[.uk] The Bathroom Idea Book (Idea Books) (ISBN 1561583944)

NO IDEAS:
Being in the home improvement business, I felt odd needing ideas when it came time to upgrade the bathrooms in my own home. Perhaps making a living building the bathroom of everyone elses dreams helped to fog the picture of what I wanted my own to be. Taunton Publishing puts out a trade magazine that I swear by. So when I decided to purchase a book on bathrooms I thought I couldnt go wrong with this one. How wrong I was. This book is little more than a collection of photographs of high end and ultra high end bathrooms. Here in my neck of the woods a complete bath renovation ranges in cost from between ten and fifteen thousand dollars for an average bath. Very few of the rooms displayed in this book would make that budget. Aside from the introduction there is almost no text to assist the "reader" in understanding requirements or even necessaties pryor to planning a bath remodel. Perhaps the fact that I am in this line of work colors my opinion of the book, but if photos qualify as ideas, Id recomend picking up a few magazines on bath remodeling and get a fuller picture.

I gave it a star for every idea it gave me:
That's why there are only two stars! First idea, the shape of a single cupboard. The second idea, a way to add counter space over a toilet. That's it. I guess I could have gotten both from any other magazine on the shelf for a lot less than I paid for this silly picture book filled with pictures of _pieces_ of bathrooms. A more appropriate title would have been: Bathroom Parts Picture Book A guide to bathrooms for those who can't read. The most I'll get from this book is the enjoyment my children will receive from cutting out the pictures for their paper dolls.

A Must See & Read for New Bathrooms or Bath Renovations!!!:
An incredible amount of information with beautiful pictures of how to plan a new bath / shower OR how to update / remodel an existing bath....Hundreds of illustrations that can be incorporated into any bath depending on budget and desire...

great for the professional as well as the novice:
This text has many wonderful photos to inspire the professional. It is also full of basic info homeowners can use. It is not too technical, but covers most of the features needed in a bathroom.

Not Just a Picture Book:
I enjoyed this book and felt it did provide good information, contrary to other comments and I felt it was well worth the money. My mother is remodeling her bathroom and it gave us good ideas of what she liked and didn't like. I do agree with another writer that many of the most beautiful bathroom photographs were of "high-end" bathrooms, but I believe most anything can be modified to fit within a budget. The book was useful in providing the bones from which to work. I mean if marble is too expensive or is not your thing, then maybe travertine would be a less expensive option. I thought the book provided good info on things like sink placement, vanity and cabinet styles, flooring and even toilet options and shower head choices. The only slight negative, is that the book I read was published in 1999 and did include some older style bathrooms, but I would expect that in a book that was six years old, so I didn't count off for that...just because I'm late in reading it. :-) There were lots of informative sections in the book. On page 80, it talks about some of the differences in fiberglass vs acrylic showers/tubs. On page 95, there is some discussion about low flush toilets. To me, the book title indicates exactly what this book provides "Bathroom Ideas", and I think the author delivered. Even though most of the pictures don't have much detail about how to construct a particular type of bathroom or what foundation needs to already be in place, this book is not called Bathroom Construction and Remodeling. I think this book does a great job at explaining what you are looking at and includes corresponding numbering on the text and pictures. I found this book very useful and it provided just what I was looking for....ideas.