Deciding to take on her bathroom redesign herself, homeowner Sarah Walters tells us all about how she turned it into a restful spa-like sanctuary…
“I wanted to walk into each room and feel something different from the last; a must-have for me was character,” Sarah Walters, the owner of this four-bedroom Georgian farmhouse in North Cornwall, tells me. Indeed, with patterned flooring, a striped shower enclosure, and even its very own sauna, this bathroom bursts with personality.
But it wasn’t always like that. “It used to be one big space – there was no shower, just a corner bath, single basin, and toilet, the ceiling was lower, and the shower and sauna weren’t there,” says Sarah.
When she and her husband, Aaron, bought the property nearly three years ago, they realised it needed a few alterations to better suit their style. “I wanted the house to feel unique to us,” says Sarah, who works in the fintech industry but dabbles in interior design.
So, she designed the new space herself. “I wouldn’t trust anyone else to design a space in my house. I love the small details that can really bring a room together, and I think a house should be unique to the person living in it.”
The bathroom renovation
The couple started renovating the property over weekends while living elsewhere, and a few months into moving in with their daughter Enola (whom they welcomed last year), their rescue dogs, Maggie and Ginger, and their chickens, they have completed the majority of the project by themselves.
“We hired builders and electricians to help at different points, such as building the internal wall in the bathroom and lifting the ceiling, but then my husband did all the painting, tiling, and plumbing,” she says. “Every room has its own vibe and a different talking point.”
Sitting above a utility room, the bathroom was part of an existing extension to the back of the house. Sarah tells me that when it came to renovating it, it all began with the flooring.
“The floor tiles were the starting point; we were back and forth, we hadn’t seen them used before, and I found it difficult to know exactly what would go with them, especially as this bathroom is quite big – but we went for it. And because the tiles are the main feature, we chose a soft white for the walls.”
The shower and sauna
They then built the shower enclosure and the sauna – Sarah’s dream since before they even got the keys to the house. “The sauna is a full-spectrum infrared sauna, from a company called Vidalux. When I told people I wanted a sauna in the bathroom, they didn’t believe me and, honestly, it nearly didn’t happen. I couldn’t figure out how I wanted the layout, and it was a tight fit; but we made it work, and now it’s like our own little spa.”
Challenges
There were a few other challenges, such as ordering wrongly sized basins from Morocco (and ending up buying new ones from Victorian Plumbing), as well as renovating in the middle of winter with no heating – which, as Sarah puts it, ‘was not enjoyable to say the least’. “We have a cabin on our land, which has no heating, either, but that was our little escape at the end of the day; we would go down, have a shower, and eat fish and chips in bed with many layers on!”
Looking back…
Fast forward to today, the space delivers an elegant, ‘old meets new’ aesthetic, alongside a soothing palette of white and earthy hues. “I love it, and I’m just so pleased it worked out,” says Sarah. “And, actually, on paper, the room shouldn’t really work – the floor tiles have a Moroccan feel, the brassware is very traditional, the vanity is old and a little rough around the edges… There are too many styles in one. But, as it turns out, they all complement each other so well; not one part of the bathroom looks out of place.”
Photography: Adam Carter | Styling: Sarah Walters
This house tour was featured in the August 2025 issue of Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms magazine.
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