However, it should not just appeal to your family, it also should be a safe and comfortable, clean place for your guests and family who need to use it. Over the years, your bathroom will start to date and look tired and depending on your circumstance, you might not be able to embark on a full refurb and strip everything out so we have come up with a few top tips to touch it up and revive its look without having to completely refurbish it.

Buy a new Mirror

A quick and easy way to make a noticeable impact is by changing your mirror. Almost all bathrooms have a mirror and to achieve a quick win. Mirror always increase the light and add a layer of depth to make rooms look bigger so always a good idea for any bathroom.

Ideally mirrors should be on the opposite or adjacent wall to the windows to reflect sunlight throughout the room. Modern mirrors with lighting are truly an amazing addition to transform – you can find mirrors now with blue tooth connections for you devices, demister pads, digital clocks etc (insert link to mirrors here).

Install A New Towel Rail

With the transformation of towel rails from traditional silver/chrome simple look, there are now so many options ranging from tall designer radiators, to assymetrical radiators, and even stylish traditional inspired radiators with different colour options from black, chrome, anthracite (fancy word for dark grey) light grey, white, with varying textures matt, gloss, that you can stylishly match a few items in the bathroom to create a nice, modern look. these still have good heat output and can still do the fundamental job of heating up your space while modernising your look.

Re-grout tiles 

Sometimes you need to update a bathroom because of maintenance reasons as opposed to just aesthetics. A common issue tends to be grout and silicon edges starting to mould over or look really horrid around the tiles, they can also lead to leakages and also damp related issues. You can end up with a damaged wall or floors or worst still leaks unto your neighbours property! its very wise if youre not replacing the ties to at least reseal all the grout lines and have fresh silicon to revive and refresh your bathroom look.

For a quick fix, you can easily purchase a grout pen for less that £10 from most DIY merchants or shops cover up the existing grout lines or for a longer term fix, you can scrape of the old grout, then re-fill and point using a new compound. This is why we recommend larger tiles in large bathrooms to reduce your “grout-exposure” and so it’s definitely something to consider when you come to finally replacing the tiles.

A Lick Of Paint or WALLPAPER

Transforming rooms is easiest done using paint and depending on how much of a paint risk taker you are – can create and liven up your bathroom quite dramatically.

To guide around paints, its always best to go with your comfort zone so you don’t get painters remorse which is indeed a real thing. You can determine what mood you want to go for , so if airy, bright is your preferred then get an off white or light grey colour or taupes which work as a nice neutral – you can also go with pastel shades or hints in white paint. For the more dramatic look, you can get away with dark greys on some of the walls to create a dramatic back drop if you have a nice light painting you can contrast with. With wall paper its usually best to keep them on walls that have little interaction with water. If done well they look amazing in cloakrooms so it’s not too boring and you’re able to take more risks in that space since its not your MAIN bathroom.  

Accessorise 

There are now lots of interesting and gorgeous accessories one can get for their bathroom to create a stunning effect, realisitic looking faux or real flowers and plants have a fantastic effect on the ambiance and also using more versatile accessories ranging from grey, blank, bronze and matt gold effect toilet roll handles, towel holders, bins and soap dishes, with bathmats, bathrobe hooks and all sorts of  accessories.

DEClutter

We should probably have started with this, removing all unnecessary soaps, products, containers, and gels will go a long way in creating a clean and fresh space. For everything else, there are lots of creative storage options that can keeps these products out of sight – vanity mirror cabinets or under-counter drawer space can provide a good option for a more streamlined and clutter free bathroom.

Hopefully with these tips, you don’t have to break the bank to overhaul your bathroom you can apply a few touches which can dramatically improve your space and make it more liveable.

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But wait, before you go and pick up a whole stack of interior decor magazines, its important you consider these 5 things:

1. Plan your end game: starting with the budget, you should work out how much you have to spend and what this will get you, even if you don’t have enough of a budget to do the entire house, phase each section but have an end goal of what you want the entire refurb to look like so you don’t end up with mis-matched furnitures or traditional look in one room, modern contemporary in another without a seamless flow. 

2. Once you know your budget, start interviewing different contractors, interior teams, decorators you want to work with based on their previous works – select a minimum of 5-7 professionals from high end to budget. For high end designers who offer complimentary meetings, it is a great idea to get a feel for what luxury options exist, because they can give insight into trends and ideas you would never think about and can actually adapt some of these ideas into your budget. Overall. you want to speak to as many people to help you define what your end game is. (Now, you can go and buy the interior decor magazines and sift through since you are more “informed”)

3. Select your power team and ensure you get the right contracts in place, go over the specifications clearly, understand what each category in the quotation refers to – For eg. if your work scope has a line item quotation for a new window, understand where exactly it fits and check the dimensions against the space and ensure its not too small or too narrow as vague/ basic specifications are a great way for contractors to eventually blow through your budget completely especially once you realise what you signed up for isn’t quite suitable so understand what you are signing up to!

4. Get an interior designer!! the simple fact is they know what they are doing and get great trade discounts which they can often pass over depending on your budget. They are fantastic at sourcing unique products and helping you create a cohesive and tailored feel that truly represents you. Having a good conversation about layout and your lifestyle with the designer BEFORE the refurb commences will allow for you to adequately plan for spaces, for instance, a simple question “where do I store my/my visitors coats?” (do you want a small anteroom created or will you just have it in the hallway, if so, where? so you don’t have contractors putting in electrical switches, points or wires obstructing the area).

5. Decide from the onset to keep your cool, this is more “airy fairy” but renos and refurbs can be very stressful at the best of times so you need to be mentally prepared for delays, errors, misunderstandings, cost overruns and general issues that will almost always crop up, so get ready and keep in mind “it will all be completely worth it at the end..”

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