‘We Wanted understated luxury’

Inspired by an Italian holiday, Jessie was determined to include some elegant grey marble in her new bathroom and redesign the layout to create a more spacious feel

Jessie went for Italian elegance in her new-look bathroom

We stretched ourselves to buy this house and when our children, Freya and toby, came along, we were just too busy to do much about the dated decor,’ says Jessie. ‘But by last summer, my husband Mark and I had managed to save up a bit of money. the bathroom badly needed doing and so did the en suite, so we decided to do both together, to save on some of the plumbing costs.

Luxurious choices

The major problem was the huge Jacuzzi bath that took over most of the bathroom. We completely redesigned the space on paper and found there was enough room to put a conventional bath on the right-hand side, which would instantly make the space seem bigger. The bath would be against a wall, which would enable us to put in an overhead shower, which we really needed.

We found a great local plumber who was recommended to us, and we started choosing the sanitaryware. We both like classic design and wanted to invest in high quality pieces as we’re not planning to do this again in a hurry.

For Mark’s 40th birthday, we treated ourselves to a holiday in Venice, and it was there that I fell in love with marble. Back home, we found some marble tiles

at Topps Tiles. They weren’t cheap but they’re natural stone, and I think they add understated luxury. The large ones suited the walls, and although many people put mosaics inside the shower, we decided to be different and put them on the floor.

Colour and contrast

We installed a compact vanity unit for much-needed storage and chose one in a shade that matches the grey veins in the marble. Its glossy texture also creates a contrast with the marble walls and floor. I went for the biggest mirror possible above the unit, which reflects light around the room and makes it feel even bigger.

With expensive tiles on two of the walls, we needed to keep within our budget, so we opted to paint the far wall in a soft grey, which is easily wipeable.

I wanted to add another shot of colour and was thinking of teal blue. So I was really happy to find some towels in the sales in that exact colour and with a herringbone design along the bottom, which exactly matched the floor tiles. They could have been made for me, so I snapped them up! We’re just so pleased with the way our bathroom’s turned out.’

EFFORTLESS STYLE ‘elegant marble tiles and an improved layout have made our bathroom feel lighter’

VERSATILE SHOWERING ‘the large shower head is great for a major drenching, but I also wanted a hand-held one for hair washing and cleaning’

make room ‘Moving the bath against the wall has freed up space, while having overhead and hand-held showers has given us flexibility’

Sleek and neat ‘We searched for a compact vanity unit so it didn’t stick out too far and slotted in neatly between the windows’