When you come right down to it, it is just a room with a bath. Even that isn’t quite true; a room with just a toilet and sink still counts. Well, it counts as a “half bath”.
The modern definition of a full bathroom includes four plumbing fixtures; bathtub, sink, shower, and toilet. It is probably OK for the shower and the tub to be combined and still count as a full bath, but just a shower and no tub would be a ¾ bath.
There are plenty of reasons to consider taking on a bathroom remodeling job. The major fixtures in the bathroom generally won’t wear out, and the pieces that do are not difficult to replace. However, styles and tastes do evolve over time, and a bathroom update can make your whole home feel better.
My style-conscious friends will probably get together and throw their shoes at me for saying this, but I find some of the modern styles of bathroom décor rather intimidating. Faucets with not visible handles, electronic toilets and great panes of unsupported glass, in a room where I am naked and vulnerable, is uncomfortable to me. For my tastes, keep the bathroom simple, functional, and easy to clean.
Which isn’t to say the bath needs to be a sterile place devoid of décor. The bathroom is a private and functional space, but it is also a room that my girlfriend will be going into. More important, so will my mother!
The bathroom is where you go to prepare yourself for the day ahead, and it is also where you go to unwind after a stressful day. One of my favorite bathroom additions is a Japanese style soaking tub. A soaking tub needs slightly higher sides than a normal tub, and can be insulated to help preserve the water’s heat. Wooden soaking tubs are available, but some designers question whether the extra maintenance is worth the bother. The pleasure of a hot soak after a rainy PNW day cannot be denied.
A living thing in the bathroom can be a very nice touch; the natural asymmetry of a plant helps to break up the hardness of the bathroom surfaces. If there isn’t one already, adding a sill to a bathroom window that is large enough for a potted plant is on my list of bathroom additions. This will give the plant the light it needs, and being in the bathroom, I am less likely to forget to water it.
One very disturbing trend in newly constructed homes is carpeted bathrooms. A bathroom floor is bound to get wet, almost by definition. This is another area where natural surfaces, in this case stone, are preferred. Tile is a close second. I would recommend avoiding highly polished surfaces which can be dangerously slippery when wet. A slightly pitted surface gives better traction, although it may collect residue.
Lighting is another often overlooked bathroom element. There needs to be enough light to see what you are doing in the morning, but lighting that is too harsh is discomforting. It can be very nice to be able to dim or redirect some of the light during the end of the day soak, but we don’t want to forget the needs of our friend the potted plant, either.
For more tips and considerations for your bathroom or kitchen remodeling job, get in touch with the professionals at Corvus Construction today.