When it comes down to a choice of bath or shower

I am thinking about moving house soon and I recently viewed a house to buy that was small but perfectly formed – an ideal location with lovely country walks on the doorstep, a beautiful oak front door and a lovely garden. The only downside to it was the minute bathroom. It had a very small bath in it – at 1300mm long it was substantially shorter than the average size of 1600mm. It also had a very small sink – not quite a cloakroom-sized sink but not much bigger. It seemed to me that a long lazy soak in the bath would just not have been possible for me (I’m 5ft 8in).

As much as I love a long soak in the bath with a good book and a glass of wine, in practice, I rarely get the time to do that and usually end up having rushed showers so I have been wondering whether I could live with just a large shower and no bath. In a space the size of a 1300mm long bath there would be plenty of room for a really decent shower. I have visions of a luxury shower enclosure with some gorgeous porcelain tiles I’ve seen recently adorning both walls and floors. And maybe even under-floor heating – that would save another scrap of space in the tiny bathroom by doing away with the radiator and floor tiles are the perfect surface for under-floor heating.

But the big question is still could I live without a bath and would removing the bath affect the value of the house? Without a doubt the small room could be made to look fabulous with the right choice of fittings and natural stone floor and wall tiles (I’m even tempted by marble tiles but they might just be too extravagant for the type of house). I’m still undecided so will continue my house search but haven’t entirely eliminated this one.