ᐅ Renovation of guest toilet (1.65 sqm) and bathroom (4.88 sqm)

Hello everyone, this is my first post in this great forum. Until now, we (two adults, a 1-year-old, and a 3-year-old) have always rented a place with 80 sqm (860 sq ft). Now we have bought a 4-room apartment of 85 sqm (915 sq ft), built in the 1960s, on the right bank of the Rhine in Cologne.

So far, very little has been done in the apartment and it has just been gutted. We need new vinyl flooring with baseboards, completely new electrical installation with RCD (residual current device) and Cat7 cabling, new bathrooms (very small, which I believe is typical for the building period), new tiles, and also new plaster and wallpaper, and so on... We will keep the IKEA kitchen, which will only get a new tile backsplash.

The biggest “construction project” is the bathroom: I’ll share our plans and thoughts here. I hope you’ll join in and comment.

The first plumber we spoke to only wanted to sell us items from his stock of sanitary components (is that the right term?), and that came to about 10,000 euros without the soil pipes. But all the parts were from the company Sanibel and some looked really bad — especially the toilet. The price markups here were about 3/4 to 1.5 times.

We now have a different plumber who confirmed he would also help us, for example by ordering stock items directly from Megabad. Here are the two projects: guest WC

Renovation of the guest WC (1.22m x 1.36m = 1.65 sqm / 4 ft x 4.5 ft = 17.7 sq ft)

• Possible instant water heater? (This requires a high-power electrical connection, which is expensive and probably unnecessary, according to my partner... I’m unsure if it would improve usability and the resale value of the apartment in case we find a better place or a house.)
• Small washbasin, preferably with a vanity cabinet (round or rectangular, depending on which fits better in the space — e.g., Godmorgon from Ikea? versus Geberit Icon with something underneath or wall-mounted)
• Toilet, preferably a wall-hung close-coupled toilet with concealed cistern (Geberit or similar, flush plates like Sigma 01, which we have in our current rented apartment)
• Possibly a small towel radiator, 45 cm wide, less than 1 m high, if it fits
• Omit wall tiles? But then the area around the recessed in-wall cistern might look odd, probably

And this is what it currently looks like:

For the small bathroom, there’s also the idea of moving the door to open outward towards the front door. This wouldn’t cause much disturbance and would mean we wouldn’t have to consider the door swing inside the bathroom. The question is whether this would gain us significantly more space to plan differently or if it wouldn’t make much of a difference. The bathroom is very small anyway; here is the current status.

Bathroom renovation (by shifting the wall: 3.05m x 1.6m = 4.88 sqm / 10 ft x 5.25 ft = 52.5 sq ft)

• Instant water heater
• Large shower bath (about 1.70m x 75 cm) (5 ft 7 in x 30 in) with splash guard wall versus a large bathtub with later add-ons... I’m unclear if shower baths are really worth the extra cost.
• Large washbasin (Geberit Icon, Ideal Standard, or similar)
• Long, wide towel radiator next to the door (75 cm x at least 112 cm) (30 in x 44 in)
• Tile backsplash 1.20 m (4 ft) or slightly higher around the bathtub

And this is how it looks now:

What do you think of our plans? Where should I give this more thought? Do you have a similar city apartment and have planned similar renovations? (Honestly, I don’t even know where to start; as I said, we are renovating EVERYTHING except the windows and other common property. The bathroom and the tiles are currently the most urgent. I thought I’d post here.)

I’d be happy to hear your opinions and suggestions. Although it’s only 5 sqm (54 sq ft) and 1.5 sqm (16 sq ft), we want to use it for four people. Do you have ideas for good fittings?

Oh, and including renewal of the apartment’s plumbing parts, we don’t want to spend more than 20,000 euros (plumbing installation / tiles / screed replacement in the bathroom / pipe renewal in the building)… that should be doable, right? I’m a rookie and hope I can start a discussion here about our plans and everything related to this.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

Renovation of the guest toilet (1.22 x 1.36 m = 1.65 sqm (13.8 sq ft))

• Possibly an instantaneous water heater (? would require high voltage here, expensive and actually unnecessary, says my girlfriend... I’m unsure if it might improve usability and increase the resale value of the apartment in case we do find a better apartment or house

If you’re having electrical work done anyway, it can be done. It’s definitely not essential. How about a mini instantaneous water heater? That also runs on “normal” power.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

Small sink, preferably with vanity cabinet (round or rectangular, depending on what makes more sense space-wise --> Godmorgon Ikea? Or Geberit Icon with something underneath or wall-mounted)

Icon combines well with Godmorgon. You just need to match the drain to the cabinet (or vice versa).

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

Toilet, if possible a wall-hung low-flush toilet with concealed cistern (Geberit or similar, flush plates like Sigma 01, which we have in our current rental)

Then go for it.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

(Possible small towel radiator 45 cm wide, less than 1 m tall, needs to fit)

Completely unnecessary.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

Skipping wall tiles? But then the concealed cistern might look a bit odd, probably.

Tiles only where needed. So on the floor and behind the sink. You can do without them at the toilet too—it doesn’t look strange. But tiles or mosaic can always add a nice accent.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

In the small bathroom, also the idea to move the door to open outward towards the front door.

At least it prevents the door from suddenly being swung fully open into your back when someone else enters while you’re inside.

dankon7gookoel schrieb:

Large shower-bathtub combo (about 1.70 x 0.75 m (5 ft 7 in x 2 ft 6 in)) with splash guard VS large bathtub and retrofit later.. I’m unsure if the shower-bathtubs are really worth the extra cost.

Skip the bathtub, have a large shower instead.

The rest is a matter of taste. For example, I’d skip the towel radiator. It never proved useful for me/us. Also, tile choice and wall design are very individual preferences. Fully tiled walls up to the ceiling, making it look like an operating room, are out of style. Icon also pairs well with Godmorgon here. I’d rather pick a nice wall cabinet from the series instead of a towel radiator. Somewhere you need to store all your stuff anyway.

Please show the entire floor plan including the wastewater pipes.

Where do you get 175 cm (69 inches) tub length in the large bathroom? I see a maximum of 160 cm (63 inches) outer dimension for the tub, and you should consider skipping the tub altogether and installing a really nice, spacious shower instead.

Is the large bathroom going to have no toilet?

For the small bathroom, definitely have the door open outwards. You might want to consider that for the large bathroom as well. In my bathroom (about 210x210 cm / 83x83 inches), that makes a huge difference.

Hello everyone, thank you very much for the many responses, especially Norderney. We had actually planned to break through the wall in the guest WC to install a shower there. However, we decided against it because of the cost. The question of whether to skip the bathtub in favor of a larger shower area is certainly valid. Thanks! The dimensions across the bathroom really only allow for a small bathtub. We had also considered rotating it and then choosing a larger one — oval, round, or rectangular. We do enjoy bathing so far, but from a sustainability perspective, even with four people, it’s not ideal. Okay, we will skip the towel holder in the guest WC then. The tip about a small instantaneous water heater might be an option, although I suspect such a device could require more maintenance. In any case, we will need to take this into account when planning the power outlets in the guest WC. I will also take another look at the combination of Godmorgon (IKEA) with the Geberit Ikon on Google image search for inspiration.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a floor plan showing the pipes, but I could mark them on the sketch. In the guest WC, the pipes are on the right-hand side when entering, at the end of the wall.

In the bathroom, they should be roughly where the sink is marked on the sketch.

We will move the doors outward in both rooms, installing new doors, door frames, and jambs, as this really makes a big difference.

I still need to consider whether to add an extra toilet in the large bathroom. Since there are four of us, we originally considered expanding the small guest WC, but we decided against it in favor of expanding the main bathroom. Overall, as mentioned, we did not want to spend more than 20,000 on tile screed, the actual installation, and the renewal of the plumbing sections in the apartment. I suspect we would reach our limit if we also expanded the guest WC.

Thanks!

Well, I find it quite practical to have a toilet where I want to shower. Because often you need to quickly use the toilet.

For the 305 x 160 cm (120 x 63 inches) space, I would start from the top of the plan with a 90 cm (35 inch) wide shower, then a 90 cm (35 inch) wide and 10 cm (4 inch) deep shower partition. That leaves a 70 cm (28 inch) passage to the right into the shower, which can be closed off with a shower curtain or an inward-opening shower door on the right if there is too much splashing.

Then a 120 cm (47 inch) washbasin with a vanity cabinet, for example Godmorgon.

That leaves 85 cm (33 inch) for a toilet.

The bathroom door should ideally open outwards and towards the bottom of the plan.