Have you just moved into your first home? If so then well done you! You'll now be feeling those feelings of joy, fear, confusion and maybe even just a little doubt when it comes to the thought of maybe renovating your new bathroom. However fear not as I'm here to hand you all some pretty useful advice and give you some tips on what it is that you should be looking out for.
Firstly, if you are sitting there reading this thinking 'but I've no idea where to even begin', we'll just take a second to sit back, recline a little and relax. It's 'your' bathroom, if you're about to design your own bathroom - you can be certain that it'll include all of the things that you like and want in there, what's so scary about that? It's your time to shine! Let your personal tastes flow through and your own likes and dislikes to filter out what the end result will be.
If this is indeed your first bathroom design it can be a little daunting to even know where to begin, however there's realms of resources available out there to you in the forms of:
- The Internet - the worlds biggest and fastest source of information.
- Books - The library is an amazing resource, as abundant as the internet is... I'll be my last dollar that there will be something you'll find in a library that you didn't online.
- Hire a designer to help you out along the way or maybe ask a friend for help if they've ever done their own bathroom and if you trust their judgment enough.
- Software - There's so much out there that you'll be able to utilise (I'll recap on this in a minute)
As I've just said 'software', some of it can be so simple to use - you don't always need a 1:1 from MIT to be able to use it, cheap - if not free to buy and keep or rent?
One of the great and fundamental underlying things about using software is that in most cases it's instantaneous, a few clicks here, drag and drop there and voila! you can see your freshly designed bathroom on your screen. Don't like what you see? Don't panic, it's virtual - so just delete it and start again. By being able to 'see' what it is that you're designing you can determine what it is that you'll end up with as a finished product, plus you can research different styles. What with Spa bathrooms, Contemporary and Traditional all being available to you, you've got a fair bit to play with here.
Lighting can play an important factor when designing your own bathroom, just remember natural is always best, it doesn't play havoc with you when you try to apply makeup and realize that you've overdone it, it helps with grooming plus it is relaxing, if you don't have natural lighting because of limitations well then try to find some lights that replicate that, you may have liked that blacklight you had in your room when you was a teenager but do you really want one in your bathroom now when your grooming?
Storage is key to having an accessible and maintainable bathroom, if you cant even get across the floor to the bath, sink, or w/c because you've got no way to clamber over all the stuff you've had to leave lying around well then that's not exactly cricket is it? Plus having storage that isn't floor standing, so wall hung wi along way to making a smaller room seem a lot bigger.
Effective use of mirrors will be important if you cant get decent lighting for a start, as it reflects whatever light you do have, making everything seem brighter. Plus you'll need it to make sure that you look halfway decent in the mornings.
Appliances - Bath, Shower, Basin, Wetroom, towel rail, bin, pedestal - now this is the part when your research and tastes really come into play. there isn't a huge amount I can say here as it's mainly down to you. It's mostly just common sense - no point in trying to turn that cloakroom into a wetroom now is there. utilising space here is immensely important.
If you do hire a designer, make sure that you sit down with him/her, go through the pros/cons of your choices and really try to express yourself.
Good luck and have fun!
Remember - it's your bathroom, your time to shine.
