In life, sometimes, we simply have to make due with personal circumstances in and outside of the home. If your living with one or more small bathrooms, you're already familiar with this sentiment, especially if you don't have the funds for a transformative remodel.
Luckily, there are numerous aesthetic and functional changes you can make-ranging from cost-effective to relatively pricey-to enhance the comfort, livability, and overall value of your bathroom. Redesigning or remodeling your bathroom can be effort and time-intensive, regardless of a project's scope, so it's crucial for homeowners to focus on their space's immediate needs in order to prevent common pitfalls of the process, like constantly changing orders and resulting delays.
To give you an idea of the types of changes you incorporate into your project plan, we've collaborated with a highly rated Dover bathroom remodeling company to outline a few value-building alterations you can make to turn a small bathroom into a big centerpiece for your home.
Guide Your Visitors' Eyes with a Standout Fixture
If your bathroom lacks accommodating square footage, there's only so much you can do to mask it. Instead, give your visitors something else to think about while in your bathroom, like striking artwork or ambient light fixtures. Another space-saving option could be to mount open shelves and place a compact speaker that plays dulcet, tranquil music.
These types of fixtures and accents immediately shape the first impression, so as long as the space you do have in your bathroom isn't cluttered to the point of becoming an overriding distraction, your bathroom will be able to strike a different tone for those entering for the first time. A quick caveat, though, if you opt for a large wall or ceiling fixture, like obtrusive art pieces or a chandelier, make sure that it does not further restrict your space; otherwise, it negates the atmosphere, at best, or renders the whole addition irrelevant, at worst.
Strategize Ways to Store Vertically
There are 1,001 ways to adopt an open, vertically oriented storage scheme. You can also invest in floating drawers and countertops if you're looking to free up a little more surface area. For the frugal DIY enthusiast, though, there's nothing more effective for clearing up cluttering items like a handful of adhesive-backed hooks, a few mounted shelves, and well-placed towel racks.
Another savvy solution could be to hang a second shower rod, opposite of and parallel to your current one. There, you can hang several light baskets and organize hygiene items by person. You can also make small alterations to existing fixtures, like mounting containers to the frame of your bathroom mirror to hold tooth and hair brushes, toothpaste, hair products, make-up, beauty accessories, and so on. This is actually a nice addition if you have plans to sell one day, and your neighborhood commonly sees new families pursuing homes.
Create Convenience Elsewhere
The biggest challenge with a small bathroom is how inconvenient it can be, so if you have a feeling no amount of redecorating or spatial organization will truly mitigate that inconvenience, make lasting, structural improvements to your bathroom to ensure that, if nothing else, your space will always be functionally reliable.
Investing in accessibility features, like shower seating, railing, or even a showerhead, will make your bathroom more inviting than most, and would be a welcome alteration for visitors or prospective buyers that live with mobility restrictions.
If you live somewhere that experiences severe winter weather, water heater installation, while technically taking place outside of your bathroom, is an excellent investment that will help you improve your bathroom's performance and comfort. Adding new plumbing will also enhance the value of your bathroom-and home-since buyers won't have to worry about incurring that cost later down the line, should pipes burst or naturally depreciate over time.
Eliminate the Obstructions
When working with a limited space, the last thing you want to do is limit it further. The challenge is, though, you may have become so comfortable with these cramping fixtures, that you overlook them when it comes time to redesign or renovate your bathroom. Common culprits include inward-swinging doors, high-sided tubs, and wall partitions that, while sensical in a larger space, provide neither privacy nor the sense of an expanded space that should be segmented.
Some space-saving solutions include installing a curbless shower with an inward-sloping surface, or sliding or pocket doors that are easy to operate and suggest greater connectivity and cohesion between your bathroom and the adjacent living area.
Give Yourself a Small Bathroom That Makes a Big Impact
It may seem like a difficult, if impossible, task for certain spaces, but if you're looking to maximize the value of your small bathroom, focus on changes-large or small-that enhances its comfort and convenience. At the end of the day, regardless of size, people simply want to feel relaxed when they step into their bathroom, and refreshed when they leave. There are many strategies and fixtures you can utilize to capture that feeling, even with a modest amount of square footage to work with.
Luckily, there are numerous aesthetic and functional changes you can make-ranging from cost-effective to relatively pricey-to enhance the comfort, livability, and overall value of your bathroom. Redesigning or remodeling your bathroom can be effort and time-intensive, regardless of a project's scope, so it's crucial for homeowners to focus on their space's immediate needs in order to prevent common pitfalls of the process, like constantly changing orders and resulting delays.
To give you an idea of the types of changes you incorporate into your project plan, we've collaborated with a highly rated Dover bathroom remodeling company to outline a few value-building alterations you can make to turn a small bathroom into a big centerpiece for your home.
Guide Your Visitors' Eyes with a Standout Fixture
If your bathroom lacks accommodating square footage, there's only so much you can do to mask it. Instead, give your visitors something else to think about while in your bathroom, like striking artwork or ambient light fixtures. Another space-saving option could be to mount open shelves and place a compact speaker that plays dulcet, tranquil music.
These types of fixtures and accents immediately shape the first impression, so as long as the space you do have in your bathroom isn't cluttered to the point of becoming an overriding distraction, your bathroom will be able to strike a different tone for those entering for the first time. A quick caveat, though, if you opt for a large wall or ceiling fixture, like obtrusive art pieces or a chandelier, make sure that it does not further restrict your space; otherwise, it negates the atmosphere, at best, or renders the whole addition irrelevant, at worst.
Strategize Ways to Store Vertically
There are 1,001 ways to adopt an open, vertically oriented storage scheme. You can also invest in floating drawers and countertops if you're looking to free up a little more surface area. For the frugal DIY enthusiast, though, there's nothing more effective for clearing up cluttering items like a handful of adhesive-backed hooks, a few mounted shelves, and well-placed towel racks.
Another savvy solution could be to hang a second shower rod, opposite of and parallel to your current one. There, you can hang several light baskets and organize hygiene items by person. You can also make small alterations to existing fixtures, like mounting containers to the frame of your bathroom mirror to hold tooth and hair brushes, toothpaste, hair products, make-up, beauty accessories, and so on. This is actually a nice addition if you have plans to sell one day, and your neighborhood commonly sees new families pursuing homes.
Create Convenience Elsewhere
The biggest challenge with a small bathroom is how inconvenient it can be, so if you have a feeling no amount of redecorating or spatial organization will truly mitigate that inconvenience, make lasting, structural improvements to your bathroom to ensure that, if nothing else, your space will always be functionally reliable.
Investing in accessibility features, like shower seating, railing, or even a showerhead, will make your bathroom more inviting than most, and would be a welcome alteration for visitors or prospective buyers that live with mobility restrictions.
If you live somewhere that experiences severe winter weather, water heater installation, while technically taking place outside of your bathroom, is an excellent investment that will help you improve your bathroom's performance and comfort. Adding new plumbing will also enhance the value of your bathroom-and home-since buyers won't have to worry about incurring that cost later down the line, should pipes burst or naturally depreciate over time.
Eliminate the Obstructions
When working with a limited space, the last thing you want to do is limit it further. The challenge is, though, you may have become so comfortable with these cramping fixtures, that you overlook them when it comes time to redesign or renovate your bathroom. Common culprits include inward-swinging doors, high-sided tubs, and wall partitions that, while sensical in a larger space, provide neither privacy nor the sense of an expanded space that should be segmented.
Some space-saving solutions include installing a curbless shower with an inward-sloping surface, or sliding or pocket doors that are easy to operate and suggest greater connectivity and cohesion between your bathroom and the adjacent living area.
Give Yourself a Small Bathroom That Makes a Big Impact
It may seem like a difficult, if impossible, task for certain spaces, but if you're looking to maximize the value of your small bathroom, focus on changes-large or small-that enhances its comfort and convenience. At the end of the day, regardless of size, people simply want to feel relaxed when they step into their bathroom, and refreshed when they leave. There are many strategies and fixtures you can utilize to capture that feeling, even with a modest amount of square footage to work with.