Start by looking at your room's good and bad points:

Does the room need totally replanning?

Could you change the layout to gain more space?

Rearranging the suite or perhaps knocking through a wall, or removing an airing cupboard, may be possibilities.

What do you want the room to be used for - apart from a wash and brush up, do you want an area that can act as a dressing room, exercise room or simply a place to relax?

Are there any elements you want to keep?

Are there bad points you wish to disguise?

Think from the onset about the mood you want to create. A bathroom can be many things from romantic to racy.

It is often easier to start from scratch than try to adapt an existing arrangement. Installing a new suite and rethinking the heating. Ventilation and décor also gives you the opportunity to get everything right and create a room that truly suits your lifestyle.

Careful thought at the beginning pays dividends: it's costly to move the main componets around later. And it is where Armitage Shanks can offer invaluable advice at an early stage with their complimentary Bathroom Planner booklet. This helps you visualise how your bathroom can look, letting you mull over all the options before finding the most suitable arrangement.

The bathroom suite is always the most dominant feature of a bathroom - just like a three piece suite dictates the style of a living room, or fitted units dominate a kitchen. The pages of this brochure prove you really are spoilt for choice - from Victorian to ultra modern. It's a great starting point for style which can be endorsed later by sympathetic choices for the rest of the décor.

Choose your suite carefully. Sanitary ware is terrific value for money - and if you spend more, you can enjoy those luxurious extras for many years to come such as gold finish fittings, an extra wide bath possibly with a spa system, or fitted furniture. Exactly which type of bath suits you will depend on whether you are looking for length, an unusual shape or traditional design. Armitage Shanks make acrylic baths in a glorious range of sizes and colours, which are warm to the touch and light to install. Its patented Armacast baths are 10mm thick, extra tough and guaranteed for 25 years.

Other options include bathgrips, built-in contours and bath screens.

Call me a romantic, but my favourite is the County bath with a backrest at each end. The plug is in the middle so, when there are two sharing, no-one need sit at the plug end!

Oh, how we would love those gloriously spacious bathrooms featured in the glossy magazines - swimming in space, with a roll top bath, walk-in shower and the obligatory chair tucked in a corner.

The truth, however, is that the average British bathroom is around 8' 6" square, more often than not smallest room in the house, awkwardly shaped and disproportionately tall. A small room shouldn't cramp your style though.

Think about one of Armitage Shanks compact suites such as Tiffany or corner baths such as the broadway.

Look for a suite, such as the Cameo back-to-wall, where plumbing can be concealed or ducted. If the wc and basin run along one wall, and the supply and waste pipes are laid in a single line, you could build a false wall finished to match the décor. The top can then be used as a slim shelf for bottles.

Pick pale colours (for both suite and decoration) to create an airy feel and give the impression of space. Matching ceramic accessories look neater and are more restful on the eye.

Mirrors lighten and brighten a room, giving the impression of more space as they make boundaries disappear. Cladding a wall of a compact bathroom in sheet mirror will transform the room, although the daily sight of watching yourself getting in and out of the bath may be too much to bear! So position large stretches of glass with sensitivity: the smaller the tiles the more fractured the image and more soothing on the ego.

Steer away from flooring with large, dominant designs which might overpower a small area. Medium and pale shades will make small floor areas look more spacious.

By incorporating furniture into your bathroom you can reach new heights of luxury. Not only will the room look clean ad clutter free but it will be a pleasure to use.

You don't need a large room for fitted furniture either - in fact it makes the best of what little space you do have.

Ugly pipes are hidden behind closed doors and you can build in extras such as laundry and waste baskets, integral mirrors and concealed lighting. As well as storage space for toiletries and towels, you'll gain shelf space for all those essentials you want to keep close to hand.

Armitage Shanks offer four ranges of furniture which let you create very different moods - Xadia, the classic contemporary stone laminate, Minerva with wood grain magnolia or ash, Oslo, a subtle beechwood finish and Tarndale, with genuine timber fascia to the doors.

Often the only facility provided is an inadequately small cabinet inconveniently placed. The result in many bathrooms is that every available surface (tops of toilets, corner of baths, edges of basins) are pressed into service, crammed with a litter of pots and potions. With more storage space you bathroom will look neater, work better and be safer.

Where space is restricted, plenty of open shelving can house many items. Installed in a ladder fashion, they make the best use of wall space - especially if some of the shelves are widely spaced to cope with tall jars. You can also consider adding shelves above windows and doors to gain extra storage space. Glass shelves are advantageous: they are easy to clean and don't dominate the room.

If you have an alcove, consider building in open shelves which can then be screened with a blind. A tiered trolley on castors or wall-hung baskets are great for bath oils, soaps ad shampoos.

A wire grid, hung within easy reach of the bath, can be fitted with hooks to hang face cloths, loofahs, etc.

If you are planning to box in the bath, then extend the panel out a little to create a good, deep shelf at the end where you can keep bottle, jars, soaps and sponges if you do box in the bath, don't forget to build in one removable access panel to reach the plumbing.

Vanity basins give you valuable storage space. Armitage Shanks has a wide range in its Burlington collection. Alternatively, make a skirt for a washbasin out of pretty fabric.

Once the basics are in place, it is essential to visualize the room as a whole. Although your choose of basic fittings sets the style, it is the decoration and accessories that make or mark the effect.

Decoration spans the range from sleek and minimal to frivolous. Giving a room a strong theme - an identity - turns it into something special. The traditional favourite, Victorian, is guaranteed when you team Armitage Shanks' Cliveden, Lafayette or Lichfield suites with floral wallpaper, a mahogany toilet seat and bath panel, towel stand, and décor of rich colours.

Use the room, as the Victorian did, to display treasured possessions - a collection of china plates on the wall, framed pictures or collection of pretty perfume bottles.

Alternatively, how about Art Deco with its clean cut black and white tiling and chrome accessories? Or something hot and holidayish in terracotta and blues? Or a nautical look with tongue and groove panelled walls; deck chair striped soft furnishings and a smattering of shells, pebbles, boats and waves.

It's the personal touches, which make a bathroom special - pictures, scented oils, soaps in colours, bath salts in beautiful glass jars and a row of baskets filled with towels will add a touch of luxury.

Replacing the taps can make a real difference, adding a shining, polished feel to the room. Taps are chosen on purely aesthetic grounds but they are machines which have to work hard through a lifetime so pick quality fitments. Armitage Shanks are the biggest UK manufacturer of taps and fittings and have styles to suite every choice.

Hanging photos or prints, plants and shelves or small display units are the finishing touches which soften a stark room.Books and magazines and even thick towels warming on a towel rail can all add interest.

Some successful bathrooms owe their charm to the paper and paint. But bathroom decorations must be practical - in other words, impervious to stem and moisture, such as the kitchen ad bathroom paints from Dulux. Paints with an eggshell finish are a wise buy because high gloss varieties aggravate condensation. Vinyl silk gives you the flexibility to mix the exact shade you want.

Paint is cheap and simple to use. Traditional paint effects, such as sponging or ragging, work well as the durable glazes used to make them are particularly suitable for steamy environments. Also consider doing something adventurous or fun like painting stripes or fake tiles on the wall.

Wallpaper, on the other hand, gives the room a friendly warmth. It's also great for disguising bumps ad uneven surfaces. Vinyl is more expensive than ordinary wallpaper but more robust in a bathroom. Apply with a fungicidal adhesive for best results. Old wallpaper can, incidentally, look marvellous, finished with a coat of polyurethane.

When selecting colours remember:

North facing rooms can be warmed with mellow colours such as creams, apricot, yellow, coral and pink.

A hot room cools down with blues, lilacs or greens. Darker colours can make a room seem smaller and cosier but they need good lighting.

Wall-to-ceiling tiling is the ultimate answer to the need for a waterproof, washable environment. It needs no maintenance and will last as long as you want it to.

Tiles are one of the toughest wallcoverings around:

Hardwearing, easy to clean and with looks that last. It is worth spending time, therefore, being creative and coming up with a scheme you can lie back and admire for years to come by mixing and matching tiles in different colours, incorporating panels, feature tiles or borders.

Laying tiles diagonally makes the area look bigger as does using plain or large tiles.If you want future flexibility it may be wise to half tile the walls to dado height and combine paint or paper above. Tiling needn't be confined to the main splash areas - vary the heights and include borders to add interest.Single tiles collected from junk shops and used, as patchwork can look unique.

While the emphasis should be on efficiency and practicality in a shared bathroom, you can opt for a more glamorous treatment in an en suite - after all, it's your private retreat.

Installing a second bathroom reduces pressure on the main bathroom and can add value to your home - unless you have to lose a bedroom in the process.

It is important to get advice from a qualified plumber and you may need to employ a specialist to solve design problems. Sliding or bi-fold doors will same precious space

It you don't have the room for a standard sized bath or the deep shower tub, which incorporates a comfortable seat link the décor in an en suite bathroom to the main bathroom with similar fabrics, furnishings and window treatments.

Most people would include a shower in their perfect bathroom. Refreshing, invigorating and quick, showers also use less water - yu can take five showers for the water used to run one bath.

The simplest way to incorporate a shower in a bathroom is to install a bath/shower mixer on your bath - such as Armitage Shanks' traditional chrome or gold finish Handsacre, or the more contemporary Aranja finish available with Amaranth. This arrangement works well, particularly when combined with a bath/shower screen to give a good water seal (it looks tidier and performs better than a soggy shower curtain).The height of luxury is to have a separate, walk-in shower enclosure, fully tiled with a glazed door.

Not many homes have the space to incorporate a cubical in the main bathroom, but they can be fitted into the smallest of spaces in some other part of the house. You only need one square meter of floor space and ideal locations are often a cupboard under the stairs, or in the corner of a bedroom or kitchen. The showers themselves have entered the realms of hi-tech, using microchip computers to get the ideal mix of temperature and water. Some offer a range of different modes so you can select anything from a gentle spray to invigorating needle jets. Others have a memory which stores your favourite temperature or can be programmed to save water or descale themselves.

A family bathroom needs a safe, practical flooring - one that is slip resistant, hygienic and easy to clean. Cork, vinyls and linoleum are a good choice being soft and warm underfoot, yet able to withstand frequent drenching. They are also easy to disinfect (a worthwhile consideration if the room has a toilet in it)

However, in a bathroom used by careful adults say, en suite to a master bedroom - choices can include luxurious marble or ceramic tiles and quick drying synthetic bathroom carpet or carpet tiles. Always look for carpet designed specifically for bathroom use as this usually has a rubberised backing and cotton or synthetic pile which doesn't rot or become smelly.

Another suitable choice is Flotex, which is made from nylon fibre which won't shrink or curl no matter how wet it gets. An inexpensive option is to use the floorboards, provided they are in good enough conditions and are relatively draught free.

Once painted and varnished they are easy to maintain, but painted floorboards should be sealed with several coats of varnish. Polished boards are not really suitable as water tends to cause white marks that often stain.

Any window treatment has to let in sufficient light, but also create privacy. Installing frosted or stained glass was the traditional answer, but now you can have anything from sliding screens to shutters and framed panels. Pinoleum blinds give a warm, Mediterranean glow to a room, while roman and roller blinds give a more homely effect.

Curtains are the least versatile treatment but they do keep a room warm and look pretty. They are better reserved for large rooms.

Lighting can transform a bathroom from a fast wash room to an exotic hideaway. Candles completely metamorphose the bathroom - casting a meditative glow around the room.

Lighting must combine efficiency and safety as well as adding something to the mood of the room. Bathrooms without windows positively demand you give careful thought to the aesthetics of lighting in order to humanise what could otherwise be a claustrophobic cubbyhole.

A bathroom, like a kitchen, requires both general and task lighting - downlighters are effective sources of general light, neither harsh on sleepy eyes nor unflattering to early morning complexions. They are more elegant if recessed, and are practical for lower ceiling rooms.

You need task lighting of some kind for jobs like shaving and applying make-up, and this can be added in several ways. Cabinets can be bought with built-in lights, or try adding lightbulbs "Hollywood style" around a mirror. Use pearl 40-wall golf balls down each side to give a shadow free light.

Tungsten lights generally produce a warmer feel, fluorescent can be harsh.Large mirrors that run all the way across a vanity unit generally demand some kind of built-in lighting, such as fluorescent tube behind a pelmet.

Few environments suffer such radical changes of temperature and humidity as a bathroom. Unless it is well ventilated, moisture in the air from a steaming hot bath or shower condenses, runs down the walls and mists up windows and mirrors. Mould can even develop if there is a serious problem.

Opening a window (if there is one) may do the trick, allowing the moisture-laden air to escape, nut an extractor fan works far more quickly and more effectively.

Towel rails provide a little background heat and keep towels snug. It is now possible to buy mirrors that contain a heat element to prevent misting.

Make sure any electrical equipment you install (such as shaver sockets) conform a BS3456. Connections to any heater should be taken to a switched and fused connection unit outside the room. Extractor fans and lights must be operated by a pull cord.