• Star Wars Shower Curtain Brings the Force to Your Bathroom – Nearly bathtime it is, young Jedi.
• The Bouncy Bathroom Sink Made From Recycled Tyres – “This is Rubbish, a bathroom sink created using a 1/8-inch thick elastic sheet made with recycled tyres designed by Santa Monica-based design studio Minarc.”
• NatWest’s reasons for refusing a bathroom refund just won’t wash – an interesting insight from The Observer into some options if a bathroom installer goes bust halfway through a job.

As well as the usual design tips there’s an environmental innovation from New York and no shortage of lifestyle advice. So read on to see what caught our eye in the world of bathrooms this week:

• Bad Bathroom Design: Nine Mistakes to Avoid – some useful tips from a bathroom retailer for sticking tiles, positioning toilets and avoiding getting stuck with colours you’ll grow to hate.
• Riverside Park Plans Composting Restroom – according to the New York Times a city tennis association is planning to install compost toilets that will fertilize park greenery and use solar panels to generate power, the first such scheme in a New York City park.
• Don’t Just Sit There! – Slate tackles a taboo subject. Is it possible that our posture when using the toilet can have health consequences? A fascinating read.
• Lifestyle changes curb overnight bathroom trips – Reuters publishes some advice for anyone plagued by too-frequent nocturnal calls of nature.
• Couple return from honeymoon to find python in bathroom – maybe it was wondering where its wedding invitation had got to…

• My pink bathroom preview – “It’s amazing how neutral pink can be.”
• Serene or funky, a bathroom should never be boring – “We found a series of snazzy items to add dash to one of the favourite rooms in the house.”
• Reading for Mars, II: – ever wondered about the bathroom arangements aboard the Space Shuttle? Read on… Or read more from The Washington Post here.
• What to look out for when installing a vintage bathtub – the good news is that it might not be so much of a problem as you think…
• Things to consider before getting an outdoor bathroom – ever pondered the technicalities of the formerly-ubiquitous earth closet? According to this article they amount to a spade, some hard digging and a bag of lime.
• Is your bathroom geeky? – to be in with a chance of answering ‘yes’ you need it to feature NES controllers, Playstation controllers, iPhones and iPods all made of soap, as featured in this video.

• Glowing Bath Tub Brings Colour to Your Bathroom – feeling dull and jaded? Here’s an, er, ‘aspirational’ bit of bathroom design that could wash away the bathtime blues… and presumably the reds, greens, pinks or yellows too!
• Time to make that bathroom shine – ever felt the need of a really detailed set of instructions on how to clean and update your bathroom? This is it.
• Six Tips to Remove Bathroom Mould – practical advice on a persistent bathroom problem we’d all rather not deal with but which doesn’t go away on its own either.
• Before and After: Catherine’s Instant Bathroom Makeover – billed as “easy decor changes that have a huge impact”.
• Vixol Red (YouTube) – Is this clip from Thailand the world’s weirdest bathroom cleaner commercial? Apparently not, as it’s one in a long and surreal series. (Don’t worry – it’s perfectly safe for work.)
• Phyto-Purification Shower Filters Grey Water with Grass – are you green-minded enough to shower in a reed bed? See what happens when modern design is mixed with natural filtering principles.

• Now that the bathroom’s clean, it’s time to get organised – tips from a professional organiser on keeping the smallest room neat and uncluttered.
• Futuristic Bathroom Wall Treatments and Cabinetry: Cube & Dot by Kale – this is one for those of you that love looking at pictures of wild and wonderful bathroom design. It’s inspirational if not necessarily achievable. This looks like something you might visit on the Starship Enterprise…
• $15,000 porta-potties are WAY nicer than your bathroom – Take a sneak peek inside the portable toilets that would put most luxury bathrooms to shame.
• Remodelling your bathroom: bathroom window – Need natural light in your bathroom? Have you considered enlarging the window? Heres an article from a home improvement website suggesting just that…
• Home restoration: historic bathroom colours – good advice on choosing paint colours for your bathroom.
• The best bathroom – does the Grand America Hotel, a 775-room destination in Salt Lake City, have some of the best bathrooms in America?

Here’s something that might prove just the ticket for anyone thinking about a creative or unusual bathroom project – wipe-clean PVC curtain and coverings fabric from the retailer Terry’s Fabrics.

The fabric (sometimes known as oilcloth) is soil- and water-repellent, durable and very practical and comes in an extensive range of colours and designs. While some of them are less suitable for bathroom use, others are absolutely ideal.

If you’re looking for a way to incorporate features into your bathroom that might be hard to accomplish with conventional fabric, this could be just the solution for you.

Find out more about the Terrys Fabrics PVC fabric range here >>

• Everybody loves looking at gorgeously-photographed luxury bathrooms, and the staff at Furniture Fashion are no exception. This blog is pointing readers in the direction of Italian manufacturer La Roccia’s bathroom vanities with a touch of storage: “The Nuda series takes on many faces with combinations of natural stone solids and veneers against stained wood accents with just enough storage to get the job done without taking away from the sleek linear design. La Roccia makes use of the space provided with wall mounted elements which free up floor space, or the island vanity that is accessible from all directions.” Well, we can all dream… Read full post here and part two here.
• More evidence of the march of the coloured bathroom from House of Turquoise, a blog dedicated to all things “teal, robin’s egg blue, aqua, sky blue, seafoam green and ocean blue,” as its masthead tells us. Sensing a theme here? Blogger Erin has uncovered this gorgeous picture of a turquoise and yellow bathroom from Harcourt Designs that shows just how well bold colour can work even when your ceramics are still white. Read full post here.
• At the US-based Earthfriendly blog editor Marina Hanes is looking into ways to generate less bathroom waste. She’s found a great product, a recyclable toothbrush made from yoghurt pots: “After you’re done with the brush, you send it back to the company so it can be transformed into other things like tables and boardwalks.” Now all we need to know is, can you get a similar product in the UK? Read the full post here.
• Over at DiVapor.com, the blog is reminding readers about the importance of using qualified traders for tasks like heating and plumbing. It says: “There is a sense of weariness about bringing a trader into the equation with popular TV shows such as Rogue Traders teaching us to be aware of the fallacious conmen that crawl our communities. Finding a trustworthy, qualified individual can sometimes be a difficult task.” It goes on to point out that the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, the professional body for the UK plumbing and heating industry, has earlier this year received a Royal Charter for its contribution to the safety and health of the public and the environment. Read full post here.
• MyBath.com is taking a helpful look at steam shower ventilation and ways to tackle the problems associated with it. It recommends upgrading your bathroom fan: “Before choosing a fan you will need to know the air volume in your bathroom. This is calculated by multiplying the length, width and height of your bathroom to get the total cubic feet of air. When purchasing a fan you will want one that completely replaces the air in the bathroom at least 10 times per hour. Having too much circulation can never be a bad thing, too little can be. Another thing you will want to look into when purchasing a bathroom fan is the noise rating.” Read full post here.
• VictorianBathrooms4U has some interesting news about Hudson Reed’s latest line of eco-friendly taps: “By installing Eco-Flo water regulators to your fittings you restrict the maimum flow rate to 6litres per minute – in line with current environmental guidelines. Not only will this help the environment, but it will reduce your own water consumption and reduce running costs.” Read full post here.

We’ve been backing this trend for a while – and here’s some more evidence that it’s gathering pace: an article in Saturday’s Guardian Life & Style section entitled “What’s the next big thing in interiors?”

TV presenter and property developer Sarah Beeny, who may be most familiar to viewers of Channel 4′s Property Ladder, has this to say:

Trend predictions for the year ahead Our love affair with hard floors is coming to an end, so I’m tipping a return to fitted, patterned carpets. They look fabulous and are ultimately practical. Coloured bathrooms are going to be strong, too; people who don’t want to risk a coloured suite can get the look using tiles and paint in bold shades.

Far be it from us to say “we told you so.” Read the full article here…

Housemates will inhabit a house that, although larger than usual, seems to have been designed to mess with their heads by subjecting them to constant contrasts.

There will be a stylishly modern living room and kitchen, a prison camp bedroom, a bright and plant-filled garden with pool, and a bathroom that has been created to “scream Donald Trump meets P Diddy”.

It’s decorated in gold, veined marble and turquoise and it features a gilded statue of Michaelangelo’s David and a bath tap shaped like a swan.

You can see photos here – click the different thumbnails to get larger-sized pictures, if you dare.

But if you have a strong stomach and can face the full horror that the hapless housemates will be subjected to, try photo number 11 in Digital Spy’s series here.

The new specialist bathroom site, called Bathrooms by Wickes offers advice on everything from plumbing to design and offers you the ideas and inspiration to help make your plans a reality.

Here’s what it looks like:

Click through and you can get help to turn any size of room into a stylish, practical space that suits your budget.

And, to give you the reassurance to shop online, the retailer is promising high-quality products and great customer service. All pottery comes with a 25-year guarantee and taps with a 10-year guarantee.

The site also offers a free design and planning service to help you choose and plan a successful bathroom project. Naturally, everything they recommend for the makeover can be bought at Wickes!

View Wickes’ new bathroom site here >>