Bathroom remodeling either fills you with thoughts of clean, gleaming white surfaces or a half-assembled disaster. And at some point, in every project, maybe both images are true. It’s a huge project that will consume time, money, and sweat equity. No matter if you DIY the whole project or hire professionals, one thing is for certain—it won’t be complete in a day. Part of your home will be unusable for a long time. The best way to prevent disasters and dragging the project out longer than necessary is to think through the project carefully before starting. Asking yourself some key planning questions will help you define your project’s scope, so you know what to expect before starting.
Whether you have a simple powder room or a large master bath with Jack and Jill sinks, comfortable functionality should be at the heart of your bathroom remodel. If you’re investing the time and money into a new bathroom, make sure it is functional, efficient, good looking, and exactly what you want. Don’t settle for anything other than your ideal bathroom. If you are struggling with why you should invest in it, here are some reasons to remodel your bathroom.
Remove Odors
Bathrooms are a cornucopia of smells—both good and bad. The moisture in them holds onto smells and never lets go. In some instances, the only way to be rid of them is a complete teardown. For example, if there was a fire in the home years ago, that smell will linger if not cleared out completely. Odor and smoke damage removal needs doing all the way down to the studs. Mold and mildew love the bathroom too; mix that with stale smoke and the other horrible smells associated with bathrooms and you need a full remodel.
Increase Home Value
Home improvements translate into increased value for your home. A full remodel and upgrade of your bathroom won’t pay for itself in home value immediately, but it just might in the long run. Even if you have no intention of selling your house it’s good to make changes and improvements over time. Things start to break one by one and after a while, the bathroom starts to look old and rundown. Don’t think that you have to do it all at once. Change a few things here and there as money becomes available.
Repair Bad Plumbing
Whether your house is new or old, there’s a chance that you have shoddy plumbing. Older houses have a greater chance of bad plumbing. The bad part is you won’t know it’s bad until something happens and there’s water on the floor or dripping from the ceiling. Standards and practices for plumbing have changed and evolved over the years and are much improved. If you have old or busted pipes, a plumber will have to chop a hole in the wall to fix it. If you are at that point already, you might as well make some improvements.
Efficient Toilets and Fixtures
Nowadays, there is an increased focus on ecology and conserving resources. Between the toilet, shower, and sink, the bathroom uses a lot of water. To meet the focus on green initiatives, toilet and fixture manufacturers are making products that don’t use as much water as their predecessors. If you want to reduce waste and make your house a little greener, consider installing new, low flow toilets and showerheads.
Increase Storage
One of the most frustrating things for every homeowner is a lack of storage. There is never enough room to put things, and we never stop accumulating stuff. The bathroom offers a whole list of storage problems all their own. You need space for towels, hand towels, soaps and shampoo, toilet paper, personal hygiene items, and so on. Remodel your bathroom to create more storage space for all the items. Adding linen closets and vanities, along with medicine cabinets, will increase the available storage space. Be careful, though, because the more space we have the more we will fill it.
Update the Look
A bathroom with dated fixtures, colors, and tiles can get depressing. Every time you shuffle into the bathroom for the morning shower you see horrible design choices everywhere. Freshen things up then and breathe new life into the bathroom. There are thousands of choices to make for every inch of the bathroom, so go crazy. Ultra-modern toilets and faucets, granite countertops, rainfall showerheads, tall toilets, and mosaic tiles await you at the design center. Start researching the latest trends and find out what’s hot right now.
Change the Layout
Older homes tend to have a poor layout for the bathroom, and the older the house, the worse it is. There were different needs in the early twentieth century than today. Luckily, you can change around your bathroom to better suit your needs. You might be thinking—there isn’t much to do, the toilet and shower are locked in, and there’s nowhere to move. Your bathroom’s layout, however, isn’t limited at all. It’s possible to move everything to new positions if that’s what you want. Don’t limit your imagination because you think the toilet has to stay where it is.
Create an Escape
We spend a lot of time in the bathroom for various reasons. Why not make the bathroom your escape from the world? Remodel your bathroom and make it into a place for relaxing and escaping. Turn your bathroom into a private day spa just for you. Add a giant bathtub and adjustable lights and built-in speakers for streaming relaxing music or nature sounds. Feel the stress and worry just melt away.
Satisfy a Craving
Sometimes, we just want to have something new. You can’t explain why, and you don’t know where the craving is coming from. You just know that having a shiny, new bathroom with new toilets, vanities, and tile floors will make everything right in your world. Don’t apologize for it; just do it. If you’re tired of looking at the same old yellow tile from the 1970s, switch it up. Remodel your bathroom because you want to—that’s reason enough.
