Bathrooms 101
April 17, 2021
Bathrooms are one of the most used rooms in your home, and as such need to be carefully thought out and designed. The design and layout of your bathroom determine the flow and use of the room. Time shouldn’t be spared on this part of design.
We have prepared a guide to bathrooms, including tips and tricks to make the most out of the room.
Tips on how to get started
1. Before starting your build, make sure you have a clear idea of your budget for each room and what style you’re trying to achieve throughout your house.
2. When designing the layout of your bathroom, think about the space and ways to maximise it best. Making sure to think of walking space as well as feature space.
3. The first thing to decide on is the vanity, then design the rest of the room around it.
4. Think about the first impression that visitors will have. Try to avoid having the toilet in direct sight of the doorway.
5. Utilise natural light, place the mirror, so you’re facing it with a good level of natural lighting.
6. Practical storage is optimal for reducing clutter in the bathroom.
7. To bring the room to life, add plants and greenery
Top 5 Bathroom styles
Edgy Industrialist
The industrial look was once reserved for factories and no way thought of as an interior design statement. Industrialist design includes uncluttered, raw, unfinished and utilitarian features and gives you the ability to upcycle items to turn into design features.
Polished concrete, exposed pipes and ducts, exposed brick, and vintage metals go towards creating an edgy industrial bathroom. When designing finishes, concrete, tin or cast iron are good choices. Second-hand goods like old faucets and tapware from garage sales and salvage yards provide ideal features.
Modernist
Modern trends and coloured transparencies are all the rage in bathrooms recently. Flaunting spaciousness, smooth edges, and a strong structure, colour design baths create flare in bathrooms not previously seen.
The Colour is back in! Let your imagination wander! Freestanding bathtubs are at the focus of this new colourful modernist design. Offering classic design and being the room's feature, these tubs are set to make your bathroom pop.
Not only can pop of colour bring fun to your simple white bathroom, expand your design horizons with a bright colour palette, including reds, greens, black and white, and patterns.
The simple Scandinavian
Scandinavian or Nordic design styles are simplistic and of pared-back style. Typically based around a white colour scheme complemented by muted shades, also using natural features of wood and stone. Traditionally, a touch of contrasting black is thrown into the design mix and trims, with the emerald green of plants.
Clean lines are the name of the game in a Scandinavian designed bathroom. For bathtubs, think freestanding or drop in shapes. Black stone tubs work great for this design or white stone with matte black tapware.
Scandinavian style is perfect for your bathroom as it gives a minimalist look that is calming and relaxing, with no clutter, just functionality.
Rustic
Rustic rooms go back to our roots featuring organic textures from logs, rough plaster, exposed brick, and reclaimed woods with warm earthy hues. The rustic design makes the most of the beauty in natural materials.
A freestanding copper tub would be the ideal choice for this design, the stone is also optimal or a tub encased in wood. Another way to style a rustic bathroom is to go for a country-like look with exposed beams. With floors, ceilings, walls, lighting and accessories all country-like with a clean-lined white bathtub.
Traditionalist
The traditional style choice, a perfect blend of old-world lines and contemporary style. This classic look creates symmetry and balance throughout the bathroom. This design look favours softer fabrics like cotton and velvet based on creams, greys, blues, and pinks from the colour wheel.
A claw-footed, freestanding bath is the perfect addition to a classically styled bathroom. A sensational way to design this layout would be to include standing tapware, flowy window dressings, a chandelier and Venetian style mirror. A classically styled bath with tiled sides would work equally as well as a claw-footed one.
This style gives your bathroom a restrained, refined and timeless look.
What should you consider when planning our bathroom?
Space
Don’t get carried away, and add all the fittings you can have just because they can fit onto your floor plan. Try to separate the dry space from the wet spaces (like in front of the shower and bath). No one likes to get their feet wet while they’re brushing their teeth.
Thinking of spacing when you’re first designing your home reduces the likelihood of you having to renovate later on.
Layout
To best utilise the layout of your bathroom, you need to think about what you must have in the bathroom, think toilet, vanity, shower. From here, with the residual space, you can add other elements that you want to have, such as towel rails, storage, etc.
Fixture & Fittings
Choosing the right fixtures and fittings is essential to the overall look of our bathroom. There is a lot of availability on the market to fit most styles and budgets. Tapware can spruce up a bathroom and provide statement pieces to design around.
Toilet
Would you prefer a floor-mounted or wall-mounted toilet? Do you want our cistern built into the wall or mounted?
These aspects affect how much space your toilet area will take up and the cost of your bathroom.
Shower & Bath
Showers bring a whole plethora of options. If you don’t have space for both a shower and bath, choose one of the two or save space by having a shower bath. If you have space, consideration is it a double shower or single? Freestanding or spa bath?
Tiles
Tiles come in a range of shapes, sizes, colours and textures, and the ideal tile is based on your personal preference.
Try to avoid too many colours and styles within one bathroom. Avoid ultra-smooth tiles that will get slippery. Large tiles will generally look better in larger rooms and vice versa. It’s not always about the look of the tile; choose tiles that feel good underfoot, especially with bare feet.
Lighting
The first thing to check off is the basic lighting. The sink, vanity and mirror area need to be well lit; LEDs are a good option. If you’re looking for a more relaxed lighting vision, dimmable spotlights can help establish this. Once the basics are covered off then more thinking about artistic lighting sources can begin.
Storage
To avoid collections of clutter being viewed in your bathroom, you need to think practically about your storage. Thinking about the size and position of your cupboards and draws to help take your bathroom towards the style image you desire. Less clutter is more making wall-mounted cabinets to go to overlook.
Bathroom Technology
If you’re into the next level technology available on the market, you may consider adding voice-controlled lighting, Bluetooth compatible showerheads, or a digital shower with an LED temperature gauge. Mirror cabinets also have hi-tech options, with touchless controls to operate LED lights, dimming functions and mirror heating.
Money-Saving Tips
Money is always a big factor within construction, whether it's when building or just renovating.
Below, we have created a list of steps to help you save on your bathroom.
1. The layout of your bathroom is where you can best cut costs in the long run. Focusing on the optimal layout now will mean lower costs later on for renovations.
2. Fittings can take up a large chunk of your budget. Optimally stick to basic fittings and splash out on a statement piece.
3. Having underfloor heating timers and on towel rails can help to reduce power costs.
Tips and tricks for small spaces
Not everyone will have the luxury of having a huge bathroom space to utilise, so we’ve prepared some tips and tricks on how to utilise small spaces best:
1. A toilet with a built-in wall cistern.
2. A wall hung vanity; pedestal basins are visually less intrusive but come with no storage.
3. A decent sized mirror will reflect more light and make the room appear bigger.
4. Large, light floor tiles make spaces look larger.
5. Install a frameless glass shower with floor tiles extended into the shower to make your space look bigger.
6. To create a seamless look through the home, keep a design that matches the rest of the house.
Bathroom Features
Trying to make sure all the features you desire are included in your designs is a lot to remember. To help you out, we have provided a checklist below of common bathroom features. This will help you keep track of those that you want in your designs.