There are a few important design features you need to consider when designing you main bathroom. If you get these right, the end result will make the whole family happy.
Bathroom Access
Availability is key as families jostle each other at peak times. To relieve congestion, separate off the toilet and give it its own access. This way, if the young daughter is trying to have a long Saturday night bath, your family is not queuing outside with their legs crossed. Two vanities or basins are also a good way to increase throughput in the morning rush hour.
Bathroom Storage
This is important so get as much in as you can for everything from towels and toiletries to entire sets of clothes for the main bath users. If the children shower before school, keep their uniforms or school attire in there to change into, and if they shower after school or in the evening, put in a laundry hamper to stop smelly clothes finding their way into bedrooms.
A heated towel ladder, or two if there are lots of users, is a good way to keep towels usable for longer and to decrease the amount of washing that needs to be done each week. You may think that this is not particularly ‘green’, but when you consider the reduction in water for washing, detergent, and using a dryer in winter, their impact is relatively small.
For a young family, try to make some space around the bath for a stool or chair close to the water. This lets you comfortably supervise small children while they are bathing and can double as landing space for soaps, shampoos, and even wine glasses when having your own luxury bath.
Selecting Lighting for the Bathroom Redesign
Remember the standard rules for bath lighting. Always incorporate task lighting as well as mood or ambience lighting. In work areas, usually around the mirror, you need good clean light for such tasks as shaving or applying make-up. Ideally this light should come from the front and the side. Preferably it should be a form of strip lighting (fluorescent) rather than point light (standard bulb or single LED) to reduce shadowing.
Mood lighting is there to relax you, it should be adjustable or dimmable, and can be placed in the central point of the room. Try to avoid using LED lights at this stage as the light they currently give out is still quite a harsh pure light. Even the coloured options have a stark quality about them and it is difficult to create a pleasant ambience.
As for décor, when choosing porcelain, white basins and toilets are ‘in’ and will always be ‘in’. I am sure you have all seen at some stage an avocado coloured bath suite and thought, ‘Why? Why? Why?’
Colour in Bathroom Decor
This be added onto walls, accessories like towels, window treatments, or even on the floor but unless you have the budget to change the entire room every few years try the following. Use neutrals on the floors and items that cost a lot to replace such as fittings, shower walls, cabinetry, and tiles. Neutrals such as creams, light or dark browns or white for accessories and ceilings are ideal. Walls can then be painted or wallpapered in the colour and pattern trend of the moment. It is then easy to change the colour in a couple of years for a minor cost, to give you a totally new looking room.
Finally always remember the end user of the room and design it to suit them. After all, they are the ones that will use it.
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