Your bathroom is likely to be the first and last room you see every day before getting up or retiring to bed. There’s nothing more depressing than living with a bathroom that looks and feels like it’s seen better days, but for many, the cost of refitting is prohibitive. Fortunately, from tiles to taps, there are many ways to perk up a tired bathroom without spending a lot of money. If your smallest room needs more than a lick of paint to bring it up to date, read on for inspiration.
Clean Sweep
First things first – give your bathroom some tender loving care with a deep clean. Even the most dated will look improved when fresh and sparkling. Remove any limescale and stains, polishing fittings to a shine, and, to show your new design off to maximum effect, replace any grouting in-between tiles and around baths and sinks. Taps and other fittings really past their best can easily be replaced, and this alone will give a bathroom the beginnings of a whole new style.
Floored Thinking
By updating the floor, you will instantly give your bathroom a lift, and with such a huge array of flooring choices available, you will be spoilt for choice. Ceramic tiles can look great, but are cold under foot unless heated from beneath. Vinyl options are a fantastic and long-lasting way to make a feature with pattern, colour and texture – from florals to metallics and just about everything in-between. It’s possible to spend a small fortune on designer vinyl, but if your budget is somewhat leaner, pop in to your local DIY store for inexpensive imitations. If an existing plain floor still looks good, why not have some fun with adhesive floor designs? Refresh wall tiles in the same way, saving time and money for accessories and other items.
It’s a Wrap
New towels will add freshness and style to your decorating, and need not break the bank. Supermarket home interior lines now offer excellent value for money without skimping on quality or design, and you may find a range of matching items, like bathmats and shower curtains, at a fraction of designer prices. Soap dishes and toothbrush holders can also be bought cheaply or more expensively to suit your pocket and will look crisp and clean.
Stylish Storage
It’s all too easy to litter a bathroom with clutter that looks lovely when placed, but soon becomes dusty and dirty. An ugly variety of medicines, lotions and unused soaps will also detract from your new design, so either confine them to a stylish new cabinet, or transfer their contents to more aesthetically pleasing bottles and jars. This is a great way to bring elegance to your bathroom, creating a chic look for relatively little money, whatever the contents. It’s not hard to imagine how much more elegant this will look when compared to half-empty, ill-matched shower and shampoo containers.
As is the case with most interior decorating projects, updating a bathroom can be scaled to suit budget and time available. With a little creativity, a dramatic new look can be achieved in just a few hours, meaning you might want to spend a little longer enjoying it. Just don’t blame other family members if they do too!
