Bathrooms · Truro, Cornwall

Bathroom design and installation in Truro and across Cornwall

Bathrooms drawn to the millimetre before the first tile is ordered: so the tiling sets out square, the shower falls where it should, and a house with four bathrooms is finished as one programme rather than four separate jobs.

Enquire about a design consultation 07704 818829

Fifteen years in the KBB sector · KBSA member · two-year workmanship guarantee · £5,000,000 public liability insurance

Calm bespoke bathroom with a freestanding stone bath, oak vanity and pale limestone tiling, illustrating Studio Seven bathroom design in Cornwall

15 years: Experience in the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom sector
KBSA: Member of the Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Specialists Association, with recourse through the governing body
2 years: Workmanship guarantee, backed through KBSA membership
£5,000,000: Public liability insurance in place on every project
Whole house: Multiple bathrooms designed and delivered as a single programme

The service

The smallest rooms in the house, and the least forgiving

A bathroom gives you nowhere to hide. Every dimension is tight, every surface is wet, and every service has to be resolved before the walls close. We design bathrooms as a drawing exercise first: setting out tiling from a datum, fixing the position of drainage and waste runs, checking door swings against a basin, and deciding where the fall of a wet-room floor begins, all before the specification is priced.

Design and supply are always sold together, and installation is usually included, so the sequence that makes a bathroom watertight stays with one studio: first fix, waterproofing, screed and fall, tiling, second fix, sealing and commissioning. Where you prefer your own installer, we hand over a fully detailed scheme rather than a list of products.

We are particularly strong on multi-bathroom work. Second home owners and whole-house clients rarely need one bathroom; they need an en suite, a family bathroom, a shower room and a cloakroom finished to a coherent standard, in one visit to the property, without four sets of trades arriving in the wrong order.

Who this is for

Homeowners in Truro and across Cornwall replacing a tired or leaking bathroom
Second home owners needing several bathrooms completed as part of a whole-house project
Clients letting a Cornish property who need durable, well-sealed finishes between guests
Renovation and extension clients adding an en suite or shower room
Households needing level access, seated showering or grab support designed in
Developers and contractors specifying bathrooms consistently across plots

When to bring us in

Before drainage and stud positions are fixed: the layout follows the waste, not the other way round
At the same time as the kitchen on whole-house projects, so one programme covers both
When a shower has been leaking rather than merely looking dated: water damage rarely stays local
Before tiles are bought, so the setting out and the tile size are decided together
When a letting property needs bathrooms finished in a closed window between bookings

What it costs to get wrong

Water gets into everything you did not plan for

A failed shower tray junction or an unsealed wall-to-tray joint does not announce itself. Water tracks along a joist, soaks a ceiling below, lifts flooring on the landing, and shows up as a stain weeks later. By then the repair is not a bathroom repair: it is joinery, plaster, decoration and, in a rented property, lost bookings while the work is done.

The other common failure is dimensional. A basin ordered before the layout is set leaves a door that fouls the tap; a 900mm shower drawn into an 870mm space becomes a made-to-measure enclosure at short notice; a wet room without a designed fall drains towards the doorway. Each of those is fixable, but only by undoing tiling that was signed off two weeks earlier.

In coastal Cornish properties standing empty and unheated between visits, poor extraction turns into mould on grout and sealant, corroding fixings and warping any timber that was not specified for the environment. Ventilation is designed at drawing stage or it is a recurring maintenance bill.

Common mistakes we are asked to correct

Buying sanitaryware before the room is set out, then working the layout around it
Tiling onto unsuitable substrates with no tanking behind a shower or bath
Wet rooms installed without a designed fall or an adequate drainage capacity
Under-specified extraction, especially in an internal bathroom or an unheated second home
Silicone used to disguise a poor junction between tray, wall and tile
Four bathrooms treated as four separate jobs, so trades and deliveries collide

Our process

Five stages, with the wet detail resolved before tiling starts

The same process runs on a single shower room in Truro and on five bathrooms in a whole-house project managed for a client in London.

Design consultation and measured survey
We survey each room: dimensions, levels, substrates, joist direction, existing waste and soil positions, ventilation routes and door swings. Enquire about a design consultation and we will arrange a time that works around the property, including for clients who are not in Cornwall.
Layout, specification and 3D visualisation
Each bathroom is drawn and modelled in three dimensions, with tiling set out from a datum so cuts fall where they should. You receive a written specification naming sanitaryware, brassware, enclosures, tiles, tanking and ventilation before anything is ordered.
Revisions and sign-off
We refine the scheme with you, confirm finishes against samples, and check the practical details: where a towel actually hangs, whether a bath panel can be removed for access, how a niche lines through with the tile joints. Sign-off covers drawing and specification together.
First fix, waterproofing and installation
Services are moved and tested, substrates prepared, tanking applied and floors screeded to the designed fall, then tiling and second fix follow in sequence. On multi-bathroom projects the rooms are programmed so trades and deliveries do not collide.
Testing, snagging and handover
Showers, wastes and brassware are run and checked, extraction tested, sealing inspected, and snags cleared before handover. Manufacturer warranty documents are passed to you, and workmanship is covered by our two-year guarantee, backed through KBSA membership.

What you get

What careful setting out buys you

Bathrooms are judged on details you only notice when they are wrong. These are the ones we design out.

Watertight by sequence

Tanking, falls and junctions are specified and inspected in the right order, so the room is waterproof by construction rather than by sealant applied at the end.

Tiling that sets out square

Tile size, datum lines and cut positions are decided at design stage, so joints line through at niches, reveals and shower controls instead of ending in a sliver at eye level.

One programme for several bathrooms

En suites, family bathrooms, shower rooms and cloakrooms are sequenced together, which cuts total time on site and avoids the same trade returning four times.

Specified for coastal properties

Finishes, fixings, brassware and extraction are chosen with salt air, damp and periods standing empty in mind, the conditions that decide whether grout and sealant survive.

Durable enough to be let

For holiday-let properties we specify surfaces and fittings that clean quickly between guests and tolerate heavy short-term use, without the room looking like a rental.

Cover and recourse in writing

KBSA membership gives you recourse through the governing body, workmanship is guaranteed for two years, and £5,000,000 public liability insurance is in place on every project.

In detail

Materials, methods and the variations we design

What follows is the level of detail we set during design, and the reason two bathrooms with identical sanitaryware can perform very differently.

Waterproofing, substrates and falls

Behind every reliable bathroom is a substrate decision. Tile backer boards, tanking membranes and liquid systems are specified according to what is behind them - masonry, stud, or a timber floor that moves - and to how much water the surface will actually take. A shower wall, a splash zone and a dry wall do not need the same build-up, and treating them the same is either wasteful or a future failure.

In wet rooms, the fall is designed rather than improvised: former position, gradient, linear or point drainage, drainage capacity and the transition at the doorway are all drawn. On timber floors, the depth available for a former and the direction of the joists usually determine whether a wet room is possible at all: which is why it is a survey question, not a showroom question.

Tile backer board and tanking systems selected by substrate and exposure
Wet-room formers with designed gradients, linear or point drainage
Decoupling and movement joints where a timber floor requires them
Underfloor heating layouts coordinated with drainage and furniture positions
Access provision for future maintenance of traps, valves and pumps

Sanitaryware, brassware and enclosures

Sanitaryware is specified against the drawing, not chosen first. Basin projection and tap hole position, the reach of a bath filler, the throw of a shower arm, the swing of an enclosure door and the clearance to a WC roll holder are all dimensional decisions that either work in a small room or make it feel smaller than it is.

Brassware is chosen for the water system as much as the look: thermostatic control, minimum pressure requirements, whether a pump is needed, and flow rates that suit a property on a private supply. In coastal locations, finish durability matters, some coatings pit in salt-laden air far sooner than others.

Wall-hung, back-to-wall and floor-standing sanitaryware layouts
Thermostatic showers, bath fillers and concealed valve installations
Walk-in, hinged and sliding enclosures, and frameless glass to size
Fitted furniture, vanity units and mirrored cabinets with integrated lighting
Heated towel rails and radiators sized for the room, not chosen by length

Ventilation, heating and lighting

Extraction is specified by room volume and duct route, with humidistat control where a property is left empty. A fan that is undersized or ducted through too many bends is worse than no plan at all, because it gives the appearance of ventilation while grout and sealant quietly fail.

Lighting is layered: task light at the mirror, general light that does not sit directly above the bath, and low-level light for night use. IP ratings are specified by zone. Heating combines underfloor warmth with a towel rail sized to the room, so the bathroom dries between uses rather than staying damp.

Variations of the service

Bathroom projects vary more in scope than in cost. These are the shapes they usually take.

Single bathroom or shower room replacement in an occupied home
Multiple bathrooms and en suites as part of a whole-house project
Cloakrooms and utility-adjacent shower rooms in tight footprints
Wet rooms, including level-access and seated showering layouts
Bathrooms for holiday-let and second home properties, programmed around bookings
Contract bathrooms for developers and commercial contractors, repeated across units

Residential and contract work

In a private home, the design serves the household: who uses which room, at what time of day, and how much storage is really needed. Programmes are built around the family, or around the weeks a second home is empty.

For developers and commercial contractors, the requirement is repeatability: a specification that can be signed off once, ordered in volume with predictable lead times, and installed to the same standard across plots or floors, with documentation that supports handover.

Where we work

The studio is based at Cornelly House, School Hill, Shortlanesend, just outside Truro, and our Truro showroom opens in 2027. Until then, schemes are presented from the 3D model with physical samples of tiles, surfaces and brassware finishes.

We design and install bathrooms across Cornwall and Devon, and for clients in London and the Home Counties with Cornish property. On those projects The Complete Service adds project management, a foreman on the ground and weekly Google Meet progress updates, with suppliers sourced locally in Cornwall.

Questions clients ask

Answers before you enquire

How much does a bathroom cost in Cornwall?

Bathroom cost is driven by the amount of building work, the tiling area, the sanitaryware and brassware selected and whether services have to move. We price against a written specification naming every item, so you can see what each choice adds before agreeing to it. We do not describe quotes as fixed price, because a scheme can change during design. Our published minimum project value of £12,000 applies to kitchens.

How long does a bathroom take to install?

A single bathroom typically runs over several weeks on site once materials are in, because tanking, screed, tiling and sealing each need time before the next stage. Lead times for sanitaryware, brassware and made-to-size glass are confirmed at sign-off, and on multi-bathroom projects the rooms are programmed together so the total time on site is shorter than doing them one at a time.

Can you do several bathrooms at once in a second home?

Yes, this is one of our strongest areas. En suites, family bathrooms, shower rooms and cloakrooms are designed together and delivered as one programme, which is far more efficient in a property you cannot visit often. With The Complete Service, project management, a foreman on the ground and weekly Google Meet updates are included.

Do you install, or only design and supply?

Design and supply are always sold together, and installation is usually included. Bathrooms in particular benefit from that, because waterproofing and setting out have to follow the drawing exactly. If you prefer to use your own installer, we provide the full scheme and specification for them to work to.

What guarantee comes with a bathroom?

Workmanship is covered by a two-year guarantee, backed through our KBSA membership, which also gives you recourse through the governing body. Product and manufacturer warranties vary by item and brand, so those documents are passed to you directly at handover rather than described as a single period.

How long should a well-built bathroom last?

Where tanking, falls, substrates and ventilation are specified correctly, the wet elements should outlast the style. What shortens a bathroom’s life is almost always hidden: unsuitable substrates, no tanking behind a shower, an undersized extractor, or sealant used to cover a poor junction. Those are the details we resolve before tiling begins.

Can you design a wet room in an upstairs bathroom?

Often, but it depends on the floor. The depth available for a former, the direction and spacing of the joists and the drainage route decide whether a level-access wet room is achievable, so it is answered at survey rather than in advance. Where it is not possible, we design a low-profile tray solution that achieves most of the same effect.

Can you make a bathroom accessible?

Yes. Level access, seated showering, transfer space, reinforced walls for grab support and lever or sensor brassware can all be designed in. Where the requirement is more involved, we bring in our specialist accessible design consultancy, see our accessible bathrooms page.

Do you offer emergency bathroom repairs?

No. We design and install complete bathrooms to order, with survey, 3D sign-off and lead times. If you have a live leak, that needs an emergency plumber first, then talk to us about designing the room properly rather than patching it.

Do you work outside Cornwall?

We work across Cornwall and Devon from the studio at Shortlanesend near Truro, and for clients in London and the Home Counties who own Cornish property. Our Truro showroom opens in 2027; until then schemes are presented from the 3D model, with samples and brand showroom visits where useful.

Dark matt kitchen with wenge timber detailing, designed and installed by Studio Seven

Next step

Have the bathroom drawn before the tiles are ordered

Tell us how many rooms there are and how the property is used. We will arrange a design consultation, survey each room, and model the bathrooms in 3D with the tiling set out and the wet details resolved.

KBSA member: Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Specialists Association
Two-year workmanship guarantee, backed through KBSA membership
£5,000,000 public liability insurance

Call the studio on 07704 818829

Enquire about a design consultation

Tell us about the property and how you use it. We will come back to you to arrange a design consultation.