The Must Have Components Of an Optimal Bathroom
The bathroom (or bathrooms) is one of the most important spaces in your home, as it is the center of your self-care and grooming routines. There are so many uses for bathrooms, and designing the perfect bathroom is often harder than it may seem. There are some things that can cause major problems down the line if not done properly, and there are other things that simply should not be done when renovating a bathroom. (*Ahem, carpet.) As realtors, we see many different styles of bathrooms on any given day, and there are some features that offer a lot more value to homeowners than others. Heated towel racks? Bidets? There are many things you can do to design your bathroom the way you want it. However, there are many components of bathrooms that actually turn out to be design flaws, simply because they do not belong in bathrooms. This post is going to take a look at bathroom design techniques and highlight some important things to think about when designing a new bathroom or buying a home.
There are a few angles from which you should consider a bathroom’s design. Firstly, you should want a bathroom that is conducive to cycling through your daily routine quickly. We are often in a hurry in the mornings and the evenings, and having a bathroom that supports your daily routine in a timely manner to where you can maximize your sleep is very important. Secondly, you should pick things that are lasting, as changes can be costly and it is much better to pony up and do things right the first time rather than skimping on expenses and ultimately needing to redo things in the near future.
Whether you already own a home and are looking to renovate it or you are currently shopping in the market for a new home, this post is for you. We will take a look at the most important aspects of designing a bathroom and then offer up a few examples of what NOT to do, to make sure you wind up with a bathroom that truly suits your needs when you close on a new house or finish renovations on your current house.
Keep in mind that renovations can be pricey, and you never know what you will find when you begin to peel away at layers of the onion. For this reason, if you are in the homebuying market, it is often best to buy a home that has bathrooms that already appeal to you rather than planning on reinventing the bathrooms once you buy the house. Sometimes renovation efforts lead to exposing other peoples’ patchwork jobs that lay beneath the surface, and you’re left trying to replace rotten floorboards and asbestos filled walls that would have otherwise survived if you had not interfered with them.
Determine the Optimal Layout of Your Bathroom
If you are entirely redoing a bathroom or are in the market for a new home, one major thing to consider is the layout of the bathroom and how it suits you and your family. For example, some bathrooms are all-purpose, while other rooms have a separate water closet where the toilet is located. Some bathrooms have a shower and a bathtub, some bathrooms combine the shower and the bathtub, and some bathrooms only have one or the other. Some bathrooms are Jack and Jill style, meaning they have a long counter with a double sink. Here are the major benefits and drawbacks of each of those styles. Note that these styles are not mutually exclusive, and up to 3 of them can coexist in a bathroom.
Bathrooms with Separate Water Closets
This concept had become pretty rare in the United States but has recently begun to catch on again. A water closet is essentially a room with nothing but a toilet. It is separate from the bathroom, but usually right next door. The sink is usually located in the bathroom and not in the water closet. This type of bathroom setup is very beneficial to people who only have one bathroom in their home, as the toilet can still be accessed while someone else is bathing or showering without intruding on their privacy.
If you are renovating a bathroom, this style would require the creation of a wall and another door, making it a more challenging bathroom layout to create. Nevertheless, it is not impossible and offers the very tangible benefit of access to both of the bathroom’s main features without sacrificing privacy!
Bathrooms With a Separate Bathtub and Shower
This is a fairly rare setup and is normally only found in large master bathrooms. Having both a shower and a bathtub (that are not a combination shower/bathtub) is overkill for most situations, and unless you and someone else plan on bathing at the same time separately, there is really little use for this bathroom layout. Some people do like having their own shower that they do not need to share, but this is really impractical in most situations – especially if you have limited space.
Bathrooms With a Combination Shower and Bathtub
This is one of the most popular styles for bathing appliance layouts because of its versatility. Most people prefer to shower on a daily basis, which makes having a shower pretty important. Baths take longer than showers, and not everyone has 30 minutes to sit in the bathtub before they head to work on a Tuesday! Having a shower makes your morning routine efficient, and the idea of not having a shower even comes off as weird to most people. Having a bathtub is also great for many reasons, though, as baths provide great relaxation when you have the time, and they are also much better for infants and small children than showers are. While you can shower a baby or a toddler, it is much easier and safer to use a bathtub. Having a combination shower and bathtub offers you the best of both worlds.
Bathrooms With Either a Shower or a Bathtub
This layout is probably the most common, and usually it is a shower that we are talking about and not a bathtub. Not everyone needs both and going all in on a nice shower or bathtub can be more advantageous than finding a combination offering. If you do not have children and do not care about the relaxation that a bath offers, you probably do not have a need for a bathtub. In this case, you’re better off going all in on a nice shower, which is going to be more spacious than a bathtub to stand in and can look much sleeker. If you already have a bathroom with a shower and you are designing a secondary bathroom, having a bathtub might be more suiting. In this case, you now have both a bathtub and a shower in your home, but you are not trying to squeeze them both into the same room.
Jack and Jill Style Bathrooms
This style of bathroom refers to the countertops and sinks rather than the showers, bathtubs, and toilets. Jack and Jill bathrooms are the marquis style of bathroom for couples, as there are two sinks on either two different countertops or one large countertop. As the name “Jack and Jill” implies, each person has their own countertop section and their own space, eliminating the need for arguments over moving one’s partner’s products or both people trying to brush their teeth at the same time. While Jack and Jill style bathrooms are a really great design for couples, they are unnecessary for people who live alone, and they also require large amounts of space to fit two sinks and two countertops.
Decide What Type of Flooring You Want in Your Bathroom
If you are going for a full remodel of the bathroom or are in the market for a new house, you will want to be sure that you think about the type of flooring that is in your bathroom or bathrooms. The vast majority of the time, bathrooms will either have tile or laminate flooring. This is especially popular because they are not absorbent and they are easy to clean. Bathrooms are naturally full of bacteria, and these bacteria can live much more easily on real hardwood floors and worse, carpeted floors. While carpet is an uncommon bathroom flooring option, some people do opt for it. Some people love the feeling of soft carpet on their feet after a shower, but you need to realize this carpet will have a very short lifespan and must be cleaned very frequently.
Adhesive flooring tiles have become a favorite for homeowners in recent years, as they are relatively inexpensive, range widely in quality, and can be easily replaced if the need to do so ever arises. You will want to make sure that whatever flooring option you select is not absorbent, as bathroom floors get very wet very frequently. Carpet will begin to smell, wood will rot, and some types of tile will eventually wear away after holding too much water.
Some of these options are cheaper and easier than others, and if you plan on installing the flooring yourself, a couple of the options are entirely out of the question. There are many different kinds of laminate flooring on the market these days that provide for a quality floor at a fraction of the price of other flooring materials. They can also be installed easily without the need to call a flooring professional!
Consider the Types of Bathtubs or Showers that You Want
We have already talked about deciding whether you want a bathtub, shower, or both in your bathroom, but you now also need to consider what those bathtubs and showers look like. Do you want a shower with a rounded porcelain or fiberglass base that traps the water? Or would you like the floor of the shower to match your bathroom floor identically? Do you want all glass walls or a curtain? Do you want a stand-alone bathtub or one that is attached and caulked to the wall? Questions like these determine the layout and style of your bathroom, and most experts recommend getting the big pieces figured out before you start to worry about smaller details, like towel colors and wallpaper themes. Colors can always be changed and updated, but large pieces like showers, bathtubs, cabinets, and toilets often need to be ordered in advance and can take a while to arrive…especially with the current supply chain shortages that the world is experiencing.
Ensure Plenty of Storage and Counter Space For the Whole Family
We mentioned this in our post on designing your dream kitchen, and the same principles apply here. All of the big things, like showers, bathtubs, toilets, and sinks are very important and make of the bulk of the bathroom designing process, but there is one other major part to think about! You want to make sure that you have ample storage and counter space in your bathroom, as there are a lot of things that get stowed in a bathroom and each person that primarily uses the bathroom will have their own space and storage needs.
To determine the proper amount of storage and counter space for a bathroom, you first must think about how many people will be regularly using that bathroom. Is it a guest bathroom, or is it the master? Will you share a bathroom with the whole family, thus needing space for your things AND your children’s things? Once you figure out how many users the bathroom will have and how much space those people will need, you can move onto actually creating ways to have that space.
Jack and Jill sinks, like we mentioned above, are a great way to ensure enough space. If you are sharing the bathroom with your children and partner, perhaps your children can have one sink while you and your partner share the other. Additionally, think about including a linen closet in the design of the bathroom, as towels and wash cloths take up a significant amount of space. Further, try to maximize drawer and cabinet space below the sink, as drawers and cabinets play different roles and fit different items. Going with all drawers might not be a great idea, as while they are great for organizing peoples’ things, they do not allow for the storage of larger items, like rolls of paper towels.
Really when it is all said and done, you want to think about storage space in a bathroom in a similar way to how you think about storage space in a kitchen. It is never a bad thing to have ample storage space in your bathroom, and you will always be able to find things to fill up that space with.
Thank you for reading our blog, Catch the Wave. Hopefully this post helped you to think about some of the big decisions that face you when you look to redesign your bathroom or buy a new home. The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the house, and having a nice bathroom can be essential and crucial to your morning and evening routines. A Bathroom designed to make your daily routines as easy as possible can save minutes or hours per week, which is time you would have otherwise lost!
If you visit Myrtle Beach or any other place in South Carolina and fall in love, reach out to us for help. We at The Boyd Team are always here to help you figure out whether Myrtle Beach is your next home or not, and we are committed to helping you find the right property for your needs and dreams. Any question that you have about moving to the area and finding your dream home by the beach is our pleasure to answer. Feel free to send us an email at eddie@boydteam.com or text or call us at (843) 222-8566, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Being true natives of the Grand Strand and Horry County and with over 25 years of experience in the local real estate market, whether buying or selling, we can help you make your dreams a reality.
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