7 Bathroom Design Tips When Planning A Bathroom Refit

Our top bathroom design tips are a great place to start when thinking about getting the best results from your bathroom refit.

1. Planning and patience

Don't rush ahead of yourself and start ripping out your old bathroom until you have everything you need delivered and ready to start rebuilding. The temptation to get started will be strong, and that enthusiasm will do you well, but save it for the right time. 

Remember that you'll be leaving yourself without a bathroom for the time the work is underway, so holding off as long as possible is the smart thing to do. You've got an opportunity to upgrade your home and a bit of planning will help you realise that dream.

2. Shower thoughts

A metal storage unit with sticky suction cups is a regular site in a bathroom, but if you're redoing yours, wouldn't it be great to have something built in? 

When you're in the planning stage, think about somewhere to put your shampoo, shower gel, razor et al and you can end up with something much more elegant looking than a stuck on solution. 

3. Efficient tiling

Instead of paying out a fortune to have decorative tiling throughout your whole bathroom, you'll find you can get a more subtle and much more cost effective look by using accent tiles. 

Not only does this save money but it generally create a nicer, less overwhelming look for your bathroom. 

4. Lighting update

Any room can benefit from good lighting, but a bathroom particularly needs thought given to what kind of light you use. Make sure you're using lights that are rated for bathroom usage.

Downlights are generally considered the most practical for a bathroom as they are out of the way and are less intrusive. 

If you think of your lighting as a whole scheme and match any mirror lighting, lamps and main lights you use then you'll create a much more harmonised look.

5. Focal point rethink

In a lot of a bathrooms, you open the door dead opposite the toilet. This is not considered good practice by bathroom designers and you can see why. It's not exactly the most charming or aesthetically pleasing part of the room.

Therefore, when you're mapping out your layout, try to keep the line of sight from the door away from the toilet. It's difficult to move the plumbing around once everything else is in so get this sorted from the offset.

6. Finish strong

Whether you're on a tight budget or you're going all out, the devil is in the detail. Go for a high gloss finish and spend as much as you can manage on the finishing touches and it will make the rest of your bathroom seem much more luxurious. 

The fact a bathroom is normally a smaller space means that a little bit of luxury goes a long way, so make sure you look in to using higher end materials in a small amount of your bathroom to add that extra quality. 

7. Vigorous ventilation

A badly ventilated bathroom will get grubby quickly, and you don't want your newly minted space to become unduly damaged and dirty. A window or a vent are a must for any bathroom, but by making sure you have both you'll make your bathroom look nicer for longer.