James and Mary Armstrong wanted a modern, contemporary bathroom with an elegant, classic style. We designed a relaxing haven which bathes the floor and walls with marble-detailed porcelain tiles, complemented by the warm brushed brass fittings. The wall-hung furniture, hidden storage cupboard and built-in, LED-lit niches maximise the space in this compact room, offering both practical functionality with timeless luxury. We interviewed Mr and Mrs Armstrong to find out why they chose Berry Bathrooms and why they’d recommend us.

Mary: Well, we didn’t know what we wanted. But I’d seen this bathroom showroom in Leyland when I was driving past and I thought “I’d like to go in there and have a look what it’s all about”. Well, when I went in, I was taken aback. Everything’s in little pods, just like how your bathroom would look. And some of them were our size of bathroom. And I’m looking and thinking, “that would be gorgeous! I love that one.” There was about four out of the whole lot that I liked. So I came back and told Jim. We went up and had a look and he felt the same way, didn’t you?

Jim: Yeah well I didn’t know we needed a bathroom but, the wife said we needed a bathroom so, we needed a bathroom! But I’d been going to Berrys for years for DIY and when this came up, I saw it there and, actually it was me who told Mary about it. I wish I hadn’t now!
But we went up and there is some really nice things in there and, as my wife said, they’re what I would call a normal sized bathroom for a normal, semi-detached house. Whereas, a lot of the others you see they’re for huge houses. So these were really just what we needed.

Mary: And we did need a new bathroom but we needed something that a family could use as well. Not something too fancy, if you know what I mean.

Jim: I’ve been going to C&W Berry for quite a number of years, and it actually means travelling down the motorway so it’s not the nearest place for me. It’s still a family-owned company and that reflects in the quality and the service that you get so, I’ve always been really happy with Berrys. 

I’m a bit of a DIY person and, whenever you go there, if there’s anything you’re not sure of, there’s always somebody there who will give you the advice you need. You’ve only got to ask somebody about anything and they’ll say, “go and see Joe over there.” And if it’s about what adhesive you should be using, “oh go and see so-and-so.”

So I’ve been going there for a long while and I’ve actually recommended it to neighbours and they go there now as well. So yeah, I’ve been going there for a long time. And then, I saw that they were doing this bathroom showroom which was a new thing. I mentioned it to my wife and she said, “well, you know we need a new bathroom.” So I thought, well, ok, we’ll go and have a look at it. And I also thought "that’s my Mazda MX-5 down the drain!" But we went there and we had a look at all the different bathrooms there and, because I’ve been going to Berrys for a long time, I really trusted that it was going to be good quality. And the service at Berrys is really good. If there’s any problems, they do sort it out for you. It’s fantastic.

Mary: So, we wanted something modern, contemporary and timeless. I like the marble effect, it’s nice to clean. And obviously we wanted the same tiles on the walls and floor as well. What did you like, Jim?

Jim: It’s not a big bathroom, so it does make it look bigger if the floor and the walls match.

Mary: Yeah. It makes it look lighter. And we wanted a bath as well so that it’s suitable for families. And all the bits we saw – the brushed brass fittings and accessories – were just perfect really for what we wanted.

Jim: The brushed brass seemed to complement the marble better than some of the other colour options. So when we looked at that, we thought, yeah, that’s what we want. That’s what we’d like.

Mary: I also liked the way that things were off the floor – like the toilet, the vanity unit etc. It gives the effect of a bigger area when the fixtures and fittings are wall-hung. Plus it’s easier for me to clean as well.

Jim: We wanted it to look bigger and that’s when the staff there recommended we have the floors and the walls in the same tiles because it does make it look bigger that way doesn’t it? So that was some good advice that we got from the staff at Berry Bathrooms.

Jim: Yeah as I said, I’ve been going to Berrys for years and all the staff there are really helpful. They can’t do enough for you to be honest. Sometimes they’ll go out of their way to help you. So when they opened this bathroom showroom, I knew that ethos of the company was going to carry on there. And we found the staff really helpful there and the suggestions they made really make this bathroom look bigger than what it really is.

Mary: They’re very professional. They knew exactly where we were coming from. It was as though they’d been to the house and seen the room. It just all worked like a dream to be honest with you. It was their idea to design so that we could have these little niches to put things in and on and, in actual fact, make it look bigger and so much tidier for me. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t really get the gist of it when they were talking about it but now, of course, I can see it’s really good. Marvellous. And the lighting, the underlighting and everything is… it’s gorgeous.

Jim: Yeah and there’s a thermostatic valve on the wall and they recommended that we box it in but also use that space as well for storage which I thought was a good idea.

Mary: Yeah all sorts of ideas. It was wonderful.

Jim: Well, as I’ve said previously I’ve been going to C&W Berry for a long time and I’d absolutely recommend them for the service… after service really. I mean, I’ve not really had anything go wrong but I know from what others have said, if there’s been a problem, they’ve always been more than happy to just put it right.

They’ve got a good reputation and they want to keep that reputation. And, like I said, I’m a bit of a DIY enthusiast and if there’s something I’m not sure of, I can always go and ask somebody at Berrys and there’ll always be someone that can help. I’ve got places nearer to me where I could get the same sort of products, but I would much prefer to drive up the motorway and go to C&W Berry because I know the service and the quality I get there is second to none.

Mary: And also, if there’s a problem with something you buy off a website, you can’t always just ring them up and say “this isn’t working, I’d like to change it” because you can never get through! But you can go straight back to C&W Berry and Berry Bathrooms and, without a shadow of a doubt, they will say “no problem, what is it?” and they’ll fix it straight away so you haven’t got that stress.

As well as this though, do you remember when we came home from Berry Bathrooms and we wanted to look at something again? We went on the website and this site came up. It was like 3D and we walked round as if we were in the place didn’t we? It was fabulous. Really, really good. And we saw all what we wanted to see again without having to go back. Because there was two or three designs that we really liked and we could go back on them on the website and decide, in the comfort of our own home, which one we liked the best.

Jim: Yeah. You still get this feel that it’s a family-run company but it’s still so professional and they do actually care about the customers which a lot of places don’t seem to nowadays. The assistants in many businesses are very often not interested but I’ve never found that to be the case at C&W Berry or Berry Bathrooms.

Mary: Never, no. They can’t wait to help you, basically.

And we were driving in there last week and there’s this huge banner saying they’ve just won three awards and guess what? One of them was for ‘Bathroom Showroom of the Year’.

Jim: So, we’re not surprised about that, are we?

Mary: We’re not surprised.

To find out more about Berry Bathrooms or to make an enquiry, please email [email protected], telephone 01772 431 216, or take a virtual tour.