Every so often a job comes in that's really two jobs wearing one coat. This one, in Downhead Park, Milton Keynes, was exactly that: a main bathroom and an en-suite, same house, same customer, same visit from our fitter, but two completely different finishes depending on which door you walked through. We think that's actually the more interesting way to write this one up, because it shows something we don't always get the chance to talk about: how the same underlying approach, the same care with waterproofing, the same eye for what actually works long term, can produce two rooms that look nothing alike.
Why Take On Two Bathrooms in One Visit?
There's a straightforward argument for doing both rooms together rather than treating them as separate projects months apart. One fitter, one schedule, no gap where half the house is mid renovation while you wait for a second booking. In this case both rooms also kept their original layout, which is worth mentioning because it wasn't laziness or a lack of imagination, it was the sensible call. The pipework was already exactly where it needed to be, and in bathrooms this size there isn't a huge amount of room to get creative with a bath or a shower tray anyway. Reusing what already worked kept the cost down and the job quicker, and left the budget free for the parts that actually change how a room feels: the tiles, the sanitaryware, and everything underneath that nobody sees once it's finished.
The Main Bathroom: Confident and Understated
The main bathroom needed a proper strip back to the studwork before anything else happened, and once the old tiling came off, it went the way most bathrooms of this age do: tired adhesive, an ageing peach suite, and a layout that had clearly done its job for a couple of decades without much attention since. Before any tile touched the wall, the room was tanked with Laticrete's Hydro Ban system. It's one of those steps that's invisible in the finished photos and easy to skimp on if you're chasing a lower quote, but it's the difference between a bathroom that stays sound for years and one that starts causing problems the first time someone's teenager has a twenty minute shower.
For the tiles themselves we went with Veronica Grey, a matt ceramic on the walls, with a linear décor tile worked in as a quiet feature band, and a matching porcelain floor tile at 60x60cm. It's not a flashy choice, and we'd argue that's exactly its strength. A grey this even and this well matched between wall and floor gives a room somewhere to breathe, especially useful in a family bathroom that needs to look good every single day rather than just in photographs.
The bath, a Miami single ended model at 1600x700mm, went back in the same spot as before, now with a shower over the top complete with an overhead rose and riser rail, giving the household the choice of a soak or a proper shower without needing to touch the plumbing. The vanity unit and WC unit are both from Bathrooms to Love's Volta range in grey gloss, chosen deliberately to sit alongside the tiling rather than compete with it, and the WC itself is a Cilantro rimless pan, which we'll come back to below because it's genuinely one of the more useful upgrades on offer at the moment, not just a trend for the sake of it. A chrome ladder towel rail and a mirrored cabinet with a built in shaver socket finish the room off, unglamorous additions on paper but the sort of thing you notice within about a week of not having them.
Both tile adhesives used here came from our own Benfer range, a fast set grey for some areas and a slower set white for others depending on what the installation called for. If you're tiling at any real scale yourself, it's worth a look, we run pallet deals on it and it's the same product our own fitters reach for.
The En-Suite: A Different Character Entirely
The en-suite told a rather more dramatic story once the old flooring came up. Underneath sat a subfloor that had clearly taken on water over time, dark staining, softened board, the sort of damage that doesn't announce itself until someone's already lifted the vinyl. It's a good reminder that a lot of bathroom problems live below the surface long before they show up as anything visible, and it made the case for proper tanking even stronger here than usual. The same Hydro Ban system went down before a single tile was laid.
For the walls we used a mix of Fusion Green and Fusion Copper tiles by Casalgrande Padana, both a 60x120cm concrete effect finish. Mixing the green and the copper across the same wall gives the room a depth that a single flat colour never quite manages, without tipping into feature wall territory that tends to look dated within a couple of years. It's a considerably bolder move than the main bathroom, and we think that's the right call in a room this size, where you can afford a bit of drama precisely because there's less of it to look at.
The shower sits in the same corner the old cubicle occupied, now with a slim, low profile tray and a fixed glass wetroom panel in a brushed bronze profile rather than the curtain rail that was there previously. The shower system, the taps and the towel rail all come from JTP's Evo range in that same brushed bronze, a warmer, more characterful finish than standard chrome, and one that works particularly well against a tile this cool in tone. It's the kind of detail that photographs beautifully, but more importantly it's the kind of detail that still looks considered in five years' time rather than simply of its moment.
The vanity unit by Bathrooms to Love is from the Ligne range in a matt oak finish, paired with the same Cilantro rimless WC used in the main bathroom, a small piece of continuity that matters more than people expect when two bathrooms in the same house are being renovated together. A front lit LED mirror cabinet from the Sakura range rounds the room off, genuinely useful in a space with only one small window and not much natural light to spare. Tanking and adhesive followed the same standard as the main bathroom, Hydro Ban underneath, Benferflex on top, because there's no reason the room you see less often should be built to a lower standard than the one you see every morning.
Our Design Service
Both of these rooms came through TABO's own design and installation service, and it's worth saying plainly that this is the same process behind every project we take on, whether it's one room or, as here, two at once. It starts with a free home visit, where we take proper measurements and talk honestly about what's achievable in the space rather than what looks good in a brochure, followed by CAD drawings so you can see the finished room before any work begins. If you'd rather see finishes in person first, our showroom in Milton Keynes has the tiles and sanitaryware on display, worth a visit before you commit to anything. From there we handle the supply of tiles, sanitaryware and fittings alongside the installation itself, so there's one point of contact throughout rather than a stack of different trades to manage yourself.
We regularly work across Downhead Park and the rest of Milton Keynes, along with Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell and Woburn Sands, and further out into Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Have a look through our design services page or give us a call on 01908 311104 to talk through a project, and our Trustpilot reviews are there if you'd like to hear from people who've been through the process before you. If you want to see more of our work before booking a visit, we've pulled together a gallery of some of our favourite bathroom and kitchen projects in one place, worth a browse if you're still gathering ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you renovate two bathrooms in one project?
Yes, and it's often more efficient than treating them as separate jobs. One fitter and one schedule cover both rooms, which usually means less disruption overall and a shorter total timeline than booking two projects months apart.
How do you know if a bathroom needs tanking?
Every wet room needs it, but you don't always find out why until the old flooring comes up. In this en-suite, lifting the floor revealed water damage to the subfloor that had been building for years without anyone knowing. Tanking before tiling is what stops that happening again.
Are the toilets in these bathrooms rimless, and does it actually matter?
Both bathrooms have a Cilantro rimless WC. Rimless pans use directed water jets instead of a hidden rim, which means there's nowhere for limescale or bacteria to build up out of sight. It's a small change that makes a noticeable difference to how often the toilet actually needs cleaning.
Can two very different tile schemes work in the same house?
We'd say yes, provided each room is allowed to be its own thing rather than half matching the other. The main bathroom here is calm and neutral, the en-suite is bolder with green and copper tones, and the two never need to be seen side by side, so there's no reason they should look related.
Is it worth matching fittings like the WC or taps across two bathrooms in the same house?
Sometimes, and it's exactly what we did with the Cilantro WC in both rooms here. It keeps spares and future replacements simple, without forcing the rest of the room to match as well.
Do you offer design services in Downhead Park and the wider Milton Keynes area?
Yes, Downhead Park falls well within the area we regularly work in, along with the rest of Milton Keynes and the surrounding towns and counties.
