Turquoise feature wall. A jewel of a renovation.

The new owners of this 1990s-vintage apartment in Coolangatta decided on a complete interior make-over before moving in. Top of the list for refurbishment were the original kitchen in dated apricot, and the main bathroom, which had also accommodated the laundry until it was moved to the new kitchen and concealed, Euro-style, in the former pantry.

“We went to WHO Bathroom Warehouse at Tweed Heads to look for ideas and get some advice. We started out with what we thought was a reasonable budget for renovating our unit, but when the quotes started coming in for the new kitchen and floor coverings, we realised that our bathroom renovation budget would have to stretch a long way,” said John P., one of the owners. “That’s where the people at WHO really helped us out. We got great value for money buying all of our bathroom fittings from WHO, and the lifetime guarantee was reassuring.”

Being on a tight bathroom renovation budget doesn’t mean losing out on style at WHO. The Thomas II floorstanding vanity cabinet (by Hannaford), complete with drawers and handles, represents excellent value and at 1200mm wide provides capacious storage. The vanity is topped by an integrated basin and benchtop for economy and easy cleaning, as well as a simply-styled Elle II basin mixer (by Banff). Above the 1200mm wide, 3-door mirrored cabinet (by Klarga) adds even more storage capacity, and looks quite streamlined despite the owners not being able to set the cabinet into the concrete structural wall.

The 6-bar heated towel rail is not just a touch of luxury, but also very practical when hanging towels to dry on the balcony of an apartment is unsightly and mostly unwelcome.

To retain the original shower-over-bath concept, the Jamieson built-in bath (by Olivia Ellen) was tiled in with a feature wall of brilliant turquoise as the background and variegated aqua mosaic tiles as the part-height foreground. Jamieson is filled by an Elle II wall mixer and spout (both by Banff). The perfectly transparent, beautifully engineered bath screen (by Klarga) contains any over-spray from the versatile shower, a Nathan hand-held shower head (by Banff) mounted on a Samantha (also by Banff) shower rail with hose. The Samantha shower basket accessory fits neatly onto the shower rail, and a second Elle II wall mixer independently controls water temperature and pressure for the shower.

The Gear close-coupled toilet suite (by William Douglas) delivered a contemporary look on a budget by matching the existing trap configuration and eliminating any need for costly plumbing changes.