You’ve committed to taking on a bathroom renovation. Congrats! You’ve drawn inspiration from photos and videos, and you may even have a mood board with various concepts. But now that your bathroom renovation is becoming a reality, it’s time to turn aspirational ideas into concrete plans. Part of that process is realizing what won’t work and understanding the common bathroom design mistakes that you can avoid early on. While your home renovation contractor will help you avoid layout blunders, it’s important to keep these in mind when planning your soon-to-be renovated bathroom. Here are 3 of the top mistakes we see – and help our clients correct – before starting a renovation.
Placing the Toilet Front and Center
One of the worst things you can do is make the toilet the focal point of the room. The toilet is obviously a crucial part of the bathroom, but it shouldn’t be the main attraction. When you open the bathroom door and – bam! – there’s a toilet, it can feel like you’ve just walked into a hotel room or restaurant restroom. Your bathroom should feel like a luxurious oasis – not a lavatory.
So how do you hide a toilet? Ideally, you could have the toilet in its own alcove or obscured by a dividing wall. This keeps it out of sight and out of mind. This does require a large area to work with, so it’s typically more suited for a master bathroom rather than a guest. If it’s not possible to partition the toilet off, the next best option is to ensure that the vanity and sink are closest to the entrance. This will draw the eye to the vanity, rather than the toilet, and even block the line of sight of the toilet in some cases.
Ditching the Bathtub
Every house has a bathtub, right? Actually, another of the most common mistakes we see is replacing a bathtub in the master bathroom or guest bath with just a shower. We get it. Having a big, luxurious shower is a plus. However, even if you and your family are shower people, it’s best to include a bathtub to bolster your home’s resale value.
A compromise we often recommend is a tub combo. They’ve come a long way, and we can make them look like built-in features, rather than standard drop-in units. In the mock-up to the left, we took a standard tub and matched its deck to the solid surface quartz of the vanity’s countertop. We also added trendy shelves that compliment the metal fixtures, as well as a sliding glass door for that high-end look and feel.
Putting Storage on the Back Burner
It’s easy to forget that bathroom accoutrements take up a lot of space. Linens, soap, skincare products, hair care products and gadgets, and dental hygiene items all add up. It’s important to integrate storage for all of these bits and bobs into your design, rather than try to figure it out later. Doing so optimizes the space with ideas like built-ins and helps determine which vanities and shelving units, for example, will be right for your needs. Furthermore, your bathroom will look more aesthetically pleasing as well-designed storage solutions look better than a bin in the corner.Take an inventory of what supplies are in your bathroom now, and consider what you may add in the future. Consider where you can add built-in storage, where a linen closet or shelves would make sense, and even where JM Construction’s custom woodworking could serve the space before finalizing your reno plans.
Need help visualizing your bathroom renovation? We’re here to help. JM Construction has 30+ years of experience; we know exactly what to do – and which mistakes to avoid – when it comes to designing the bathroom you’ve been dreaming of. Submit a request for a project consultation to get started.
