Lots of questions. The point that sticks out to me because I’m also looking at shower bases is that even though the measurements of the tiles suggested for the base may allow for two tiles only - in reality several more cuts are likely to be needed to get the fall required for the water to drain.

I thought that was the case also, bigreader, but the designer said if we place a long strip drain at between 80 and 100mm from the end, the rest of the floor just slopes gently down to that drain and no additional cuts are required. Hopefully a tiler can weigh in on this discussion and offer some clarity? The one-piece bases are great, but very costly.

My thoughts you have gone with the expense and expertise of a designer, moving from her/his design may detract from their overall design, Bathroom Designers are usually at the cutting edge ....WALL, TILES Two different sizes 1200 X 600 and 600 x 600, the 600 x600 may/may not be the exact same 600 direction, the potential of problems for tiler with different grout widths.......

You haven't specified the construction of your walls Rendered or Timber Frame,

Hi Lorraine. Dark tiles can show the soap residue more than a light base. I have poly marble bases to avoid grout, would have loved corian but budget constrained. I have a bathroom fully tiled and regret it. I just redid second bathroom and only tiled two walls to ceiling and one plaster, one plaster above windowsill. Plaster is much more residential less train station toilet.
Small bathroom I would not do do free standing. One side to wall for more modern or built in. Post a layout for some ideas.

No expense incurred yet, Beach Bathrooms. Thus far it's just been discussions and price estimates. But thanks for your comment about tile sizes and grout widths. That is certainly something to keep in mind. My objective, though, is always to minimize grout lines. Frankly, I hate grout. I would go for a high quality waterproof paneling if I could source something that bathroom renovators would work with. There seems to be strong resistance to using it for some reason.

Constructions of walls is a combination. One external wall in each bathroom is rendered. The other walls are all timber frame.

Thanks Kate. How do you find the poly marble? Have you had it long enough to determine how it will wear over time?

I like your comparison between 'residential' and 'train station'. I hadn't thought about that, but now that you say it, I do feel the fully tiled room is a bit 'train station'.

Here are my new layouts:

Ensuite:

Main bath:

The designer is proposing a new wall along the side of the shower to remove the odd angle. I'm unsure about that as it reduces the room size, but I agree the angle looks a bit weird.

The other option I considered, having seen a picture on Houzz today of a bathroom with an angle, was:

This would involve an infill platform behind the bath which could be used for bath salts, an urn filled with soaps, etc. and it would leave the shower where it is now but narrow it a little to allow for the vanity in the WC. The negatives with this, in my view, are the cleaning of the platform area behind the bath (leaning over the bath) and the entry to the shower would be in front of one or the other doorway, which means those exiting are dripping in a passageway. I think the first design, therefore, is still my preference.

With that size shower I think you need it tiled. squaring off the wall - why not make it a ledge for storage. Higher at corner reducing to a foot rest.

Subway tiles look railway station to the ceiling (hence the name). Large format matte finished tiles do not.
If you can't get a back to wall option I'd do a built in bath to make cleaning easier. Those piddly free-standing tubs that everyone has on shows like The Block look like a nightmare.
Larger dark tiles should be fine for shower floor but make sure there is variation in the pattern to avoid obvious soap marks etc.

Lorraine I'm sure this has already been resolved previously but are the 2 entrances to this bathroom entirely necessary? Obviously they may well be but often people leave existing openings which don't need to be there.

If you are going to move the shower why don't you embrace the angle and just add a parallel glass screen which would give you a simple large shower which opens up to the vanity end with a towel rail on left wall. I would work with 1m wide min, Add a long niche on the angled wall. Fully tiled walls are boring and unnecessary and limits any changes you might like down the track.,ie: your powder room area certainly would be better without.. What ceiling height do you have. And I should add that from experience not all bathroom designers are good at what they do, they botched a friends very expensive upgrade.

Have you tried swapping the bath with the vanity, ie; vanity on the R/H wall when entering, that could flow better and give a better sense of space

CP Yes, two entrances are definitely necessary. We put the second one in when we bought the house - replacing a window. The house was a ridiculous design with the only entry points either into a carpeted bedroom, the main living area or the garage. If you were dripping wet from swimming in the pool or muddy from working in the garden and wanted to use the loo, you had a long march either over bedroom carpet or through the two large main living areas then down a hallways floored with off-white tiles. It was insane! We inserted the second door so you can go directly from the pool or garden into the bathroom. Designers should consider things like this! It's why houses have an entry to the laundry and have the laundry close to a toilet.

Thanks siriuskey. I agree about the shower embracing the angle. I can't see the reason for the false wall, personally. The designer seems to think the room needs to be squared off to look better, but I don't see the logic. I might dig in over that!

Just to be clear, are you suggesting the screen be parallel to the angled wall rather than straight? If so, that's an interesting idea that nobody had thought of. Everyone has been assuming the screen would run parallel to the opposite straight wall.

Thank you for your comment about the tiling. Ceiling height is 2.4m and there is no cornice in most of the house - just square set.

My big problem with designers is they might make a room look great the day it's finished, but they too often don't consider practical issues of cleaning, maintenance, refreshing the decor cost-effectively years down the track, and even things like storage. Too many focus on looks and ignore practicality. The current bathrooms actually look quite good. They just don't work!

Thanks again siriuskey. I think I did try that in one of my dozens of drawings, but from memory found that wall wasn't long enough, and I didn't like the idea of walking into the end of the bath. It's worth reconsidering. I'll scale it up again. But I would need a Houzz genius, such as yourself, to come up with a way of making the end of the bath look attractive. Maybe a freestanding bath would solve that problem, but then there would be the problem of that weird angle at the head of the bath that I would need to be sure was easily accessible for cleaning.

Sorry CP and Kate, I just noted comments from you that I had missed.

CP, thank you for your advice to have patterned floor tiles. That makes good sense. I was looking at plain, but I see your reasoning. Also, I agree about the bath. Decent size and carefully placed for easy movement around it, or built in.

Kate, that's a great idea to use the angle for a ledge and foot rest! Thank you.

yes have the screen parallel to the angled wall and yes you would need a stopper of some kind to avoid the door into the bathroom hitting the shower screen

we need dimensions of all the bathroom walls plus door sizes and position, so that I can try to draw it for you

Wow, thank you siriuskey for offering to draw it.

The WC is .91 wide x 1.78 long currently and is being extended by 250mm in length to accommodate a very small vanity.

The bathroom is currently 2.53 along the straight wall where you are suggesting the vanity should be and 2.74 along the opposite angled wall x 2.6 along the wall where you are proposing the bath would go and 3.64 along the exterior wall. Those are all internal measurements.

The bathroom door is 770 wide and is right in the corner. There is 1.18 between the existing wall dividing toilet and bathroom and the edge of the external door architrave. The door/sidelight combination is 1.72 wide, or 1.32 including architraves, leaving 1.14 for the width of the shower at it's widest point.

I hope that is enough for you to work with? I have tried to draw it but I don't trust my scaling. If it is correct, with a 1500 bath pushed right into the corner, I could get a 1m long vanity in with about 0.8 walk space between the corner of the bath and the vanity, but maybe a bit longer if I chose a semi-recessed design.

Does the doorway between the linen and bathroom need to stay the same, and is this the only toilet for the family

There is another toilet in the ensuite, and yes, I think the doorway has to stay the same. I would love to move it, but it's all dollars! Obviously the plan would work better with it moved closer to the toilet entry.

Can the door(s) be hung to open outwards instead? I realise in the linen area that might make things tight but worth investigating as it's a cheap fix.

I really don't like the idea of outward swinging doors, CP. But siriuskey has me thinking again about moving the bathroom door. I originally intended to move it but backed off due to cost. Now I'm rethinking, as I can see a way to achieve some savings on tiling to offset the cost, and it would give me a much nicer layout I think, by swapping the bath and vanity as siriuskey suggested, putting a towel cpd where the door is now, and a small niche with shelving where the very small towel cpd was going. It still limits the vanity to about 1m I think, but there are some bonuses elsewhere.

This is a basic idea of what would be possible if you changed the door, and removed part of the timber framed wall between the existing bathroom and toilet. Dimensions have been rounded, There would be no need for the second vanity in the powder room. my walls are 100, Can you confirm the distance between the vanity and bath walls

I forgot to add that I have issue with access to the current toilet being the family toilet when having to walk through the bathroom to access it

This toilet also needs to service the pool. I think this new floorplan makes access for both uses easier

I love it, siriuskey, and it certainly has some major advantages. My concern is cost, as there's quite a bit involved in turning the toilet around, reducing the size of the linen cpd and inserting a door where there is currently only an opening. Also, the linen cupboard would shrink quite a bit and it's already way too small. I guess the shelves beside the bath could accommodate extra towels, but I was trying to get extra towel storage without shrinking the existing linen storage space. I do like the longer vanity and there would be a saving having only one vanity, but... and this is the biggest issue for me... the toilet isn't accessible when someone is using the bathroom. I agree with your comment about having to walk through the bathroom to go from the pool to the toilet. It's not ideal. But at least currently it's possible to use the toilet while someone is showering or bathing, especially with a small vanity in the loo to wash hands after use. Also, one can't access the linen cpd if someone is showering or bathing.

In terms of looks, your plan is first class. I love that you would be looking at the vanity when entering. That's definitely a plus. and the bath fits really nicely and a freestanding would be fine there. There's a lovely big shower that uses the angled wall efficiently. Lots of plusses! I just think the lack of privacy and cost negates the positives, sadly. But I really appreciate you taking the time to draw this and to make suggestions. It's all food for thought and very helpful.

i have had a problem with accessing the toilet from within the house, while trying to still give access the the pool for the toilet, the following would give better access. The open doorway between the vanity and the bathroom could have a door

This with a door and other changes, Removing the need to square off the shower wall and add an extra vanity in the powder room will allow these costs to be used for a better floor plan. The wall between the two rooms are timber framed so easy to work with. Thinking back you had problems with moving some plumbing so Saniflo systems were suggested, at the same time you were also trying to work around maintaining tiling. But as it now appears that you will be gutting these things, which at the end of the day is the best idea to get the best end result and will cost more to do this.

That's actually very close to my original concept, siriuskey, and I still really like it. Expert opinion declared that it imposed big risk to my flooring as they would have to cut through the middle of the porcelain tiles in the entry to what you have made the vanity area. The advice was that it's almost impossible to cut the tiles neatly without causing a breakage that would then impose a requirement to retile the entire hallway - which would then not match the living room and study - because we can't match the floor tiles. The consensus was that it was fine to tile the bathroom and toilet floor with completely different tiles, but it would be problematical if we had broken tiles in the hallway.

Also, apparently the plumbing worked out very expensive because they have to run a drain from the new vanity across to a new floor waste in the middle of the vanity area and then over to join with the present shower drain, plus run a new drain over to the new bath tub.

I am learning a lot about the hazards of trying to renovate a very solidly-built concrete house on a thick slab! All our past renovations have been houses on timber floors, except one in which we didn't need to change any drainage.

I think we might have to live with a solution that is far from ideal, unfortunately.

I am nowhere near as skilled drawing plans as you, but this is my latest attempt. It limits space for hanging towels a bit, and the bath would have to be a back-to-wall corner model, which is costly, but overall I think it might be as good as it gets. In our last house, the designer put the towel rails in the WIR and I didn't like the idea of walking over carpet to reach my towel so I ended up just using large hooks and that worked perfectly fine, so maybe that is the solution here.

I might add that in my original concept, the linen closet ran along the wall where you have the bath and opened out into the hallway, meaning the wall between the hall and bathroom had to be moved back, which added cost. But it was the drainage in what's now the linen closet area that threw everyone who looked at the job.

best way to save money is to minimise changes to the floor and walls and use standard fixtures and new plumbing can be disguised so that extra pipes are inside the cabinetry and connected to the original floor wastes...my suggestion uses a standard 1200 x 450 vanity and 600 x 450 bank of drawers with a custom counter to create a corner vanity with a standard small drop in sink, a standard 1600 x 750 drop in bath set into a tiled custom sized surround with a gorgeous curved end, a standard 1200 x 900 shower stall to avoid challenges created by drainage needed for walk in shower floors, the minor changes to the wall allows for the standard 900x 450 vanity in the new powder room, with an open tall alcove for rolled towels next to the shower and no changes to the original linen cupboard but i have to say that bathrooms are extraordinarily expensive so extra savings can be made by avoiding floor to ceiling tiles and super glamorous tiles, taps etc and using bling money to get the ideal floor plan

You won't gain any space by having that cumbersome corner vanity, I would change that. The shower will be cheaper and better to follow the angled wall leaving open at the end near the vanity. You still have difficult access to the toilet for famiy and guest use from within the house. The pool access has the most consideration

You appear to have too many things to over come that some how include other rooms, I would strongly suggest that you speak to an Architect or a very good draftsman, it would be worth it, no point in throwing good money after bad

I think you've nailed it, oklouise, if I can convince the pro to go with this idea! The only negative is that I don't like where the shower is now because you step out wet into a doorway, but for the use that shower gets (only when guests stay over) it's really not a big deal.

I will double check the measurements now, and put this proposal forward. I know the designer will try to insist on a freestanding bath, but I'll have to argue that point strenuously because it really does not work in such a small space. I particularly like the way the bath fits in with a little platform at the end for bath salts, soaps, etc. And there will be good storage space in the vanity and drawers. I did prefer the shower on the other side, but it's really not worth the compromises. And you have solved the problems I struggled with when placing the bath where the vanity is now.

Having a local Pro that can visit the site is very important to see what we can't, good luck with everything.