Bathroom Design Gallery In Exeter
Which of these are you drawn to?
The four styles we design most across Exeter and East Devon, with what each one actually involves to build.
Most people find it far easier to point at a photograph than to describe a bathroom. So this is the set of references we work through on a first visit, to get from "something like that" to a specification quickly.
One thing to be straight about: these are licensed reference photographs, not pictures of our own completed bathrooms. Our project photography is being put together at the moment. Plenty of companies present stock imagery as their own work and we would rather not - if you want evidence of what we build, we will put you in touch with someone whose bathroom we have finished.
Tell Us What You Like
Tell us a little about the room and we will come back to you to arrange a visit. No obligation, and no pressure to decide on the day.
Style 01
Contemporary stone
£22,000 – £35,000+
- Who it suits
- Larger rooms, modern or well-extended houses, and anyone who wants the room to feel calm rather than decorative.
- What it involves
- Large-format porcelain or natural stone in a single tone, run floor to ceiling to minimise material changes. Concealed cisterns and valve bodies so nothing interrupts the surfaces. A freestanding bath as the single sculptural object in the room. Lighting layered rather than centred - recessed downlights for function, concealed strips to wash the stone.
- The honest drawback
- This is the least forgiving style to build. Large formats need a genuinely flat substrate, and with so few grout lines any deviation in level is obvious. It also needs the room to be big enough - squeezed into a small bathroom it reads as cold rather than calm.
Style 02
Period restoration
£18,000 – £30,000
- Who it suits
- Georgian and Victorian property, and especially listed buildings in Topsham, central Exeter, Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton.
- What it involves
- A roll-top or slipper bath, often on feet, with floor-mounted brassware. Twin basins on a console or separate pedestals. Traditional crosshead or lever taps in chrome or unlacquered brass that is allowed to patinate. Monochrome or encaustic-pattern floor tiling, panelled walls to dado height, and paint colours drawn from the period rather than from current fashion.
- The honest drawback
- Two constraints tend to bite. Cast iron baths are heavy enough to need the joists checked, and in a listed building the interior is protected too - Exeter City Council's guidance is explicit that the entire building is listed including all internal features. The consent position has to be established before the design is fixed.
Style 03
Dark boutique
£20,000 – £32,000
- Who it suits
- En-suites, principal bathrooms with good artificial lighting, and anyone who finds pale bathrooms clinical.
- What it involves
- Dark marble or a marble-effect porcelain, book-matched where the budget allows. Brass or bronze brassware against it. Backlit mirrors and wall lights rather than a bright ceiling fitting. Dark grout so the surface reads as continuous. Frequently a wall-hung vanity in a warm timber to stop the scheme going flat.
- The honest drawback
- It needs light designed properly, not just installed - a dark room with a single central downlight is a cave. In hard-water Exmouth, Sidmouth, Budleigh or Honiton, dark surfaces also show water marks far more than pale ones, so it is worth being honest with yourself about how often you will wipe them down.
Style 04
Warm spa
£16,000 – £28,000
- Who it suits
- Family bathrooms, wet rooms, and rooms where the priority is that it feels good to be in rather than that it photographs well.
- What it involves
- Travertine, limestone or a warm stone-effect porcelain. Timber - real or a convincing porcelain - on a vanity or a feature wall. Level-access showering with a generous head. Underfloor heating throughout, which in a wet room is close to essential rather than a luxury. Softer, warmer lighting and often a bench in the showering area.
- The honest drawback
- Travertine and limestone are porous and need sealing and non-acidic cleaning. If that sounds like a chore, current stone-effect porcelains are genuinely excellent and we will not think less of the choice.
References
The Rest Of The Reference Set
Details as much as whole rooms. Often it is a single element - a tap, a niche, a way of finishing a corner - that tells us what someone actually wants.
Questions
Gallery Questions
- Are these photographs of bathrooms you have installed?
- No, and we would rather say so plainly. These are licensed reference photographs we use in consultations to work out what a client is drawn to. Our own project photography is being put together now. In the meantime, if you would like to speak to someone whose bathroom we have completed, we will arrange it - that is better evidence than a photograph anyway.
- Can you mix these styles?
- Most finished rooms do. Nobody arrives wanting a category - they arrive with a bath they like, a tile they saw somewhere and a room that will only allow certain things. The styles above are a way of narrowing the conversation quickly, not a menu to pick from.
- Which style suits a small bathroom?
- Warm spa and dark boutique both work well in small rooms, for opposite reasons - one because warm materials make a tight space feel welcoming, the other because a continuous dark surface hides the boundaries. Contemporary stone is the one that genuinely needs space. Period restoration depends entirely on the property.
- Do you provide physical samples?
- Yes, and we would encourage it. Tile, stone and brassware all look different in your own room's light than in a showroom or on a screen - particularly in Devon, where a lot of the year is flat overcast light. We bring samples to the second meeting and leave them with you.
- How do I choose brassware finish?
- Start with your water. In soft-water Exeter, Topsham and Newton Abbot almost anything works, including unlacquered brass that will patinate. In hard-water Exmouth, Sidmouth, Budleigh and Honiton, finishes that show water marks need wiping constantly, so brushed finishes outperform polished ones. After that it is aesthetics, and we would specify one finish family throughout rather than mixing.
- What if I have no idea what I want?
- That is the normal starting point and it is genuinely fine. We go through reference images at the first visit and you tell us what you react to. People are far better at recognising what they like than describing it, which is exactly why this page exists.
Feedback
What Clients Say
Rated 5 out of 5
“We had put off doing the main bathroom for years because the house is Georgian and we were nervous about what was behind the panelling. They took the whole wall back, found the old lead feed we suspected was there, and re-ran it properly before any tiling started. The set-out on the marble is what sells the room - the cuts all land in the corners.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Our en-suite is a small room in a Victorian villa with a horrible drainage run. Three other firms told us a wet room was not possible. This lot spent an hour with a laser level working out the falls, then built it. Two years on there is no movement and no damp anywhere near the joists.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“What I appreciated most was the drawings. We saw three layouts before committing, including one that moved the door - which we would never have thought of and which made the whole room work. Being able to see it properly first was worth every penny of the design fee.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Freestanding bath on a first floor in a 1930s semi, so the joists needed checking and doubling up in one place. They flagged it on the survey rather than discovering it halfway through, which is presumably why the quote did not move once. Filler position was marked out and agreed before the floor went back down.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“The thing nobody warns you about is the dust. They sheeted the landing and the stairs every single morning and hoovered before they left. Eleven working days, one team, same two faces throughout. My neighbour has now booked them.”
Coverage
Areas We Cover
We work across Exeter and out into East and Mid Devon. If your town is not listed, it is still worth asking - the practical limit is travel time rather than a fixed radius.
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Bring Us A Photograph You Like
Genuinely - screenshots, a page torn out of a magazine, a Pinterest board. It is the fastest way for us to understand what you are after, and the first visit is free.