A couple gives their bathroom a spa-like makeover with grey tiles and walk-in shower

A couple has transformed their outdated bathroom into an on-trend space with grey tiles and a walk-in shower. Emily and her husband Mark previously had a small white family bathroom with a separate shower room next door.

But having knocked down the wall in between, they opened the space up to a lovely spacious bathroom. The DIY savvy pair set themselves a strict budget of £4,500 for the dramatic grey bathroom makeover.

Before

'We bought our house back in 2017 and it needed a full renovation,' Emily tells us. First, they drew up the layout for the bathroom, ensuring there was space for a large walk-in shower and separate bath, which Emily says was very important to them.

We can't deny there's something particularly luxurious about having the two features completely separate - if you can make it work with the square footage you have. For those tackling a tight space, there are plenty of lovely small bathroom ideas to inspire.

They also opted for a wall-hung toilet, which creates the feeling of more space by keeping more of the floor visible.

After

Emily and Mark had always dreamed of having a luxurious spa-like bathroom. After many hours searching for grey bathroom ideas online, they went for a dark, moody bathroom with feature lighting.

'We couldn't afford the price of tiles from local tiles shops, so we decided to look online,' Emily says. They managed to find some gorgeous dark grey floor and wall tiles from Tile Mountain UK for around £550.

'We really wanted a contrast for the back shower wall and the built-in alcoves so we decided to go with light grey herringbone tiles from Topps Tiles,' Emily adds. Mark, a joiner by trade, had done a few small tiling jobs over the years but this was by far his biggest challenge yet.

They loved the idea of a feature alcove in the ceiling and decided to jazz it up with strips of mood lighting from Amazon. 'We had seen a lot of pictures online of cladded walls, so Mark decided to put his own spin on it,' Emily tells us.

'He clad the alcove in the ceiling with thin lengths of oak wood which we got from a local timber merchant. Genius!' As the tiles were quite dark in colour, Emily and Mark added some bright LED spotlights and painted the ceiling white.

They also chose a white bath, sink and toilet and a stunning concrete-effect worktop. The thrifty pair ordered their black taps, shower head and accessories from Amazon, which helped to keep costs down.

They also decided to change the windows as the old ones were too large and wouldn't have allowed the privacy needed for a walk-in shower area. So Emily and Mark replaced them with a long, thin window which looked fantastic, freed up a lot of space and also afforded them more privacy.

'However, it didn't allow in as much light as we had hoped for,' Emily says. Luckily, Mark had a large piece of toughened glass in the garage, salvaged from a job he was working at years ago.

This was the perfect way to separate the shower and bath, rather than having a full-height tiled wall, as it allows more natural light to flood in.

Overall, they came in under budget, at around £3,800. 'This was all down to Mark doing all the labour himself, saving us a fortune not having to pay several tradesmen. Also, choosing tiles from an online company massively helped,' says Emily.

Feeling inspired? Check out the latest bathroom trends to spark ideas for your dream bathroom. We love the use of the large tile on the floor and the walls, and the striking use of lighting.