Planning a Bathroom: 7 Important Factors to Consider
Whether you’ve just moved into a new property or you’re already in your forever family home, there can come a time when you’re ready for a change. Whether it be a kitchen makeover, sprucing up your living area, or taking on a new bathroom project, it’s always best to be well prepared before getting started. If you’re looking to create a new bathroom in your property, here is a step-by-step guide on how to plan your bathroom, ensuring it makes a splash for all the right reasons!
Assess Your Bathroom Needs
To begin with, you will need to work out what your key priorities are. For example, if you’re in a family home, you will need to design a bathroom that’s suitable for you and your children. Whether it be including a bath, double basins, or a separate shower, the choice is entirely up to you. To make the decision process a bit easier, you should identify how much space you have. The last thing you want is to make your bathroom feel cramped, especially as it’s the one place in the home where you should feel relaxed.
Plan Your Layout
It’s important not to change a layout just for the fun of it. If the current layout works best for you, keep it! It’s much cheaper too, as moving around water pipes and waste can end up costing a fortune. To give your bathroom a quick refresh, replacing your flooring, tiles, fittings, or repainting the walls can be a great place to start. To gain more space, you could rehang doors or fit sliding ones in. If you want a drastic change, it’s important that you measure your bathroom carefully. Make sure to note down the position of any pipes, doors, and windows. You may want to consider trying out specialist design software like Sketch Up which can allow you to create your dream bathroom, giving you more of an idea of how you want your bathroom to look.
Look for Inspiration
If you aren’t tech-savvy and don’t like the idea of doing the designing yourself, why not flick through some interior magazines instead? Seeking out inspiration and looking for a range of options such as period style, contemporary, or classic can help when it comes to creating the bathroom of your dreams. You should also talk to friends and family who have recently undergone similar projects, giving you more of an idea of what you feel would work best for your bathroom.
Factor in Storage
While space should be one of your main priorities, you will also need to create storage to fit all your bathroom essentials. While you may think a glass shelf may be the trick, toiletries never tend to display well, especially if you have shampoo bottles lying on the floor of your shower! Mirrored cabinets can be a great way to store all your products, as well as blend in perfectly with your color scheme.
Consider the Lighting
Many bathrooms tend to be located next to the bedroom, so it’s important that you get the lighting right. The last thing you want is to have bright lights flashing (especially in the middle of the night!). Having different levels of lighting can make a big a difference, so consider going for low-level lighting, or motion sensor lighting, meaning you won’t have to fumble about to find the light switch!
Finalize a Budget
Once you’ve got an idea of how you want your bathroom to look, you can’t get the ball rolling until you’ve finalized your budget. It’s best to keep within your means, rather than splashing the cash on things you can’t afford. Whether you’re planning to make minor changes, or a total bathroom remodel, factoring in every cost is crucial.
Hiring Help
Getting the right people for the job is important. It’s best to leave it up to the professionals when it comes to designing a bathroom. You can find the right professional for the job by searching for “the best plumbers near me”, who can help you with all sorts of things, such as sink installation, bathtub installation, plumbing fixtures and more.
Your bathroom should be the one area of the home where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, giving you a place to relax and unwind. Whether it be having a soak in the bath or a much-needed shower after work, many homeowners regard their bathroom as their sanctuary. Before you go about designing a bathroom, it’s important to plan your layout, seek out inspiration, factor in storage space, as well as finalizing your budget to ensure the project goes accordingly to plan.