I spent twenty minutes yesterday arguing with a plumber about a floor waste in a project out near Dubbo. He wanted it smack bang in the middle of a beautiful floor tile layout. I told him to move it. Why? Because the bathroom isn't just a wet room anymore. It's the one place in your house where you can actually lock the door and have five minutes of peace from the kids or the dog. When you're putting together a kit home, you've got this massive advantage. You aren't stuck with whatever some volume builder decided was the cheapest bulk-buy tile in 2023. You're the boss. You're the owner-builder. That means you can take those steel-framed bones and turn the light, airy spaces into something that looks like it belongs in a boutique hotel in Byron Bay.
The End of the White Box
For a long time, Australian bathrooms were boring. Standard white 300x300 tiles, a chrome mixer, and a plastic exhaust fan that sounded like a Cessna taking off. People are over it. Lately, I'm seeing a huge shift toward textured finishes. Think finger tiles, or kit-kat tiles as some call them, used as a feature wall behind the vanity. They add vertical lines that make a standard 2.4m ceiling feel much higher. It's a clever trick. Because your kit arrives with the TRUECORE steel frames ready to go, you already know your walls are dead straight. That makes laying these fiddly, skinny tiles a whole lot easier than trying to mask wonky timber studs in an old Reno project.
Concrete is also having a moment. Not the cold, industrial slab kind, but soft, warm grey tones in large format tiles. If you're building a design like our mid-sized three-bedroom kits, using a 600x600 tile on both the floor and the walls creates this seamless look. It makes the room feel twice as big. Plus, fewer grout lines means less time scrubbing on your hands and knees on a Sunday morning. Who wants to spend their life cleaning grout? Not me.
Wet Rooms and Open Showers
One of the biggest lifestyle trends hitting the Australian market is the true wet room. We're ditching the clunky plastic shower bases and even the glass doors where we can. If you've got the space in your floor plan, a walk-in shower with a single fixed glass panel is the way to go. It feels high-end. It feels expensive. But here's a pro tip for the owner-builders out there: make sure your fall is spot on. I've seen blokes rush the screed and end up with a puddle sitting three feet away from the drain. Talk to your tiler early. If you're doing the waterproofing yourself, don't skimp. Use the good stuff and follow AS 3740 like it's the bible. Water damage is the quickest way to ruin a perfectly good steel frame home.
And let's talk about the bath. The freestanding tub isn't just for show. It's a statement piece. Position it under a window if you've got the privacy, or maybe under a skylight. Imagine soaking there on a rainy afternoon in Gippsland while the rain drums on the Colorbond roof. That's the lifestyle people are actually chasing when they decide to build their own place.
Tapware and Toilets: The Details Matter
Brushed brass is everywhere right now. So is gunmetal grey. Chrome is still the safe bet, but if you want that designer edge, hardware is the easiest place to get it. Just a heads up, though. If you go for the trendy matte black, be prepared for water spots. In areas with hard water, like parts of South Australia, black taps can look dusty within two days of cleaning. I usually tell people to stick with brushed nickel if they want a modern look that's actually low-maintenance. It hides fingerprints and soap scum remarkably well. So you spend less time with a microfibre cloth and more time on the deck.
Owner-Builder Logistics: The Stuff Nobody Tells You
When you're managing your own kit home build, the bathroom is often the most stressful part because so many trades have to dance around each other in a small space. You've got the plumber, the sparky, the waterproofer, and the tiler. It's a mess. My advice? Get your rough-in done perfectly. Since you're working with steel frames, your plumber will love how easy it is to run pipes through the pre-punched holes. No more spending hours with a hole saw and weakening the structure. But you need to have your vanity dimensions and your tapware specs decided before the first screw goes into the frame. Don't change your mind at the last minute. Moving a pipe in a concrete slab once it's poured is a nightmare that involves jackhammers and a lot of swearing.
Storage is another one. People always forget where they're going to put the towels. I'm a big fan of recessed shaving cabinets. Because our kit walls are typically 90mm deep, you can tuck a cabinet right into the wall cavity. It sits flush. It looks sleek. And it gives you heaps of storage for all those bottles and jars without cluttering up your vanity top. It's a simple design choice that makes a massive difference in how the room functions day-to-day.
The Lighting Game
Please, I'm begging you, don't just stick one bright LED downlight in the middle of the ceiling. It's harsh and it makes you look like a ghost when you're brushing your teeth. Layer your lighting. Put some LED strip lighting under the vanity - it's a great nightlight for when you're stumbling to the loo at 2am. Add some wall sconces on either side of the mirror. It provides a much softer, more flattering light. Since you're the one coordinating the sparky, you can make these calls. It might cost a couple of hundred bucks extra in wiring, but the atmosphere it creates is worth every cent.
Think About the Future
Australian housing is changing. We're thinking more about how we'll live in these homes twenty years from now. I'm seeing more people opt for wider doorways and walk-in showers with no hob. It's called universal design. It's not just for older blokes or people with mobility issues. It's just smart building. A bathroom that's easy to move around in feels more luxurious anyway. It's open. It's airy. And if you ever decide to sell your kit home down the track, having a bathroom that works for everyone is a huge selling point.
Building your own home is a massive undertaking. It's a slog sometimes. But when you finally stand in that bathroom, looking at the tiles you picked and the layout you designed, knowing that the whole thing is built on a solid steel foundation that isn't going to warp or get eaten by white ants, it feels pretty bloody good. Just remember to keep your levels handy and don't let the plumber talk you into an ugly floor waste position just because it's easier for him. It's your house. Build it your way.
