Top Tips for Bathroom Design

Bathrooms are complex places to design for. There are plenty of hard, fixed surfaces and fittings that once installed, can’t be changed - at least not without expense! The good news is, with careful planning and by following our tips, you’ll be well on the way to setting yourself up for success.

Here are our top tips for success when embarking on a bathroom renovation.

1.Be clear on your Brief

Yes, every bathroom design project requires a well thought out brief. In fact, as Interior Designers, we spend a lot of time in this phase.

There are few key areas to focus on:

• Assess who will be using this bathroom, how many people, and what will they use it for? Considering the day to day needs that the room must address will help you decide what products are suitable, how much storage etc you’re going to need.

• Budgeting! Of course, this is an essential part of preparing for any project. Bathroom projects can vary in cost from $10 to 100K. Easily. Having a clear budget for demolition, trades, fixtures and fittings, and ‘the unknown’ is imperative. Try our Bathroom budget tracker tool and stay on track!

• Aesthetic! Making your design decisions are going to be so much easier with a clear aesthetic direction. Mood Boards are not just collections of pretty pictures, they need to illustrate an atmosphere, a feeling, a MOOD. For example, if you’d like to create an atmosphere of a relaxing day spa - the mood board might have images of soft colour palettes, perhaps some leafy greenery, minimal contrast and pattern. It may feature a product or two (such as an aged brass wall tap set) that accurately helps to add the illustration of mood. If you’d like a free Canva Mood Board Template we’ve got you covered! Simply sign up for our newsletter below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox.

• Site assessment. Before getting stuck into design decisions we will always do a site assessment to find out what is in and what is out of the realms of feasibility for the space we’re working within. E.g. if the walls are double brick, recessing a niche shelf is not the best option to include in the design.

2. Spend time on layout and elevations

Give a lot of thought to your floorplan. Mark it out on the floor, measure friends’ vanities with storage combinations or take note of layouts that you love. Sketch the outline of the room as accurately as possible and block out placements of your fittings.

Don’t forget what goes up the wall too! Plan for tap heights, towel rail positions, floating vanity levels etc.

Use our Bathroom Measurement Tool to help you plan your layout and elevations.

3. Strategise your tiling

Tiling can help make a room feel bigger, can draw the eye to a certain feature, and can use scale and contrast to create visual interest and dimension to the room. Selecting tiles is not as easy as picking a floor and wall tile that you like. Consider other aspects such as:

Placement - would large format tiles go better on the floor to minimise grout lines? Should a feature tile go behind the vanity to draw the eye towards that feature? Does the floor tile need to go up a wall to make the room feel larger?

Set out - vertical or horizontal? Chevron, herringbone, brick lay or bond stack? Consider how you would like the tiles to be set and whether the labour to set them will influence the budget.

Contrast, pattern, scale and tone - use these design levers to draw attention or detract from areas of the room accordingly and to help create achieve your aesthetic. E.g. for the relaxing dayspa vibe we mentioned, you could go for minimal contrast in your tile palette, large format to reduce grout lines, and soft colour tones to create a feeling of calmness.

4. Err on the side of storage oversupply

Keep in mind that drawers are better than cabinets for accessing items, but they cost more.

Complement your vanity storage with other items in the room in a way that enhances the aesthetic too - a shower ledge, a floating timber shelf over the bath, a mirrored shaving cabinet in an interesting shape etc.

5. Create a palette board

It doesn’t matter what it looks like on a computer screen, it’s really difficult to assess the true colour of a tile or the level of shine on a tapware finish without holding a swatch in your hand.

As you start to narrow down your selections, see if you can order samples from the supplier for:

• Tiles

• Tapware finish

• Cabinetry colour / material, and handles if applicable

• Benchtop finish

For more help on Bathroom Design head to our DIY page!