Bathrooms are the number one place homeowners love to remodel. Bathrooms are smaller than kitchens & take less time than remodeling a kitchen.
To help you keep the process smooth I have put together a few things I have found in my experience as an interior designer that are essential & cost-effective when remodeling a bathroom and having the least amount of design blunders on the way.
Planning the layout design & budgeting are the most critical factors in my opinion. Determine your desired outcome and allocate resources accordingly.
Budget
Allow an extra 15% on top of your initial budget.
I recently worked on a project in the center of Tel Aviv on a 20-year-old duplex. The design plans were made and confirmed, we arrived at demolition day. The tiles were removed, and the old toilet, bath were put in the dumpster outside, blocking the narrow roads of Tel Aviv, to the delight of the busy drivers in Tel Aviv.
What did we find? Old rusty pipes and crumbling, thin plaster boards that fell apart at the slightest touch. Our original budget needed to be revised. The plumber had to replace all the rusty pipes and the builder had to add on an extra days work for his workers to add new plaster boards.
Plans/Functionality
Ensure that the new layout is practical and meets your needs.
A professional Interior designer should offer the client electricity, layout, and plumbing plans to enable the client, together with the designer to design a space-effective, practical bathroom. Space is normally quite tight in bathrooms so it is important to utilize every cm. Changing the original layout can add space to a room if done properly. Built-in niches are trending at the moment & can add a higher level of functionality to the space. Nothing worse than having to pick up your shampoo from the floor as there are no shelves in the shower. Do you need a bathtub now? It takes up so much space which can be used for an amazing shower instead. Plus environmentally more friendly in terms of the amount of water used. If you have a plumbing plan the builder will know exactly where to move the pipes and there are no needless accidents such as the vanity unit needing to be drilled into the wall,& not into the unseen pipes.
Consider storage
Maximize storage space to keep the bathroom clutter-free. Your bathroom should be the cleanest room in your house but it often becomes the catching ground for dirty clothes, half used beauty products. Conceal items in baskets. Built-in shelves don't take up floor space and multiply your storage space. Replace a bulky medicine cabinet with a vanity with drawers. Be smart about how you organize the drawers.
Adjust room size with color
To make a smaller bathroom look bigger make sure that your color palette stays in the white or light spectrum. I would recommend the ceiling color to be the same shade as the walls as a color on the ceiling tends to shrink the room down a lot. Saying this though a feature wall of fabulous tiles in the shower or on the floor is definitely in all my designs. I actually love to add a colored vanity to give the room a bit of spice & wow factor.
Durability
Choose durable and low-maintenance materials for a long-lasting renovation. Pick the right floors. A solid wooden floor will add great character but is it practical in an environment with water splashing? Instead, choose nonslip tiles that are hard enough to stand up against the rigors of daily use.
Lighting
Plan for adequate lighting, including task lighting for grooming and
ambient lighting for a relaxing atmosphere. Consider adding lighting over the mirror and vanity
Remember it takes more tradesmen to reno a bathroom than any other room in the house so it can get expensive especially if it is done incorrectly & not according to the plans.
Give yourself time and be sure you have chosen the right designer, the right builder.
Do not skimp on things like faucets, or nonslip floor tiles.
A bathroom renovation can take anything 4- 8 weeks depending on the number of workmen, the plans completed and most importantly the tiles/ materials are ordered well enough in advance they are on-site at the correct timeline.
Happy renovating.
Having the bathroom of your dreams is possible.
.