Any home renovations are associated with lots of stress, dirt and expenses. Nothing more right! Finding a solid and trusted construction crew is like a miracle. Renovation budget is never enough. Everyone in the household is extremely annoyed and tired of the noise and chaos. Ah yes, home sweet home!
I had to renovate my whole apartment lately, and the room that took most of my energy was the bathroom. How did I survive? And how to get well prepared for a bathroom renovation? How to plan the renovation of a small bathroom in particular? So many questions! Let’s take a look at the bathroom renovation tips I’ve gathered for you!
Bathroom electricity
Think the electric circuits and lighting through before taking any action! Make sure what the condition of the circuits is — mine required a complete replacement. Also, different kinds of lighting have different requirements. E.g., light dimmer switches need to be connected to the circuit in a specific way — make sure to consult the idea with your constructor and electrician very carefully!
Keep in mind the worst-case scenario all the time. Especially when it comes to small spaces. It’s not that difficult to experience electroshock at home. And in the bathroom, it may be deadly dangerous. Distribute the electrical outlets responsibly. Everything connected to the electricity has to be damp- and waterproof — bathroom light fixtures as well! Consider getting electrical outlet caps, just to make it even safer.
Expanding the room
Analyse the plan of your flat carefully. Is there something you can tear down or ad to make the space larger?
You may want to consider removing the wall standing between your bathroom and toilet. In my situation, it helped me organise electrical equipment — I managed to move the washing machine into the bathroom (finally!).
I don’t have to say that things like washing machine, shower or cabinets take up more space and may even make your tiny bathroom look kinda cluttered. That’s why I not only tore down the wall but also built-in wall niches. The niche for the washing machine comes out in the living room. It doesn’t look weird, though, since we designed it to be… a lofty hiding place for our cats!
Saving up space
Choose or design yourself multifunctional and compact equipment for your small bathroom. Medium size, vertically hung towel rails will look original and won’t take up precious space you can use for a built-in shelf.
Even though I’m madly in love with bathtubs, I had to keep it realistic and make the best out of planning custom shower cabin. As you can suppose already, I designed another wall niche. The niche looks just like the rest of the walls — all tiled. There’s no shower tray, and the cabin door was installed to both sides of the niche. I opted for folding shower door opening to the inside of the cabin, so you can keep the shower open without stumbling over the door.
And the niches again! We made a rather thin hole in a wall over the sink. We didn’t want to make another lump in a room on the other side. We installed a few shelves inside the hole are using it as a vanity mirror closet. Since the mirror is extremely close to the wall, opening the closet might be annoying. That’s why you can open it just by clicking it!
Proper ventilation
Don’t make any changes in the original routing of ventilation ducts. The web of air conduits was specifically planned for your building and remodelling it for your needs will disturb the air circulation, not only in your apartment but possibly also at your neighbours’. It may result in constantly renewing fungus on the walls, especially if there are no windows in your bathroom.
General design
Designing and renovating your bathroom is a challenge but also a fantastic opportunity to prove yourself. Try to keep it as simple as possible — small spaces look best when well-organised, close to minimalism even. That’s why you need to pay extra attention when designing smaller rooms. You want to be able to relax at home, feel the unity, order, and harmony.
It’s also a wonderful time to renovate your place. We care more and more about our planet and try to make our lives sustainable. Keeping in mind that we renovate our homes once every 10 years on average, this decade is much more environment-friendly than the previous one. You can find safe ecological paints, thermostats, water savers… Let’s take advantage of our growing environment awareness and make friends with the idea of building green!
