Whether you’re looking to improve your home prior to selling or renting it out, or simply want to improve the quality of life for you and your family, there’s no doubt that adding a bathroom extension, or renovating your exisiting bathroom, will make a significant difference to how your home looks and your comfort levels – as well as its value.
As highly experienced bathroom extension builders, and experts at bathroom renovations for homeowners right across Adelaide, we’re well-placed to be able to share some useful tips on what you need to consider when you are planning on having a new bathroom built, or undertaking renovations to your current one.
Use the space carefully
Bathrooms do tend to be amongst the smallest rooms in the house, and so effectively utilising any space that you do have is vital. There are any number of ways in which you can make the most of the area that is available to you:
A wall-mounted basin rather than a vanity unit can make your bathroom feel less cluttered (although this may mean that you need to find an alternative storage solution).
A mirror-fronted bathroom cabinet is a simple way to gain some storage space without impinging on the rest of the room.
In your shower, recessed shelves are an effective way of keeping the floor and walls clear from shampoo bottles and the like.
A recessed toilet cistern is another way of gaining extra bathroom space, although this isn’t always possible in every home. Even if you can’t achieve this, a low-profile toilet does take less space and introduces a more contemporary look.
Consider going for sliding doors rather than conventional hinged ones, as these can open up the room and give you additional, useable floor space.
Frameless shower screens can also help to open a bathroom up, as well as giving it a modern, up-to-date look and feel.
Think about the colour scheme. Even the smallest bathroom can create an illusion of space with a well thought-out combination of light or neutral colours for your tiles, walls and fittings.
Make the Most of Your Shower
Showers no longer have to be purely functional spaces – they can become the focal point of a well-designed bathroom. For instance, frameless or semi-frameless shower screens help to create a feeling of space that can also serve to highlight your fixtures and fittings. Or, if you want to take the ultra-contemporary look a step further, the wet room style – where there is no shower screen at all – could be worth considering.
The wall and floor tiles you choose can help you to create a range of different looks, from old-school clinical white, to sophisticated autumnal colours, to mosaics that can bring out your individuality. Adding a strip or row of coloured or patterned accent tiles to an otherwise plain wall in your shower can also be a simple way of creating a stand-out look.
However, it’s important to think about the traffic your bathroom gets when you’re choosing tiles; for instance, plain white or subway wall and shower tiles may look stylish, but they can be difficult to keep clean, especially if the whole family uses the bathroom, and so earthy colours with a darker grout could be more practical in this scenario.
You could also consider a stainless steel floor grate as an alternative to the conventional drain if you want to update your shower’s look.
There is also a wide variety of different shower systems you can choose from, depending on the look you want to create, or the functionality you need:
Overhead rain showers look smart and are especially suited to ultra-modern bathrooms.
Shower heads mounted on a rail are great in households where kids and adults share the same bathroom, as the height can be adjusted easily.
Hand-held showers give you extra flexibility – great both for washing your hair and for blasting the mud off the kids’ knees after sport.
The Return of the Bath
While modern apartments and newer townhouses tend to be shower-only domains, a more established property or a home designed for family use is likely to have a bath as well. As baths can be quite a dominant feature, sprucing up the tub can have a very positive impact on the overall appearance of the bathroom. For instance, they do tend to show quite visible signs of wear and tear, and so replacing an older, worn bath is a relatively simple way of giving the whole room a real boost. Alternatively, even just having it resurfaced could do the trick.
However, if you have the room and a suitable layout, the free-standing bath has seen a big return to favour. Available in both classic and modern styles, they can help either to create a retro look or one that is stylish and oozes luxury. And although it might seem counter-intuitive, a free-standing bath can actually add a feeling of space to a bathroom, because the floor can be seen all around on all four sides, right up to the walls.
Fixtures and Fittings Can Make The Difference
Even if your budget for a bathroom renovation is relatively small, it can be worth making a splash with at least some of your fixtures and fittings. While you mightn’t want to go overboard (a-lá Donald Trump and his gold-plated taps!), it can pay to focus on a couple of areas where you opt for the highest quality possible.
For instance, marble tiles on a single wall, or natural stone just on the surface of a vanity unit, can really enhance the appearance of your bathroom without it costing you the earth. A heated towel rail is also a practical addition that can also look very stylish in either a modern or classic-style bathroom.
Taps and other fixtures are another area where it’s worth spending that little bit extra to get the best quality you can. You really can notice the difference it makes when you install high-end taps – both in how they look and how they feel to use – and as they are probably the feature that gets the most use in a bathroom, this is an investment that makes sense from both a style and a longevity point of view.
We are specialist home renovation builders and have redesigned, refurbished and rebuilt bathrooms for families all across Adelaide in a wide range of different houses and styles. If you’re thinking of upgrading your bathroom, or adding a bathroom extension, contact us to talk through your options, and to find out how you can improve both your home’s functionality and its value.
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