This was a proper bathroom renovation — and by proper, I mean there was very little left untouched by the time I was finished. The existing layout wasn't working, particularly with the position of the toilet, so rather than trying to work around it, we completely reworked the room. The toilet was relocated, which meant changing the floor levels to accommodate the new plumbing. That led to another job within the job: repairing the existing floorboards and raising the floor at one end so everything could be routed and finished properly.

Once the floor was sorted, the whole room could be rebuilt around the new layout. We managed to fit a shower, bath, toilet and sink into the space without making it feel like someone had played bathroom Tetris and lost. The wet-room area was designed around the new levels and drainage, with the room prepared properly before the waterproofing, tiling and final installation could begin.

There was a lot of preparation behind the finished look — repairing the floor, building up the levels, moving plumbing, getting everything lined up and making sure the various elements actually worked together before the finishes went in. It's the sort of work that isn't particularly glamorous while you're doing it, but it makes all the difference to how the finished bathroom performs.

The final layout gives the room much more functionality, with the bath and shower working together rather than competing for space, and the relocated toilet allowing the whole arrangement to work far better. The finishes then bring everything together into a clean, contemporary wet-room style without losing the practicality of having a proper bath as well.

This was a good example of why I tend to get involved in the whole process rather than just the design side. If something doesn't work, I'll move it. If the floor needs raising, I'll raise it. If the floorboards need repaired, I'll repair them. Then we can worry about making it look good.

And there was a fair bit to worry about on this one. By the time the tools were down, the room had effectively had a new layout, repaired flooring, altered floor levels, relocated plumbing, a new wet-room area and four pieces of sanitaryware — shower, bath, toilet and sink. What started as a bathroom that wasn't really working became a space that actually does.