The Alternative Bathroom Company is a new business - with an impeccable heritage.

For over 30 years, the people behind it have headed up leading bathroom companies and developed reputations for sourcing and designing great products.
 
Now they have formed The Alternative Bathroom Company, bringing together all their matchless expertise and design credentials.

Initially, the company is launching with two showrooms; one in North London and one in West London.
 
With everything from simple, no-frills ranges to high-end architectural products, which would do justice to a Schrager hotel, both shops offer an exceptional choice of quality bathroom ware and accessories.

Uniquely, there is a combination of The Alternative Bathroom Company’s own-label classic products ‘The Options Collection’ and big international names such as Dornbracht, Duravit, and Hansgrohe.
 
From baths, showers and basins to fitted furniture and brassware, there are looks and price points for every bathroom, with in-depth product knowledge to back them up.

Buying bathrooms can be complicated, but is made easy by the experienced staff at The Alternative Bathroom Company; their individualized customer service offers everything from general advice to a complete bathroom planning service.

Whether you need a complete bathroom rethink, or just a new set of taps, The Alternative Bathroom Company has all the products and all the answers.

Showrooms at:
165 Chamberlayne Road Unit 5, Phoenix Park
Kensal Rise Ealing Road, London NW10 3NU London TW8 9PL.

To view the distinctive bathroom and accessories ranges, visit the Alternative Bathroom website.

Tel:   (020) 3375 9001

The Fired Earth summer sale runs from June 19 to July 17 and they are offering up to 25% off selected wall and floor tiles, kitchens and bathroom and even 50% off special purchase and discontinued tiles.

Kitchens

• Fired Earth’s kitchens are handcrafted from the highest quality, responsibly sourced materials and work well in contemporary and traditional spaces.
• Now is a great time to think about updating yours, as there’s 15% off all freestanding and fitted kitchens - including the new fitted Bastide (in our picture) and Moderne collections by Charles Smallbone - and rising to 25% off if you spend more than £10,000. (Offer excludes worktops and appliances for fitted kitchens.)

Tiles

• Fired Earth is well known for its collection of stunning wall and floor tiles and there’s never been a better time to buy them - with up to 25% off selected tiles from the hugely popular Tile Basics collection; in fact, you can now buy tiles from just 27p each, as the Architecture tiles have been reduced by 25%.

Bathrooms

• From truly chic wet rooms through to the most romantic bathrooms imaginable, Fired Earth has pieces to suit every taste. The summer sale offers savings of up to 25% off a huge range of products.
• For example there’s 25% off Bastide bathrooms, including the Washstand 1170 - reduced from £2,495 to £1,871.25.
• There’s also 25% off the Bastide dual control shower and accessories, which are reduced from £1,565 to £1,173.75.

Plus there’s also 15% off selected wood flooring, all Lloyd Loom furniture and hand-woven rugs.

For more information on sale products and prices, please visit the Fired Earth website.

Tel: (0845) 366 0400

As the space most often used to store all the unnecessary household clutter, the cloakroom is usually one of the most neglected areas of the house, despite the fact it offers great potential.

For those looking to upgrade their downstairs space to a fully fitted, downstairs washroom to be proud of, Dolphin has a number of stylish options to choose from:
Under stairs cloakroom (In our picture.)

• Stunning in its simplicity, the understairs cloakroom makes the most of a limited space. It features the gorgeous Esta wash station, complete with an integrated basin, which offers fantastic storage to hide away those everyday essentials.

• With its stylish solar mirror, this cleverly designed room manages to look classic yet contemporary; the mirror has a high-tech infra-red switch fitted, as well as a demister pad to prevent the mirror from steaming up.

• This understairs solution is also fitted with an attractive 300×800 heated towel rail, which adds a practical yet stylish touch.

• Combined with the gorgeous Dados blanco tiles to give the illusion of space, this design will give neglected cloakrooms an instant wow factor.

Cloakroom

• This polished cloakroom features chic, casino wall-hung furniture, and a slightly more contemporary look – perfect for urban living.

• A glossy splash basin adds a sleek look to the room, while the soft-line back-to-wall WC, which is backed on to the Envy WC unit, completes the look.

• With two internal shelves, the mirrored Modena cabinet adds further storage space, which is ideal for maximizing space in this typically small room.

• The effortlessly stylish Young stone scored tiles and add the illusion of extra space.

Geoff Wells, bathroom planning expert for Dolphin Bathrooms, comments:
“Both of these new designs from Dolphin make the most of what’s usually a neglected room.

Each gorgeous cloakroom solution makes the most of a small space, and the stylish and contemporary details add a touch of glamour to any home.

Having a second washroom is ideal for busy households and with Dolphin, it is possible to make the most of this extra space in the home.”

Dolphin is the only national bathroom specialist offering a complete design to installation service. Whether you’re looking for a bathroom, wetroom, shower room or a small space solution, Dolphin’s expert team of designers and fitters will take care of everything.

A fully fitted Dolphin bathroom starts from £6,000, including full design, technical survey, delivery and complete installation.

To request the latest brochure, arrange a free design consultation or find your nearest showroom, visit the Dolphin website.

Tel:  (0800) 458 9697

BC Designs has launched a beautiful new bath called Paradise.

Inspired by nature, its ornate design has a striking textured leaf pattern and flowing curves that add to its soft and delicate look:

• The oval shape creates the perfect space to comfortably relax in.

• The Paradise is made from Cian® solid surfacing, which is a renewable, decorative surface material that is manufactured from an advanced blend of acrylic modified polyester resin and mineral fillers.

• This means the beauty of the bath will not fade as it is stain and scratch resistant, non-porous and able to withstand long-term daily use.

• The bath measures L1960mm x W965mm x H560 and costs around £4,290.

Barrie Cutchie, established BC Designs over ten years ago, specialising in baths and bathroom lighting products. Barrie has a passion for design and bases many of his products on period originals.

BC Designs retails its products nationwide via independent bathroom merchants.

Visit the BC Designs website to view more beautifully stylish bathtubs.

Tel: (01206) 827 100

The elegant ‘Oval 2′ freestanding bath, new from Aston Matthews, measures a generous 1800 mm by 1000 mm.

The bath has a pleasing elliptical shape with gently sloping ends making it an extremely comfortable design in which to lie back and relax.

Unlike the many acrylic baths on the market, Oval is manufactured from durable steel with a high quality, scratch resistant enamel finish that retains its glossy good looks and feels smooth to the touch.

It is a one piece, seamless construction with no unsightly joints.

The bath is designed for use with a floor spout and is priced at £3,499.

Aston Matthews advises - Designing your perfect bathroom - start with the bath:

• The best place to start is with the bath as this is the largest item you will have to accommodate.

• Steel baths are a durable option for the modern bathroom and are available as either single or double-ended designs.

• For added luxury there’s the option of a soaking tub or super deep bath, and many steel baths can be fitted with whirlpool jets.

• If you want to make more of a design statement, and space permits, a free-standing cast iron bath, which dominates the centre of the room, is an idea.

Visit the Aston Matthews website for further information.

Tel: 020 7226 7220

With the UK’s bathrooms having their annual spring clean, almost 70% of people surveyed said they had found up to 10 unused pamper products, with the remainder having up to 30 bottles, packs and tubes simply gathering dust.

Shampoo is the most wasted product, closely followed by shower gel and moisturiser.

Over a quarter of respondents said their bathroom also held host to out of date medicines, but most shockingly, 54% said that they would still use them regardless, with men proving to be particularly lax on this issue.

The most common reasons provided for hoarding so many unused items in the bathroom was because people ‘forgot they were there’ and ‘always buy too much and never get round to using it’, whilst 58% said most of their unused toiletry toiletries were from unwanted gift packs.

Special store promotions were also cited as a key reason why Brits buy more products than they need, with 61% saying they would still take up a multi-buy offer, even if they knew they wouldn’t get around to using it all.

One fifth of those surveyed by Dolphin* estimated that they had wasted just over £20 on unused pampering products, whilst it seems the Welsh spend the most, at an average of £24.72, compared to the more conscientious West Midlander’s spending £19.85.

The bathroom cabinet takes most of this strain for half of those surveyed, followed by the windowsill and around the edge of the bath.

Geoff Wells, planning expert at Dolphin Bathrooms, comments: “Whilst we may be a nation of pamper addicts, we accumulate too many beauty products that we never intend to use and this often means cluttered bathrooms.

It comes as no surprise to us that over 60% of those questioned, wished they had more storage space in the bathroom, but despite this, we can’t seem to stop ourselves hoarding and so end up losing precious space.

“However, with careful planning, any bathroom can be designed to keep lotions and potions well organised and easy to find.

Clever use of cabinets, sink space and shelving will make sure you optimise every inch of space, whilst keeping your bathroom beautiful - plus you can avoid wasting money on new products you don’t actually need.”

A fully fitted Dolphin bathroom starts from £6,000, including full design, technical survey, delivery and complete installation.

To view the range of storage solutions, or arrange a free design consultation,

visit the Dolphin Bathrooms website.

Tel: (0800) 458 9697

*Survey of 3,000 people commissioned by Dolphin Bathrooms, conducted by OnePoll.

Inspired by period pieces and traditional manufacturing techniques, Drummonds’ classic bathroom products can take centre stage in our ever-larger bathrooms.

Splendid in their sheer scale, sumptuous materials and solid construction, they revel in the luxury of space.

A former bedroom in a Georgian townhouse has been converted into a vast en-suite for the master bedroom:

• Emphasising the space, a cool colour palette forms the perfect backdrop for Drummonds’ magnificent freestanding Spittal shower, (Pictured here), which the owner describes as a “work of art” in its own right and “far too beautiful to be stuck in a corner”:

• A complete glass-enclosed shower unit, which can stand magnificently in the middle of your bathroom, or even in your bedroom.

• The Spittal shower has a classic 8” shower head, and water jets built into the frame, providing you with a blissful all-over drenching.

• Another work of art is positioned by the window. The Torridge Chariot Boat bath is made in cast iron, with a dry-fritt enamelled interior and hand polished and lacquered exterior.

• Each Drummonds’ bath is manufactured individually, taking up to four weeks to complete.

• On the other side of the room stands an imposing double vanity basin, with beautiful white Arabascato marble top and upstand.

• A Drummonds heated towel rail in nickel finish, matches the precision-cast brassware and fittings used throughout the bathroom.

Flooded with natural light and gleaming with reflective surfaces, this bathroom is a living space in its own right.

Spittal Shower: £12,950.

Torridge Bath from £2,825.

Heated towel rail from £1,685.

Double vanity basin from £5,175.
(all prices exclude vat)

Visit the Drummonds website to view all of the above and much more.

Drummonds: 78 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3 4HN.

Tel: (020) 7376 4499

Hudson Reed has announced Soothe, the exciting new chromotherapy shower kit, designed to light up your life.

Soothe by Hudson Reed is different – in fact they think it’s the very first stand alone shower kit to feature Chromotherapy showers.

The LED lighting system contained inside the showerhead, is powered by the water flow, so no external electrical connections are needed.

Controls on the vertical riser allow the lighting to be changed from white to blue to red, or even to a soothing combination of favourite colours in the overhead shower.

In addition, the diverter on the shower column changes the flow from the overhead system to the unique chromotherapy hand shower.

Designed to operate on a minimum of 2-bar water pressure, the Soothe shower kit can be fitted with any Hudson Reed shower valve.

For a luxurious combination this could be with the Hudson Reed high performance body jets, using a three way thermostatic mixer.

Or for the last word in showering technology, pairing Soothe with I-Flow, the intelligent digital shower, with hand held remote control from Hudson Reed.

Soothe comes in either chrome or a stunning gloss black finish, with prices starting from £279 including vat.

Visit the Hudson Reed website to view their exciting range of showers.

Frontline, a leading UK bathroom supplier and distributor, has launched a brilliant new website for 2010.

It is extremely easy to navigate, enabling customers to browse over 6000 classic and contemporary products, from Frontline’s ever expanding bathroom range.

With the inbuilt Digi-Page functionality users can browse the virtual catalogue, clicking on each page to “turn over”.

The new website categorises all collections and ranges clearly on the Home page.

Users can also select ‘Latest Products & Special Offers’, to find out about Frontline’s newest additions and fantastic deals; information about its ‘Lifetime Guarantee’; and ‘Frontline News & PR’, with a downloadable newsletter.

Frontline’s Marketing Director, Michael Sammon, says, “Whether our customers are looking for contemporary-chic or classic elegance, with no expense spared, or working within specified budgets, we know we offer the perfect one-stop bathroom solution.”

The Frontline professionals pride themselves on customer service and delivery, to ensure the bath time experience is positive from “online to bath time!”

All products are featured in the new (biggest ever) Frontline catalogue, The Complete Bathroom.

The catalogue can be ordered online via the ‘Click here’ button.

Check the new Frontline website for your nearest stockist.

Tel: (0845) 470 2427.

The Chiltern Marble Group’s owner, Paul Mullee predicts that colour is going to make a bold appearance in kitchens next year; the seemingly insatiable love of black granite finally appears to be abating.

Think glittering gems of purples, reds and turquoise, plus watery glass surfaces of blues and greens.

Another hot trend will be for leaner work surfaces, adopting the continental style of slim 20mm thick worktops - the result is sharp clean lines giving a more contemporary look.

Favoured materials will be semi-precious stones such as: Carnelian, Wild Agate, Labradorite, Petrified Wood and some of most sought after quartz - Rose quartz, smoky quartz and Amethyst; these gorgeous stones create striking worktops that glitter with exquisite jewels.

There will also be an increasing shift towards more environmentally friendly and sustainable materials such as recycled quartz.

Using a combination of reclaimed quality quartz and recycled glass this is an ideal eco-friendly and stylish choice for kitchen, bathroom and workplace counter tops.

Featured here is Ciltern Marble’s product material: Rojo Eros.
Available size: 20mm and 30mm.
Price: List price 20mm - £380 per sqm. plus vat.

Visit the Chiltern Marble website to view their exquisite range of materials.

http://www.chilternmarble.co.uk
Tel: (0845) 5210171