Island blog
From the latest bathroom trends, to expert advice & tips on how to look after your bathroom
Burlington Coloured Ceramics
Introducing the Burlington Coloured Collection. Distinctive and unbelievably striking, the new colours provide the ultimate opportunity for originality within your bathroom. Inspired by the bolder colours synonymous with the early to mid 1900’s, Confetti Pink, Alaska Blue and Moon Grey introduce a playful and contemporary twist to traditional ceramics.
Alaska Blue
Inspired by the coloured suites of the late 1900s, the cool and contemporary Alaska Blue ceramics demonstrate how to bring colour into the 21st century traditional bathroom. Sophisticated yet bold and beautifully daring, Alaska Blue offers a twist on a classic vintage bathroom style.Browse Products
Confetti Pink
Paying homage to the mid-century era, the confident blushing shade of Confetti Pink strikes the perfect balance between authentic traditional style and characterful contemporary design. Confetti Pink ceramics promise to add a striking look to your colour scheme.Browse Products
Moon Grey
Subtle yet distinctive, the Moon Grey ceramics introduce a subtle approach to incorporating colour into the bathroom. A soothing and elegant shade, the sophisticated tones of the soft grey perfectly complement the characteristic shapes of Burlington’s Edwardian ceramics.Browse Products
The Burlington Coloured Collection is available to purchase through Island Bathrooms today! Let's make a statement.
The Man Who Lived In A Toilet House
Mr Toilet HouseYou might say we at Island Bathrooms and Kitchens live all sorts of bathroom and kitchen furniture. But if you were to say we live toilets, you’d be giving us a crown we weren’t worthy of wearing. Not when you consider the legacy of South Korean Sim Jae-Duck, who lived in a house that looked like a toilet (giving us cause to rethink our own Holdenhurst showroom design).Sim Jae-Duck, or Mr Toilet as he would eventually come to be known, actually entered this world in a bathroom. Owing to a Korean superstition that saw toilets as places of luck, Sim’s grandmother convinced his mother to bring the future Mr Toilet into the world just outside her bathroom door. From his very first moment he was born with toilets in his stars.But this little fact had nothing (or very little) to do with the man later building his toilet house. His real interest in toilets started when South Korea was set to host the 2002 FIFA. As Mayor of Suwon, a satellite city to the capital, Seoul, his idea to prepare for this international event was to renovate all the public toilets in his city.
Image source. The FIFA World Cup in Seoul, 2002. The project was such a resounding success that he dedicated the rest of his life to toilet sanitation. Jae-Duck eventually formed the KTA in 2002 (Korean Something Association, no prizes for guessing the T). Sim Jae-Duck threw himself at the task of breaking down toilet taboo, his logic being that without being able to talk about toilets in the open, little could be done to improve on them. 
Image source. Suwon, where Sim Jae-Duck was mayor. It was this idea that saw him knocking down his house in order to build the iconic toilet house. With English signs up outside declaring the place “Mr Toilet House”, the Korean signs opt for a more philosophical Haeujae, “A place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries.”Sadly, Sim Jae-Duck lost a battle with prostate cancer and in 2009 passed away. At his request, his family donated the house to the city, and in 2010 Mr Toilet House, was reopened as a museum to all things toilet-related, eventually expanding to become Toilet Culture Park, a place offering everything from displays on how people have gone to the toilet throughout history, to toilet-related souvenirs.Mr Toilet’s legacy lives on not only in the giant toilet he once called home (ranked 9 on Trip Advisor’s top picks for Suwon), but also in the perpetually immaculate state of Suwon’s public toilets. Still receiving plenty of public spending, Suwon has dubbed itself the Mecca of Toilet Culture.
In the Spotlight: The GSI Ceramica Swirlflush® WC
Why would I need a silent flushing system you ask? Well, take yourself back to a night where you were silently asleep. Someone gets up to use the toilet, then suddenly there’s a hurricane in the bathroom and your rudely awoken. Exactly. Wouldn’t it be nice not to hear your toilet flushing all hours of the day? Well, GSI have just come out with a silent WC that’s so revolutionary it’s got its own registered design with its own patented flushing system. Take a look…
8d decibels quieter than a normal flush (which is around 72 decibels) the Swirlflush only emits around 64 decibels! To put this in perspective, showers are around 70 decibels and air conditioners are around 60 decibels. The Swirlfush WC also combines ExtraGlaze ceramic coating, another registered design from GSI. Extraglaze offers an extremely smooth, non-porous surface which creates a protective barrier against bacteria and limescale. When liquid touches the surface it runs right off or pulls together. Less germs are then spread on the surface and around the surface. The SwirlFlush also has a modern, quick-releasing and soft-closing seat… Something you’d expect from such a beautiful piece of modern bathroom technology.
But the most important feature is how powerful the revolutionary drain system is. Due to the absence of the traditional rim water flow is maximised as well as the overall pulling power of the systems flush. Normally you wouldn’t need to, or think to flush down 36 pieces of toilet paper all in one go. Normal toilets wouldn’t handle this amount of paper. But the Swirlflush can and it can flush it away in around 5 seconds! Not yet a believer? Why not take a look at the test videos below which use some uncommon, yet apparently flushable materials.
The new Swirlflush® rimless WC flushing system is currently available with GSI’s Norm, Pura, Sand and Kube ranges. Not yet convinced by the wonders of the Swirlflush? Watch us test 1 of the best toilets in the world at our showroom on Holdenhurst road!
6 Tips & Tricks to Help Get Your Bathroom Back on Track
We should all understand by now that the more you ignore a problem, the worse the problem will get and with many of us this applies to household cleaning. In the UK 1 in 4 people are frustrated with their daily chores and will delay them for up to 3 days before they are completed.If you don't have the luxury of being at home during the week, then you're probably trying to fit in all the cleaning as and when you can, or delaying cleaning until it becomes too much to handle! UK homeowners will spend around 5 hours cleaning in a typical week; that's either 5 hours at the weekend or 1 hour spent every night after work during the week... So if you don't enjoy cleaning or have limited time in your day, these hours are better spent elsewhere!From time to time we all have issues with keeping our bathrooms clean throughout the week, especially if they're used every single day! Ideally, all bathrooms would look as spotless as the one below — cleaned by someone else... and styled ready for a close up — but that's just not possible on a regular day to day basis. 27% of people in the UK revealed that they wish they had help with their cleaning, so there's probably a lot more undocumented people out there who need help; whether that's hired and paid for help, or help from some quick and easy tips and tricks that won't cost you your time or your money!
All 6 tips and tricks below are designed with regular household items in mind and can be carried out on a weekly basis to keep your bathroom clean, functional and maintained. These creative tricks will help to cut those hours worth of chores right down to something more manageable!
6 tips & tricks to help you get your bathroom back on track:
1. Quickly prepare for anything!Solution: Run round with the hoover nozzle and suck up any dust, hair and unwanted dirt. Then wipe your bathroom around with various old clothes or a big towel to remove any loose soap residue and dirt. 2. Got a toilet in need of TLC?Solution: Grab a can of coke, empty it into the toilet bowl, leave for as long as you can and then scrub, scrub, scrub. 3. Mysterious leftover odors?Solution: Place an almost finished, scented candle jar on top of/under your radiator, turn up the heat and then crack open the window a little! You could also add in half an orange to the jar for an extra burst of natural aroma. 4. Scuzzy grimy shower screen?Solution: Use white vinegar, furniture polish or shaving foam for a super fast clean...Yes, really! These products will provide a protective film coating to prevent build-up during future use. Use an old cloth or t-shirt to wipe away any dirt, or use a microfiber cloth for an even faster clean! 5. Is your dirty mirror giving you a distorted view?Solution: Make up a simple 50/50 white vinegar and warm water mix, spray on and then wipe clean with an old cloth or even better, use a microfiber cloth. This mix will also clean tiles, counters, cabinet fronts and shower doors! 6. Toilet not flushing the way it used to? Don't have a plunger?Solution: Pour shampoo and then hot water straight down the loo, leave for about an hour and then flush! 
If your bathroom's still too large to handle and you're looking for some extra help, click on the links below:
Have a cleaning tip you want to share? Comment below!