Original article featured in Cambridgeshire Agenda August 2008. Photography courtesy of The White Company, Ideal Standard and Fired Earth.

well-designed bathroom will inspire you to get moving in the morning and give a sense of calm sanctuary in the evening but since it is often the smallest space in the house, clever planning is vital. Cate Burren of Angel and Blume Interior Design shares her top tips for designing your bathroom. Good lighting in your bathroom is absolutely vital – downlighters give good overhead lighting and this should be supplemented with over mirror lighting above the washbasin. Then think about relaxing lighting which could be as simple as candles or as sophisticated as floor lighting or low level recessed wall lighting. Remember that there are very specific requirements for all electrical appliances, including lighting, in your bathroom and you will need a good electrician or lighting designer to advise you.

Choose your style and stick to it – a bathroom may be a small and primarily functional space but there is lots of opportunity to give it character and to make it into a really attractive room. A tidy bathroom is a more beautiful bathroom - storage is key to making a bathroom work and to making it look good day to day. Think about places for personal grooming and make-up paraphernalia, cleaning products, spare loo rolls and possibly clean towels. The key with bathroom storage is that more is more so claim every spare bit of storage space that the room offers.

Before you commit to a new bath, shower, loo, basin etc., go to a good bathroom showroom and take a first hand look. Sit in the bath to make sure it is comfortable, get into the shower to see if it is big enough and lean over the basin to see how washing your face or cleaning your teeth feels. It’s worth doing this because if the first time you try it is when it is plumbed into your bathroom, it’s an expensive mistake to correct, and catalogues can be very deceptive.

Check the sizes in the room – space in the bathroom is often at a premium and sizes of showers, basin, baths and even loos vary tremendously. It’s worth having a scale drawing of the room marking out the new items and even then, measure out sizes in the actual room if you are moving things around or significantly changing the size of items you have already. A good extractor fan is crucial in all bathrooms, but especially if you have a shower and no external windows.Take advice from your electrician on the best model and in general, it is best to position it as close to the shower as possible. In addition, you may want to think about a heated mirror if you tend to shave or put on make-up after showering and want a steam free reflection.

When it comes to heating, towel rails work well in a bathroom and can be either electric, water based linked to your heating system, or both which is good for heating towels in the summer when the heating may be turned off. Remember that loading a towel rail with wet towels will absorb most of the heat leaving the room cold so supplementary heating may be required. You may also want to consider underfloor heating if tiling floors could be cold underfoot.

There are lots of fantastic tiles for bathrooms on the market and you can use a few as a splashback around a bath or shower, or tile the whole room, floor and walls, depending on the look you have settled on. However, there are other options and a bathroom can be totally tile free and still be very practical, if that’s what you decide you want. For floors, think concrete, Marmoleum, Karndean, wood or for total luxury (dare we say it) good quality wool carpet. For wall splashbacks, look at mermaid board, glass or mirror.

If you think that your home could use more colour, the bathroom is a great space to introduce it. Before deciding on a product – a tile, a paint colour etc. – look at it in the room under both natural and artificial light and think about the proportion of the colour to the natural colours (including the white of the sanitary ware – if it is white that you have selected). Whether you pick a strong colour or a opt for naturals, an accent colour in towels or toiletries will work well to lift the overall look.

Last but not least use the right people. A bathroom is one of the hardest rooms to get right in terms of the implementation of the design. A full renovation will most likely need a plumber, electrician, tiler, decorator, joiner, floor layer and possibly also a plasterer, builder, structural engineer etc. It’s crucial that all work is completed to a high standard and that all workmen work well together, so make sure that you employ the right people. Check credentials, get recommendations and don’t be afraid to ask to look at previous work tradesmen have undertaken.