Without good lighting, the best bathroom will look uninviting — and may even be decidedly dangerous. It’s essential — and even illuminating — to choose the right lights! And if your bathroom gets good natural light, try to make the most of it.
Good lighting in the bathroom is essential not just because you look foolish if you apply your make-up like a clown but, more seriously, because you run the risk of misreading the directions on a bottle of medication. (more…)
Step by Step
Don’t try to do too much in one day and make sure you arrange alternative washing and toilet facilities with a neighbour if necessary.
Preparing the floor The most suitable surface for laying ceramic tiles is concrete. However this must be wood-float finished (rough textured) — if it is a mirror-smooth or steel- trowel finish, it will first need to be scratched, roughened with a chisel or acid-etched. (more…)
Once you have the plan in mind, you can turn your attention to the colour and style of your bathroom.
Your choices are almost unlimited and while your final selection boils down to personal taste, there are a few general guidelines.
To some extent, the bathroom is a place where you can indulge your decorative whims, but try to ensure that its decor — and the budget allocated — is in keeping with the rest of the house. (more…)
It’s taken a long time, but the smallest room in the house has at last grown up. Gone are the days when comfort was a dirty word in a place of austere cleanliness: today’s bathrooms are designed to be enjoyed, whether your fancy is for fragrant foamy baths, a work-out with the weights and a muscle- pummelling shower or a reenactment of the Armada with a fleet of plastic boats. (more…)
The bathroom is not a simple room to renovate, restore or redecorate. It can also be pricey, as any undertaking can turn into a major task if plumbing is involved. However, as the home projects in this section will show, DIY in the bathroom can provide easy and satisfying solutions to give your bathroom a new look. You can completely transform your bathroom by adding accessories, tiling a wall, putting up a fancy blind or installing a large mirror.
Once upon a time the bathroom was a room which contained a bath and very little else. Today the bathroom has many more fittings, is often larger and is a real centre of activity. It is also no longer a purely functional room — some people think of their bathroom as a place to relax in the spa. (more…)
These days wardrobes are generally built-in, with sliding doors which include a full height mirror. These built-ins are an integral part of the house.
The fit-out of wardrobes has gone beyond a few drawers, some hanging space and shelves. Now wardrobe companies will supply a whole system that includes ample drawers, shelves and hanging space, often on several levels. (more…)
All screws must have pilot holes made before they can be driven home. For screws smaller than No. 6 gauge (3.5 mm) into softwood, make these with a bradawl. Drive it into the wood with its chisel point across the grain, to avoid splitting.
Screws larger than No. 6 gauge into hardwood and screws into softwood need two holes -one for the thread (the pilot hole) and one for the shank (the clearance hole). These must be made with a drill and bit.
When drilling pilot holes, mark the required depth on the drill bit with a piece of masking tape. This will tell you when to stop and cannot damage the workpiece should you overdrill. (more…)
Bathrooms are common storage trouble spots that seem to get very messy, very quickly. These days there are lots of bright ideas for bathroom storage that utilize every bit of available space.
Building a vanity unit around a pedestal basin will help disguise any unsightly pipework while creating extra shelf and cupboard space. (more…)
Before phoning the plumber consider the following — you can’t take the mountain to Mohammed, so Mohammed will be charging a call-out fee to come and look at the mountain, after which he will charge you a bit more to fix the mountain. After 5 minutes you may realize that the mountain was in actual fact a very insignificant little molehill, easily taken care of yourself, if only you’d known.
The molehill could take on various forms: a leaking tap, a blocked toilet or a blocked drain, all of which you will be able to fix if you follow our detailed instructions. But there are a number of mountains best left to the plumber. These will include a burst water pipe (possibly caused by over-eager digging in the garden), a water pipe that accidentally connected with a power tool near the bathroom or kitchen (caused by over-eager drilling) or an old geyser that is on the blink. (more…)
If you want smart, unstereotyped accessories, consider using baskets, even if your decorating budget is limited. Take a look at the many places where you can use them to advantage.
Baskets can be made from the slimmest of twigs, from rushes, thin strips of wood, or any other flexible material woven together. They range in size from small serving pieces to enormous storage trunks. Depending on the shape and type of weave, baskets can go well in classic, country, or contemporary rooms. (more…)
Planning a bathroom for children means planning for convenience and safety as well as color. Remodeling will be minor if there is an existing bathroom. Just add a few fixtures, fittings, and storage units that suit ages of the children. However, as the need for a nursery- type bathroom will be brief, the bathroom will eventually be redecorated for use by young adults or as an extra bathroom for a guest room.
If you are choosing new fixtures, select them with future use—adult use—in mind, in colors that go with the overall color scheme of your home and in normal sizes and heights. If more than one child will be using the bathroom, double lavatory sinks are a good investment, not only for the younger years, but for adult family use later on. They enable two youngsters to get ready for school at the same time now, and will add extra use to a compartmented bathroom later on. Choose walls, floors, and fabrics for stain-resistant qualities and their ability to with stand humidity as well as for their decorative effect. (more…)
The days when a bathroom was bleak, cold, and unimaginative are gone.
It has not been too many years since the miracle of indoor plumbing, with hot and cold running water, became a common convenience in most homes in this country; but the history of bathrooms goes back many centuries.
Although bathrooms were found in early Egyptian palaces, it is the palaces of the Minoan civilization (1700-1400 B.C.) that provide the earliest well-preserved examples of bathrooms. They are remarkable both for careful structure and for an advanced system of water supply and drainage. (more…)
Designs cut from vinyl-coated wallpaper or fabric used elsewhere in the room can be appliquéd to window shades. To prevent raw edges of material from raveling, spray the back of the fabric with a clear acrylic spray before cutting out design. Use a small sharp scissors for cutting out design motifs and arrange them on the shade in exact position. Apply glue to the reverse side of each cutout, making sure that the entire surface is covered, then press it into position. After adhesive has dried, the face of cutouts is best protected by an extra coating of acrylic spray. (more…)
Ensuring that you have proper lighting is one of the most important aspects of bathroom decorating. Most bathrooms have fairly small windows; many are being installed with no windows at all in order to permit more wallspace for fixtures and storage.
To provide the light you need for makeup, shaving, and general illumination, a combination of fluorescents and incandescents is best. To diffuse light that will set a soft glow throughout, choose frosted bulbs. (more…)
Bathroom linens and accessories are those items in a bathroom other than fixtures. These include carpeting or rugs, towels, shower curtains, window treatments, lotion bottles and jars, plants and flowers, mirrors and pictures, soaps and soap dishes, tissues, decorative lighting fixtures that are not permanent installations, figurines and bowls, shelving, decorative hardware for cabinets and doors, towel rings and bars, clocks, and scales. In addition to metal, glass, and plastic accessories, there are wicker, wood, and mirrored items.
When these accessories are chosen to complement the rest of the home, the bathroom can be made as beautiful as any other room in the house, and still furnish the basic comforts and conveniences necessary in the modern bath. These intriguing, interesting “extras” can add color, character, and individuality, regardless of the size of the bathroom or whether its background and fixtures are lavish or simple. (more…)
Comfort is the keynote in bedroom planning, not only for the average eight hours of rest each day, but for the entire 24 hours. The bedroom should have an atmosphere that is conducive to reading, writing, sewing, and knitting, or just plain relaxing. It should have a feeling of privacy, yet should be the kind of a room where the door can be left open, and it will reflect the mood of the decor of the rest of the home.
Although furnishings should be chosen for comfort, convenience, and beauty, it is the background—colors, patterns, and textures in walls, floors, window treatments, bedspreads, and upholstery—that does the most to create a feeling of comfort and tranquillity. (more…)
Your first decision when choosing. a bed‑spread must be the type of spread that is most appropriate for the room in which you are to use it. There is the spread with the attached pillow cover, the one-piece spread with an’ attached shirred skirt, a boxed coverlet with a separate dust ruffle, a boxed top with attached ruffle, the simple draped spread, the tuck-in coverlet, made to tuck in under the mattress at the edges, combined with either a dust ruffle or a trim, tailored lower cover for the box springs. (more…)
Quality and cost are a prime consideration for most homeowners. As always, the better quality, the longer the wear. In family bedrooms, you are wise to choose a better grade, because there will still be less wear than in heavy traffic areas such as hallways, living rooms, and family rooms. The guest bedroom can have handsome color with a lower grade of quality, for here there is usually little traffic.
If you select carpeting for the bedroom, and your beds are not on casters for easy moving, it’s an idea to have the carpet cut out under the bed, leaving the original floor exposed. This cleans easily with a dust mop, instead of awkward vacuuming. (more…)
The dictionary definition of a bench is “a long seat for several people,” a reminder of benches in parks, in bus stations, and in railway depots. At home, benches can be used in almost any room of the house, the basement or garage, the lawn or the patio.
There are benches on which to sit while studying, lounging, eating; benches to hold TVs, stereo components, luggage, accessories; work benches for basement, hobby room, or garage.
Bench materials include wood, stone, marble, wrought iron, cast aluminum, and tubular metals. Bench tops may be solid, planked, or slatted wood; upholstered or cushioned; or laminated plastic material. (more…)
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