I am super excited by the thought of having a utility room! Having three kids and a large dog who all make a lot of mess, I needed a dedicated room for that!!
As you can see from the drawings we’re making this small room really work hard, we’ve taken a lot of time to plan this room and what it will have in it as I wanted to gain so much from this one room. We even went as far as to obtain sampling kits from Asbestos-Sampling.com to ensure our rooms are renovation-ready from the outset.
To plan your own bathroom, follow this link and check out a step-by-step guide on how to design a bathroom. This way, you can easily experiment with materials and colours, move the items, calculate the dimensions, and visualize your room design in 2D and 3D. It’s a great starting point for anyone wanting to renovate their bathroom on a small budget, because you’ll get the full scope of the plan before making any decisions.
What Are We Having In The Utility Room?
- Boiler to get it out of the kitchen
- A large shower
- Toilet
- Washing Machine
- Storage for household items and various kids play equipment
- Sink
OUR FINISHED UTILITY SHOWER ROOM HERE
Boiler Housed
The utility room is the ideal placement for a boiler, as it frees up space in the kitchen while keeping the appliance easily accessible for maintenance and repairs. Due to the compact design of combi boilers, you can relocate them to various locations and save extra space. If you’re looking to update and relocate your boiler at the same time, use the ‘find a boiler’ tool on BOXT to discover the most suitable boiler for your property.
Large Shower Enclosure
I knew I wanted a large shower enclosure in this room as I want to be able to wash the dog in it too (don’t worry I will clean it after!!) He’s a big dog and needs a large shower space and the one I have ordered allows me to be able to stand in the first half and wash him. Also having another shower allows more than one person in the house to have a shower at the same time too!
This is the one I have ordered from Victoria Plum, I have wanted one like this since we knew we were having another shower installed!
I also want to shake it up with the shower colour too, we’ve always had chrome fittings in every house we’ve had so to bring in the black colour scheme I’m going to have a black mixer shower. I love the ones that have an overhead unit too but we’re sticking with a mixer shower that has a bar coming out of the wall. As I think these are easier to replace long term as they usually come with standard sizing for the plumbing.
Adding The Soft Touches
It’s nice to be able to add softer touches to this room, as a lot of things in this room are practical and clean-lined. Picking shower mats that suit the colour scheme of the room, but using soft materials adds colour and warmth to the room. Pick out colours that pull your colour scheme together, but also make sure they’re practical, think about a non-slip backing and absorbency. You can get mats in all shapes and sizes, including a curved shower mat which would work curving around the shower entrance, keeping the floor dry.
Adding A Toilet
As a family of 5 with the only bathroom, it can be a bit of a squeeze at times, and I think it’s only going to get worse as the kids get older too. So adding another toilet was a massive reason having a room we could put this in. We had some drainage issues once the build started and it turns out we’re going to have to have a Saniflow toilet installed instead of a standard toilet.
We wanted to go for a hidden cistern toilet as I think it looks really tidy but also it’s much easier to clean. The piping and cistern are hidden in the wall so no pipes to clean around and also having the toilet off the floor means I can mop the floor so easily.
Large Sink
As it’s a utility room I wanted to have a large sink rather just a hand washing sink, but to also save money we’re going to bring in the existing kitchen units and sink section into the utility area. This easily gives me a piece of worktop, a sink and a space for the washing machine.
Storage Units
I can then use all these units to store cleaning products, dog items, and washing items away neatly. Keeping the space clear and easy to clean.
Heating In This Room
We did consider having underfloor heating in this room but it’s very expensive and we weren’t going to have it throughout the new extension either, so a lot of work for just one area too. I wanted to be able to have control over the heating in this room and not have it only running through the central heating system. I wanted to be able to turn it on myself for drying washing or drying out the room after showers etc. Also nice to have warm towels after a shower too!
We’re having a towel radiator like this which can be controlled through the central heating system but also allows me to heat it up with a flick of a switch too.
Window Options
We have had to plan this room really well as it’s an enclosed room with a vaulted ceiling, so when it comes to natural light we have had to think more carefully. We have a couple of options, one is to put in a Velux window, they come in different styles and are easy to pick up from trade window suppliers in different sizes that suit your space. Or we could look into a sun tunnel which can be installed on the roof, and tunnel down natural light into the room.
Decor Ideas
Primarily, I’m going for black, white and marble….but I wanted to warm it up with some wood and greenery. The worktop from the kitchen is a wood effect laminate, which is very practical and warms up the room.
Tiling Ideas
I love the look of marble and black grout, I think it would tie all the colours together nicely too. I have fallen in love with the real marble metro shaped wall tiles, they sparkle when the light hits them and are so pretty.
I think I would put them with black grout, like this setup, it would be good for maintenance as they wouldn’t show so much grime up over time when the white grout fades.
My other choice, if we’re going to look at pricing, would be some Hexagon ones from Metro Tiles. I received a full-size sample from them and it was a really nice tile. The picture makes the marbling look brown in this picture but it’s not it’s black. So again I would have the black grout.
Flooring Ideas
I am being very practical in this room and looking for a very easy to clean the floor without any groves or grouting. The muddy dog is going to be in here often so I want the floor clear of things and ways it can get really grubby quickly. So I love the idea of the luxury vinyl flooring that clicks together nearly seamlessly. I had a look at the idea of epoxy resin flooring at Epoxy Gang as it looks amazing but it seemed a bit of an overkill for just a utility room.
So there are my ideas for our utility room come shower room, I’m making it work with lots of things fitted into it and trying to make it an easy room to clean as well. So I’m hoping I can make it a practical but stylish room too.
My muddy dog is going to put that to the test!!!
Photo Credit – *Rattan Plant Pot / Artisanti *Floor Tile / Walls & Floors Ltd *Black Shower / Meir Australia Pty Ltd *Toilet / The Pure Bathroom Collection *Towel Rail / Frontline Bathrooms *Hexagon Tiles / Metro Tiles *Shower Enclosure / Victoria Plum
OUR FINISHED UTILITY SHOWER ROOM HERE
22 Comments
This looks so great Steph. I love all your choices. It’s going to be so handy to have this extra room. And like you say, the extra bathroom will definitely come in handy as the kids get older! I’m looking forward to seeing this come together. Good luck with it!
Thanks, it’s going to make things so much easier and so nice to have things out of the kitchen like boiler and washing machine. Super excited!
Oh wow this looks like a great renovation! I love what you have in mind too, good luck.
Thank you very much, can’t wait till it’s done and all comes together!
loved this post too, I follow your updates for ideas because we’re about to embark on a renovation journey. EEEK
Eeekkkk exciting though! Have fun and enjoy it, document everything so when you have a tough day you can look back at how far you’ve come
Love your ideas for the shower enclosure. I would definitely go for the hexagon tiles they are lovely.
Oh thanks, nice to get other peoples opinions on what they love our of my choices too
I’ve not heard of people putting a shower and toilet in a utility room before! The shower makes sense though with the dog, and you’ve chosen some beautiful things!
Thank you very much, it’s got to be a multi-purpose room!
This all sounds fab! Utility rooms are such a great addition to a busy family home. I too love that shower.
I think I am going to find it SO useful, I can fill it with all the things you don’t want to see too!!
We had a bathroom makeover a few years back and designed a walk in shower. Best decision ever.
Oh glad it was a good plan to install one, I can’t wait!
I would love a big shower like that. It would make my mornings a lot easier.
Yes it will be very lovely to have a big shower
We have the SMALLEST utility room. It has a washing machine, tumble drier and microwave and thats it. I wouldn’t be without it though!
Yeah but I bet it’s so nice to have it all in one room isn’t it, such a useful space
I love these ideas. We are going bathroom shopping tomorrow funnily enough and I had no idea where to start. I love the large shower cubicle.
Thank you for the inspiration
I can’t wait to shower in there, loads of room!
This is SO exciting! I can’t wait to see the progress. Love that you’re having a black shower x
Thank you very much, be nice to have a change of shower this time