Bankside

The client came to this one with their architect, which usually means two things: the design is fixed, and the detail matters. Both were true here.

The whole room is large-format porcelain — wall and floor — in a soft grey concrete-effect. Big tiles are harder than small ones, because the cuts have to be perfect. The external corners aren't finished with trim; they're mitred at 45 degrees, two tiles meeting at a sharp edge. Most tilers reach for trim because it hides a multitude of sins. We don't use it on jobs like this. It's slower, it's less forgiving, and the result is worth it.

The shower is a walk-in, no tray, with a linear drain set flush to the floor. To make that work, the floor falls have to be right across the whole tile run — not just under the shower. We dry-laid the floor first to plan the falls, then bedded each tile with full coverage adhesive. No hollow spots, no movement.

The feature is the niche above the WC. The architect specified an antiqued mirror — the kind you'd see in an old hotel bar, mottled and silvery. We built the niche box in marine ply, tanked it, lined it in the porcelain, and dropped the mirror in last. The reveal is square, flush, and proud of nothing.

It's a quiet bathroom. No accent colour, no statement light. The architect said at handover that they'd send us another job. They have.