With 5 bedrooms also came 5 beautiful top spec bathrooms, which means 5 plumbing installations and 5 lots of tiling! Oh, plus the utility. Malcolm did them all (with a slight caveat, which will be revealed below). Our en-suite and the utility were obviously the first. The mezzanine en-suite had to be carefully designed to fit a set area, but we managed to get a large bath and separate shower and keep the stone walls. But there was still a lot of tiling. And I seemed to keep choosing porcelain tiles. But they were always the most beautiful, even if I learnt afterwards, they are extremely hard to cut and make holes in. The attic bathroom was next on the list and is probably my favourite. I’d bought quite a few old potential washstand tables from a house clearance place in Cheshire and the most ornate of these went in the attic. We brought 2 large pieces of tempered glass from the UK on our van roof, weighing 60 and 40 kilos which had to be winched upto the attic. And these porcelain tiles were slate effect. It’s a big room with two old pigeonholes, now glassed over. For the other two main bedrooms in the old house went two more washstands and chandeliers. One completed as a shower room and the other with bath and shower. The latter was provided with two doors to make a “Jack and Jill” bathroom, so that other house guests could also have access to the bath. Old finds from within the original house such as ancient mirrors and books ensure that both bathrooms retain their character. The last bathroom to be completed was the ground floor bedroom/study. This was planned as a wetroom which meant full tanking and tiling. Pat an old friend had given us loads of tiles that Lee (her husband) had left over from various house constructions and couldn’t bear to throw away. Plus we had a range of travertine tiles of various designs and sizes. Malcolm at this point admitted his fully developed hatred of porcelain tiles and fervent wish never to cut another one. So, with a compromise, he agreed to install all the fittings and design a tile layout where 5 or 6 different tiles and sizes would look fully planned and coordinated… but Jay had the fun of doing the actual tiling. The finished wet-room looks great and the round travertine sink Greg gave us looks perfect on the Singer sewing machine table washstand. All of the bathrooms have retained an individual character and I think they’re a really important part of the renovation, which makes the house such a pleasure to stay in.