Plan Your Bathroom Renovation: Tips and Tricks

Once you have committed to renovating your bathroom and have planned and re-planned your expenses to squeeze every penny out of your budget, it is almost time to get down to business. The last thing to do before you begin is to generate an action plan so you don’t get bogged down in the details and become overwhelmed by some of the bigger steps in the project. The following items are important points to consider when addressing your bathroom renovation.

Prepping For Your Bathroom Renovation

At Kitchen and Bath, we can transform your kitchen space with:

• Budget – The key here is to start with a realistic figure and get all of your bases covered. Should you find that you can purchase all of your wants and remain under budget, you might consider upgrading your fixtures. Just remember to also factor in a safety net for any unforeseen expenses.
• Functionality – Spend some time considering gold or nickel finishes. Look at tile colour against your wall colours. It is also important to take measurements between the furnishings so that the room has a flow. For instance, you don’t want to buy a vanity that is so large it covers a floor vent, or to have cabinets that are protruding away from the wall in such a way that prevents the door from closing.
• Storage – Make sure to build in a medicine cabinet and linen closet if possible. These amenities are nice to have in close proximity as long as they don’t clutter the bathroom and are discreet.
• Flooring – Installing flooring is generally an extra expense that the contractor does not include in a base remodel, and if you have even a little experience with installing tile, you can do it yourself and save some considerable money.
• Lighting – This is a nice area to splurge as you cannot put too much lighting in your bathroom typically. Should you feel the room is too bright, install dimmers on the light switches to resolve the issue inexpensiviely.
• Ventilation – No one likes a stuffy bathroom, so plan for at least one floor vent and one ceiling exhaust so that your bathroom avoid needless moisture and odours.
• Plumbing – Most contractors can “rough-in” the plumbing in a standard sized bath for $1500 or less so you should resign yourself to this hard cost as most plumbing tasks should be performed by a licensed professional. They are also pretty creative when it comes to plumbing solutions so do not be afraid to pick their brains.
• Measurements – The old adage says, “measure twice, cut once”. This means make sure of your lines before making the cut as many times there’s no going back after the fact. This will also prevent you from running into an issue where your furnishings do not fit the space.
• Contractor – After you know what you want in your bathroom and have a rough idea of how much it costs, then it is time to bring in a contractor to ensure that everything you have planned for can be done. This is the last step before beginning the renovation and when the contractor agrees to the project, the fun can begin.
• Troubleshooting – Should the contractor find any hitch in the plan, you can then sit down with him/her and discussion alternate solutions. This will inevitably happen once or twice, but your contractors are experienced professionals, so hopefully they’ve worked through similar tough spots in the past.

All of these steps contribute to the planning phase and if followed carefully they should help effectively prepare for your bathroom renovation without too many surprises. In the event that something unforeseen does come up (after all, you never know what’s behind your walls until you remove them) an experienced contractor like Kitchen and Bath should be able to find an agreeable workaround. Adhering to a plan will help keep your expenses at or near your budget and keep you from getting too overwhelmed once the renovation kicks into high gear.

Below, we will go over some bathroom renovation mistakes that you should avoid and keep your eye out for. Avoiding them and preventing them from occurring will ensure that you are happy with the job that is done.

Most Common Mistakes To Avoid During Bathroom Reno

Mistake 1. Not Having a Budget and Overspending

When it comes down to it, make sure that you budget for the project and you remain within your budget. If you know that you can afford to spend $15,000 on your remodel, do NOT spend $30,000 on it. Do additional research on bathroom products and look for more reasonable prices, but keep in mind there are several expenses that you should not cut on – plumbing and electricity. You can opt for a cheaper vanity cabinet, but make sure to to proper piping and wiring. Floors are also part of the bathroom that you need to invest in. Installing floor heating system might be costly at the moment but will have long-lasting benefits: from keeping your bathroom dry and non-mouldy to adding to house value when selling.

Mistake 2. Not Having a Plan in Place

It can be easy to simply jump into a bathroom remodel without actually thinking about what you want to have done. Before you do this though, you need to have a plan in place. If you do not, you may buy unneeded items or you may purchase something on a whim and then end up hating it later on down the road. Invite several bathroom renovation contractors and ask them to provide detailed quotes, based on those you can get a basic understanding of what needs to be done in your bathroom.

Mistake 3. Overcrowding

While you may want that huge vanity with the double sinks, you probably do not have enough room for it and if you jam it into the bathroom, you will find that your space is crowded and you do not enjoy being inside the bathroom. Your bathroom renovation needs to take the space you have available into account and work with it. Always purchase fixtures and accessories that do not take up more than a small portion of the space in your bathroom.

Mistake 4. Choosing Trendy Design Materials

While it is okay to want to be trendy and hip with the times, the bathroom is not the place to do it. In fact, your bathroom renovation should NOT use items that are “in” style right now, but use styles that will be evergreen and not date your bathroom. Remember, you can decorate with trendy items and remove them later on when the time comes. If you choose trendy fixtures, you would need to perform another bathroom remodel just to remove them.

If you need help with your upcoming bathroom renovation, rely on the professionals at Kitchen & Bath Inc. to guide you.

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