Transcription

Hello! This is Bernadette Janson and this is the 1st episode in 14 Days To A New Bathroom series. So I’m on the tail end of a 3 reno marathon and in the process have renovated 4 bathrooms in the last couple of months. And of course with every project I’ve learned something, So I keep refining the process. And so I thought it was a really good time to I guess go in depth with bathrooms. In terms of the value of the property, the bathrooms right up there with the kitchen in terms of building value and of course increasing functionality. But in terms of the execution of the project particularly on a cosmetic renovation, the bathroom is the aspect of the reno that determines the time frame, because it takes a long time to complete because of all the wet traits.

Being proficient at bathroom renovation will really help you with your time frames with your renos.

Now if you’re thinking about renovating a bathroom in the not too distant future then this is the theory for you.

We’ve got 14 episodes and we’ll be starting with the overall concept. Then we’ll be talking about what the key considerations in terms of planning, then lay out and we’ll be talking about how to do a quick and dirty reno.

Well actually, I should say a quick and clean reno but a makeover rather than completely renovating the bathroom. Considerations with bathtubs, showers, tap with selection’s, electrical, joinery, tiling, then the trades, budgeting and timing.

And then the last episode will be the actual renovation, the order of work.

We’ll have 14 quite short episodes, one a day for 14 business days. I’ll give you the weekends off and there’ll be some action steps for you to implement some of what we talk about in these episodes.

So today, we’re setting the scene. As I said the bathrooms right up there with the kitchen in terms of the potential to add value. But bathrooms have changed over the last few decades. Once upon a time they were a utilitarian type room where you just went there to bathe and now we have varied expectations of our bathroom. So it’s got to be equipped for long luxury wind downs. Complete with the candles, the soft music and if I have anything to do with it there’ll be champagne involved too. So it’s more of an urban retreat.

In order to think about the renovation. First we want to think about how the bathroom is used. And for this I’ve gone to some research. Periodically done surveys of the use of various aspects of renovations and in 2017 they did a bathroom trend survey and interestingly that 60 percent of people spend more than 30 minutes in the bathroom per day. So that’s like a bit of a mind blowing statistic.

I guess it comes as no surprise that one of the top things that people are doing in the bathroom is they’re on their mobile phones, so 21 percent on social media, 20 percent are doing emails and 18 percent are texting. So how does that translate when we are thinking about planning our bathroom? Now you might say well you shouldn’t be on your phone. But the reality is people are and that’s how it’s used.

If you’re going to provide functionality, one of the things you might want to think about is putting a USB charging point in your bathroom. The other thing to think about is bath use and 26 percent of people will have a long soak in the bath. At least once or twice a month. So that’s another consideration when you’re thinking about whether or not you should be including a bath in your renovation.

But I guess the key thing to think about is the size of the bathroom. So obviously if you’re spending more time in the bathroom, you’re going to want something that’s got to be the space about it. And hence we’ve moved away from the 50’s and 60’s where we had a bathroom with a separate toilet right next to it. Now we’re going for something where it’s all included in the bathroom and enabling us to have a bigger room.

The other two points that I think you need to be thinking about in planning your bathroom is, if you want to ensure that the bathroom does deliver on its promise to increase the value of your property significantly. You need to make sure that it has broad appeal, so don’t be too individualistic with your choices. Try and go for something that the masses would like and so certainly in terms of tile selection, you want to go for something that’s going to not offend anyone and it’s going to be easy to work with and style to create the look and feel that you want.

And the other thing that you need to think about is making sure that the design of your bathroom is timeless. It costs a significant amount of money to renovate a bathroom and you do not want to do things that will date out in a very short space of time. So a really common thing I say is, nicely what tiled bathrooms and someone’s decided to put a border either a horizontal border or my other favorite is when they put a vertical strip of accent tiles to add a bit of wow to the bathroom. But I actually think that’s a huge mistake, because within four or five years the bathroom will start to look dated. If you leave your tiles, you put plastic tiles in and you don’t feel the need to add a little bit of bling in the form of a border. Your bathroom style will have much more longevity.

Okay, so in this episode we have talked about the fact that the bathroom is no longer just the room where you go to bathe, the expectations of the bathroom are more as a sanctuary or a retreat.

And so we need to think about size and amenity in it. So that it’s a pleasant place to spend time in, but also to make sure that you are going to go with something that has broad appeal and that is not going to date too quickly.

That’s the end of episode one. And tomorrow I’ll be back with episode 2, where we’re talking about planning the bathroom and all the things that you need to consider when planning a new bathroom. So before I close off could I just ask a favour that you go over to iTunes and leave a review for the She Renovates podcast. I would be eternally grateful for that.

Thank you.