Real bathrooms we have designed and fitted

Large format stone effect porcelain floor to ceiling, a wood veneer vanity carrying twin countertop basins, matt black brassware in the shower, and a freestanding bath with a waterproof TV set flush into the tiled wall so it sits dead level with the surface. Next door, a level access wet room with a lit recessed niche and a black rainfall head. Everything you can see was moved to suit the design (the waste, the feeds, the wiring for the screen) rather than the design being bent around where the pipes already were. That is the difference between a room that looks fitted and a room that looks designed.

Sage green square tile run to dado height with the rest of the wall left plain, so the colour reads as a deliberate band rather than swallowing the room. An ornate white vanity carries a countertop basin, a round lit mirror sits on the wall between the two windows, and the freestanding bath is fed by a floor-standing brushed brass tap. Behind the glass there is a separate walk-in shower, so two people can use the room at once without it feeling like a compromise.

Vein-matched green onyx effect porcelain behind a brushed brass framed shower enclosure, with the veining running continuously across the joints. Slabs like this are unforgiving. The pattern has to be dry-laid and planned before a single tile goes on the wall, because there is no hiding a joint that breaks the vein. The bath sits against the same stone so the whole end of the room reads as one piece. The shower room next door is part of the same job, finished in the same stone.

White metro tiling with a patterned border band running through the shower, a black framed walk-in screen, a charcoal panelled dado and a black vanity with brass handles. The round black mirror opposite reflects the shower back into the room, which is the trick that makes a narrow space read as generous. The encaustic floor runs under the vanity and up to the shower, where a black tray with a brass gully picks the black back out of the tiling.

A full-length handleless vanity with twin basins down one wall, a freestanding bath under the shutters, and a separate corner shower. Running the vanity the whole length of the wall rather than sitting a smaller unit in the middle is what makes the room feel calm. There is no dead space either side, and the storage more than doubles. The plantation shutters let the room stay bright without ever being overlooked.

Calacatta effect porcelain floor to ceiling with the veining carried across the corner, a black wall-hung vanity, a square backlit mirror and matt black brassware in the shower. Everything is wall-hung and the shower sits on a low profile tray, so the floor runs unbroken from the door to the far wall. That is what buys the space back, not a bigger room, just fewer things standing on the floor.

Large format white marble effect porcelain with a black framed shower screen, a black wall-hung vanity and a tall black ladder radiator. The black framing picks up the leading in the original window instead of fighting it, which is the whole reason the room works. The vanity is wall-hung, and the lighting is set behind the mirror so there is nothing hanging off the walls to catch.

Large format grey marble effect porcelain, a curved wall-hung vanity, a wide backlit mirror and a chrome shower column behind a frameless screen. The curve on the vanity is not decoration. It is what stops the unit catching you every time you step out of the shower in a room this width. Small decision, made at design stage, that you feel every single day.

Stone effect porcelain across the walls and floor, with a darker linear tile picking out the shower wall. A large low profile tray sits behind a chrome framed screen, with a backlit mirror, a chrome ladder radiator and a slot window set high in the wall so the room gets daylight without giving up any privacy or any wall. A close-coupled WC and a compact vanity keep as much of the floor clear as a room this size allows.

White metro tiling with a solid wood shelf carrying a square countertop basin, a backlit mirror and a walk-in shower. The timber shelf runs the width of the wall above a compact drawer unit, so the basin gets a solid landing without the bulk of a full-height vanity. The timber was cut, sealed and fitted on site to the exact run of the wall, which is the only way it sits tight in a room that is never quite square.

Victorian pattern floor tiles laid corner to corner, a navy vanity with chrome brassware and a chrome framed shower enclosure against white metro tiling. Patterned floors like this have to be set out from the centre of the room and cut into the edges, otherwise you end up with half a pattern in the doorway, which is the first thing anyone sees.

A full wall of patterned encaustic-style tile behind a floating solid wood shelf and a countertop basin, with a wall-hung WC and concealed cistern. Nobody spends long in a cloakroom, so it can carry a pattern that would be too much anywhere else, and because the room is small, a feature wall costs very little to do properly.

Mustard walls, a navy patterned floor, a brass tap and a navy oval mirror. Three strong colours in a room this size only works if the proportions are right, so the mirror was sized and hung to the basin rather than to the wall. It is a small room that people comment on, which is exactly what a downstairs loo should be.

A shower room fitted into the eaves with the enclosure set under the highest point of the slope, a floor-standing vanity and a mirror positioned so you can actually stand in front of it. Loft rooms live or die on where the shower goes. Get that wrong and you are ducking every morning for the next twenty years.

Dark green metro tile stacked vertically, run full height in the shower and to dado height around the rest of the room, with a wood vanity carrying a countertop basin. Going dark in a small room is counter-intuitive and it works, as long as the lighting is planned for it, which it was, before the first tile went up.

Sage green herringbone tiling run full height through the shower and behind the basin, with a brushed brass framed enclosure, a brass rainfall shower, a brass towel rail and a brass tap on a slim wall-hung wood vanity. The room is barely wider than its door, so everything was chosen to keep the floor clear: a wall-hung pan with a concealed cistern, a compact basin and a mirror cabinet instead of a shelf. The stone effect floor runs uninterrupted under the vanity and up to the shower tray, which is what makes a small room feel planned rather than squeezed.

Fluted terracotta tiling to dado height with a brass trim, a terrazzo floor, and brass throughout: the crosshead tap, the towel rail, the flush plate and the round wall light. The cistern is boxed in behind a wall-hung pan with a lit niche above it and built-in cupboards over that, so the plumbing disappears and the storage does not. It is a small room, and the point of a small room done well is that nothing in it looks like a compromise.

Green herringbone tiling to the ceiling around the bath and to dado height elsewhere, with a brushed brass framed bath screen, an exposed brass shower with a rainfall head and handset, a wall-hung toilet with a brass flush plate, a wood vanity with drawers and a brass towel rail. Herringbone is unforgiving, because every cut at a corner or around the bath shows, so the set-out was worked out before the first tile went up and the pattern lands cleanly on the brass-trimmed ledge that runs the length of the room.

Calacatta Viola marble on the walls and the floor, with deep burgundy paint above the tiling so the veining has something solid to sit against. A freestanding bath under the window, a walk-in shower alongside it with a brushed brass rainfall head and riser, a wall-hung toilet, and a fluted wood vanity carrying twin round countertop basins with brushed brass taps beneath a backlit mirror. Viola is a loud marble, so the restraint goes everywhere else: brass, wood and one paint colour are the only other finishes in the room. Large-format marble on both the walls and the floor also means the set-out has to be right first time, because there is nowhere to hide a bad cut in a slab that size.