We spent a wonderful Valentine's day trawling the local bathroom and tile shops - it was so romantic!

No seriously, it had to be done, and with our end of March target at the forefront of our minds, we knew that we needed to make decisions on supplies and quick.

Bathstore proved fruitless, Wickes also. At B&Q we bought wood stain and a piece of wood for testing (in case our search for dark, almost black furniture is not successful and Dom has to make it bespoke). Then onto Tilemates in Crayford where we found a gorgeous marble mosaic tile for our feature wall and took a sample board away of a large oblong travertine-look tile - I'm aiming for a natural stone spa look.

On our travels we came across a bathroom showroom called Raymac, and investigated furniture there to no avail. Then we made it to Beautiful Bathrooms in Welling where we found the perfect coloured furniture, perfect fit, but wrong matching sink and no way of adapting it. We did spot a sink and loo we liked though, and have since come home and placed the order for an Ideal Standard Concept Sphere basin, wall hung WC with soft close seat, and a matching bath.

Our final stop of the day was Sidcup Tile King, where we think we have found a better travertine-look tile and have ordered a sample to be in on Tuesday.

Seven hours later, back at home we've tried out our wood dye, ordered the full bathroom suite and Dom is now carrying on with the kitchen tiling - cleaning the tiles of excess cement, before being able to grout.

Labels: d.i.y.