When we moved into our current home, every bathroom needed redoing. Since then, we've renovated three of them: our own en-suite, our daughter's en-suite and the family bathroom, which is really our son's, as the rest of us have en-suites!

We spent £3,200 on ours, and under £1,000 each on the kids' bathrooms. Each one has its own style, and most of what makes them feel finished isn't expensive at all 

Here are the bathroom decor ideas we used, what they cost, and what I'd recommend if you're decorating yours.

Our bathrooms and what they cost (with before and after photos)

Our en-suite: £3,200. This was the most expensive by far. The previous owners only had half a wall and no door, so the en-suite was really just part of the bedroom.

My husband built a proper wall and fitted a door to separate it.

The £3,200 covered everything: floor tiles, underfloor heating, a large shower enclosure, wall tiles, splashback tiles, a double vanity unit, two sinks and taps, a new shower, toilet, extra pipework, an extractor fan, new lights, a blind, the bathroom door, the new wall and plastering, and painting.

We didn't go budget on ours. We chose the tiles we really wanted online from Porcelain Superstore, and the double vanity unit alone cost close to £1,000. Underfloor heating was another luxurious, more expensive addition, but it's lovely on cold mornings.

You can see the full bathroom DIY renovation guide on my husband's home and garden website.

The kids' bathrooms: under £1,000 each. By the time we did these, our renovation budget was running low. So we shopped around much more, using tiles from B&Q and Homebase and cheaper showers from eBay bathroom stores.

Each one was still a full refit from top to bottom, with a new shower, toilet, sink, vanity unit, floor and wall tiles. Rather than adding underfloor heating, we just replaced the old radiators with modern towel radiators in the same place. Our son's bathroom also got a new bath.

Both came in under budget.

The biggest saving was labour. My husband did almost all the work himself, including the plumbing.

We only paid a plasterer to plaster the wall he built in our en-suite, and an electrician to sign off the underfloor heating he installed and fit two new ceiling lights. It's very handy having a handyman for a husband!

If you're planning a bigger project, here's what to expect when planning a bathroom renovation.

Our en-suite before and after:

 

Our daughter's en-suite before and after:

Our son's bathroom / the family bathroom before and after:

 

Bathroom decor ideas we used

Whether you're doing a full renovation or just want to refresh what you have, these are the ideas that made the biggest difference in our bathrooms. Most of them work on any budget.

1. Use tiles to add pattern and colour

Tiles do a lot of the decorating for you, so they're worth choosing carefully.

In the kids' bathrooms, we used patterned floor tiles with a star design. Our son's are blue, with blue gloss wall tiles, and our daughter's are pink, with green wall tiles.

In our en-suite, we chose hexagonal floor tiles, which add interest without being too busy, with emerald green handmade-look wall tiles.

Using one bold tile and keeping everything else simple stops a small room feeling cluttered.

2. Think about how you lay the tiles

The pattern you lay your tiles in makes a big difference too, and it doesn't cost anything extra.

Our en-suite tiles are emerald green and look handmade, with different tones throughout. Rather than laying them in a brick pattern or lined up in a grid, my idea was to lay them vertically and at random, a bit like a waterfall. Luckily, it worked really well!

Our son's tiles are laid in a classic brick pattern, which feels quite funky for a preteen and will still suit him as he gets older. Our daughter's are laid in a vertical brick pattern, which adds interest and makes the room feel taller.

I decided on a random pattern for our tiles, not lined up or brick layout, to give a waterfall running water effect in our shower. 

3. Try coloured grout

This is one of my favourite details. Rather than white grout, we used green grout with the green tiles and blue grout with the blue tiles.

My husband would have gone for white, but I think everyone uses white grout, and I wanted something different. I love how it looks, and it changes to a darker green or blue when it gets wet in the shower.

4. Choose fittings to match the style

Taps, shower fittings, towel rails and toilet roll holders make a bigger difference to the overall look than you'd think.

We chose bronze fittings in our en-suite, which look warm against the green tiles. Our daughter's bathroom has white and chrome, and our son's has black fittings, which look striking with the blue tiles.

Pick one finish per bathroom and stick to it, and the room will look much more pulled together.

Our double vanity unit from Maison Du Monde.

5. Make the vanity unit a centrepiece

A vanity unit doesn't have to be plain. In the kids' bathrooms, the vanity units are one-off pieces that are really the focal point of each room.

We bought a slab of live edge wood from someone locally on a farm, and my husband treated and shaped it to make the tops. He made the doors himself too, and we finished them with painted ceramic knobs.

They cost far less than a designer unit, and nobody else has anything like them.

For our en-suite, we bought a double vanity unit from Maisons du Monde, who used to ship to the UK from mainland Europe but no longer do.

It has a mango wood top and white carved doors with an almost filigree pattern, so it's a piece of decor in its own right.

If you like the wood look, here's more on wooden worktops vs other materials.

Plants in the corner of my son's bathroom.

6. Fill your bathroom with plants

Plants are the main way we decorate our bathrooms, and they're cheap and easy to add.

Every one of our bathrooms has a hanging devil's ivy. It copes well with low light, doesn't mind the humidity from showers, and is really easy to look after.

We hang it from the ceiling or let it trail from a high shelf.

Our son's bathroom and ours also have geometric diamond wall planters, with succulents in his and more devil's ivy in ours. Succulents do well on a bathroom windowsill.

We have plants in pots on the windowsills too, including a spider plant in our daughter's bathroom. Our son's bathroom has a big Aztec print wicker pot in the corner with a large leafy plant that looks like a peace lily, just without the flowers. His bathroom only has a small window, but it copes well with the low light.

Best bathroom plants for low light and humidity:

• Devil's ivy (pothos), our favourite and easiest
• Succulents, on a sunny windowsill
• Spider plants, like the one in our daughter's bathroom
• Peace lilies
• Snake plants
• Ferns, which love humidity

Use pots that suit the room, like woven baskets, wall-hung planters or hanging pots, so the plants become part of the decor.

Devil's Ivy in geometric wall plant pots in our en-suite bathroom.

7. Bathroom wall art ideas

We keep our bathrooms simple, with plants rather than pictures on the walls. But wall art is one of the quickest ways to add personality, and plenty of people love it.

Choose waterproof or framed prints that can cope with steam, and match the colours to your tiles or fittings. There are lots of ideas for wall art for bathroom spaces, from botanical prints to calm coastal scenes.

Our daughter's bathroom has a wooden butterfly wall hanging, which adds something without needing a frame. You could also try decorative wall panelling, like these MDF panelling ideas for a different bathroom look.

8. Add a large mirror

Every one of our bathrooms has a mirror hung up. In our en-suite, a large framed mirror runs above the double vanity, which bounces light around and makes the room feel bigger.

A mirror is one of the easiest ways to make a small bathroom feel more spacious. For more ideas, see how to design a small bathroom to maximise space.

My daughter's DIY vanity unit with live edge slab of wood.

9. Use textiles and accessories

Soft furnishings make a bathroom feel finished and cosy. We use boho-style bath mats as part of the decor, rather than plain ones. 

In our daughter's bathroom, we chose an almost hessian-look dark green blind, which gives privacy but also looks lovely. She also has a hanging crystal in the window that catches the light.

Small accessories like these are cheap to add and easy to change if you fancy a new look.

10. Keep it simple

Our approach is to keep bathrooms clean and simple, then let a few things stand out: the tiles, the vanity unit, the fittings and the plants.

You don't need lots of ornaments. Pick one or two features you love, and keep the rest calm.

How to decorate a bathroom on a budget

Our kids' bathrooms prove you can get a full new bathroom for under £1,000 if you're willing to shop around and do most of the work yourself, if you're competent. Here's what helped us:

• Shop around for tiles. B&Q and Homebase had lots of affordable options.
• Look at online bathroom stores. We found much cheaper showers on eBay.
• Make your own vanity unit. A wooden slab and a simple cupboard can look better than an expensive unit.
• Do the work yourself where you can. Labour is often the biggest cost, but always use a qualified electrician for anything electrical.
• Spend on what you'll notice. We splurged on tiles in our en-suite, and saved elsewhere.
• Decorate with plants. They're cheap, they last and they make a huge difference.

For more ideas, see how to create the perfect family bathroom and adding value to your home by updating your bathroom.

Final thoughts

The best bathroom decor ideas don't have to cost much. Bold tiles, coloured grout, matching fittings, a unique vanity unit and lots of plants have made each of our bathrooms feel completely different, whether we spent £3,200 or under £1,000.

Choose a style, pick a few features to make the room your own, and let plants do the rest