Bathrooms

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38. We are looking for some New York-style bathroom floor tiles, which we have seen on various TV programmes and also in the rooms at High Road House boutique hotel. They are white and have raised circles all over them. Can you help as we can't find them on sale anywhere? Johnson Tiles has something like this called Discface in its commercial Kerastar range. They cost around £25 per sq m.

39. We recently installed a shower over the bath in our period bathroom. Ideally, we want to continue the existing tiles up to the ceiling behind the shower, but didn't inherit any spare ones with the house and have no idea where they were from. Is there a company that supplies old tiles, or that has a tile-matching service? Some ceramic suppliers do offer matching services, but the finish can be hit and miss, so having digitally printed copies made is a better option. For the best results, use a company with cutting-edge printers, such as Digital Ceramic Solutions. The company also prints proofs, which you can check against the originals for a perfect match.  

40. I'm looking for a dog's-tooth border tile for my bathroom. I can find this pattern for floors, but not as a border. Can you help? Your best bet is to either use a square tile set in a diamond orientation, or have tiles cut to your required size. Or you could have your own designs printed onto tiles. Check out Johnson Tiles' Artile service, which will print images of your choice.  

41. I have an oversized enamelled Victorian roll-top bath that's beginning to look quite neglected and worn. I don't want to replace it, so can you suggest any way of giving it a facelift? There are many companies out there that offer in-situ repair or re-spray services for baths. If you want to give it a go yourself, a new product called The Tubby DIY Bath Tub Resurfacing Kit (around £30), looks worth a try on baths and other sanitaryware. After cleaning and prepping the bath surface, a tough epoxy paint is rollered on, which dries to a gloss finish.

42. I'm trying to find stockists of modern-looking bathroom rail fittings for people with disabilities. Can you help? The best we've seen so far come from Hewi's cutting-edge and comprehensively designed product range called Lifesystems. All fixtures conform to the new Disability Discrimination Act, which details and promotes the way buildings and interiors can be designed to be more inclusive. The resulting accessories (such as shelves with grab rails) wouldn't look out of place in any modern bathroom. Hewi products are available through Turnquest UK.  

43. We are about to start designing our first flat. The bathroom is very small and we would love to have a Japanese soak-in bath to enable us to have a shower as well. We have looked through lots of UK websites, but nobody seems to have what we're after. Any ideas? What you're looking for is sometimes referred to as a Roman bath and many people in the UK are interested in sourcing these. Unfortunately, although they are common elsewhere in the world, we've not yet found anyone who imports them to the UK. Your best option may be to have one specially made up. Eros2 can produce bespoke granite and marble/resin shower trays in a range of colours, so you'll be able to have something unique tailored to fit your requirements exactly. 

44. I've seen a picture of a bathroom with coloured lighting in the floor, which I'm interested in recreating at home. Do you know of a supplier, and is this lighting really safe for the bathroom, as I have a very inquisitive two year old? I imagine you saw fibre optic lights rather than halogen, which, although they run on a safer low voltage, get very hot. Fibre optics are perfectly safe for wet areas like bathrooms and also outdoors, because the actual light source can be housed out of harm's reach, many metres away. All that's required is to route the fibre-optic ropes (which are just like a tube that the light is piped down) to where you need the lighting, and then cap with the finishing lens fitting. Be warned: colour changing lighting can be more disco than spa if not done professionally, so sticking with static colours is recommended. The positioning and the installation still need to be well considered and competently carried out, so don't rush into fitting this type of lighting just on a whim. Good-quality fibre optic kits can be bought online for around £400 through Unlimited Light. 

45. My once-shiny enamel bath is now looking dull because I cleaned it with bleach. Are there any ways to bring back its shine, other than getting the bath re-enamelled? Unfortunately there isn't really a quick fix for this problem. Your best option is to get the bath resurfaced by a specialist (log onto Yell.com and search under Bath Resurfacing), but the finished surface, although shiny, won't be as hard-wearing as the original enamel. Expect to pay between £150 and £200 for a full resurfacing. Ask your local company if it can offer a polishing service that can restore the shine to your bath without the hassle of re-enamelling. If the damage isn't too serious, this could be a cheaper option. In future, use only non-abrasive cleaners such as Astonish Cream Cleaner from Lakeland.

46. I'm in the process of redecorating a very bland cloakroom and want to continue the African-inspired theme I have in my living room. I was hoping to find a wooden bowl I could use as a basin to give the room the same dark wood finish. Do you have any ideas? We've found the perfect thing - a solid teak basin from luxury bathroom company William Garvey. The Helio basin isn't cheap at £583, but it's solid and extremely hard-wearing. And it won't take up much space - it measures just 420mm in diameter.

47. I've just updated our large bathroom and have created a separate toilet. I would like to add a basin to this room, but I can't find one small and deep enough, can you suggest one? One of the easiest ways to squeeze in a small basin is to choose a corner unit that makes good use of dead space. The Barcelona cloakroom basin, £64 from B&Q is a good choice for this style. If you want to go for something a little more contemporary, then the Hall cloakroom basin, £93 from Roca, is an ideal choice. You could also take a look at the curved Block Arc basin, £195 from bathroomexpress.co.uk.

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