In the end we spent approx $12,5K for both bathrooms in total :-) So, to summarise... don't dispair... just look in this website, on pinterest, magazines, google, etc... Play around with ideas and copy!... (you'll see that our ensuite is quite similar to the first photo in this discussion)... Good luck! :-)

my suggestion includes a free standing or set in bath up to 1800 x 800 (the "overhang" would be a feature not a restriction) and any gap between the set in bath and the walls can be filled in with an extended tiled ledge, twin 900 x 500 or an 1800 wide double vanity with matching mirrored wall cabinet, a 1200 x 800 shower and the toilet tucked behind the door with a generous window over the bath, subject to view and privacy, a window down as low as the bath with plantation shutters for privacy could work very well in the alcove

I am just wondering whether it is a good thing or not to go with solid colours like the dark blue (prussian blue), grey floors and white on other walls all in tiles. I see that a lot of designers seem to do a pattern on one wall, but I haven't found one suitable and whatever I do, I just don't want it to look out of date in 5 years time. I am not sure how about much of the prussian blue tile is appropriate in order for it to be noticeable but not too overpowering.

If this is just a budget improvement then I would try to fix the cracked tiles and missing grout, paint the window frame white and add white shutters on the window, paint the vanity white (although I don't like doing that either) and get new handles and taps, toilet roll holder etc., install a lovely white potted plant, as shown above and white fluffy towels. A new white frame on the mirror or replace it with a slightly smaller white framed one. Then I would save up for a white stone bench top or stone overlay bench top and the cream will go nicely with all of it. Unfortunately your shower seems to be the most dated part. If you try to change the door you may find that you have missing tiles, although new floor tiles in the shower would probably look OK and add a glass hinged door. Good luck.