A while back, Roscoe came up with a clever idea for our bathroom layout. The room is small (about 160cm x 210cm) but it will be our main bathroom (the second one being even smaller – 115cm x 200cm!). But, friends warned, Italians demand bidets. Waste of precious space if you ask me, but we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot (or annoy guests!).
Instead of re-opening an old window (which would cost a fair bit if you include the window), Roscoe’s idea is to use the 80cm-wide niche for our sink, lining it with mirrors. We’ll miss natural light, but this window would open at eye height on the dark lane running up the side of our house. Because of this, we couldn’t open it often, and we would have to get frosted glass, and we wouldn’t gain much light.
At our local arreda bagno (bathroom) shops, we began the hunt for Italy’s smallest loo! The 20cm x 50cm “motorcycle saddle” and the 30cm circle “magic mushroom” still make us laugh. Ok, maybe not Italy’s smallest loo! We soon managed to find a cheap simple loo and bidet set a little smaller than average (36cm x 53cm) from Laufen. Cost seems to offset time though – the shop threatens that Laufen are slow to deliver. (Very few bathroom shops, we find, store stock – they order from manufacturers. And now we’ve hit Italy’s holiday month, August, we have to wait.) I guess we’ll use the local bar’s loo for a while longer!
Encouraged by our find, we started asking how much sinks cost. Concenzo has asked us for the sink soon, so he can shape the niche to fit. We had in mind a modern square design, and, if possible, taps coming out of the wall rather than coming out of the sink.
After adding tax (20% in Italy), Simas’ lovely models came in at EUR 200. Eurolegno’s sharp design came to EUR 250. Roscoe fell for a semincasso or partially embedded design for EUR 180, but we couldn’t use the trendy wall taps with it. There are some lovely moulded glass sinks, but the prices are scary – around EUR 800. We started to think we’d have to give up on our idea and have a normal oval sink (which can be found for less than EUR 150).
On the offchance of finding more options, I had a look on www.kelkoo.it (price comparison site). Woo hoo! There were lots of sinks on Ebay. Including what could be our dream sink! It’s half the price of the shop models (EUR 115 including delivery). I’m wary of the risk, but it comes from an established seller with good feedback. If it’s not perfect, we can send it back for a refund. And, we don’t have to wait until after August for delivery!
If sink shopping goes well, I might buy my shower cubicle online too, having spotted one that costs EUR 125 in tempered glass (including insured delivery!). Shops quote over EUR 500 for the curved style, even if the doors are in plastic, so I think it’s worth the risk.
Our budget for the works so far:
Previous total EUR 5,219
Trip to
Square bathroom sink EUR 115.00
TOTAL EUR 5,354
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