A Small Bathroom That Feels Big

Read article : A Small Bathroom That Feels Big

The small bath problem and proposed solutions

Lead photo

Bathroom after remodeling

The kitchen may be the heart of the home, but over the past 20 years, the bathroom has morphed into the home's soul—a savored refuge from our busy world. Once little more than utilitarian space, the bath has expanded, both in size and in role, to serve as a pleasing retreat.

How to create such a retreat in an ordinary, compact 5 x 9-ft. bathroom could easily leave the owner feeling like a, well, lost soul. Remodeling a bath built to accommodate a standard 5-ft. tub, a toilet and a vanity without adding footage can be a challenge.

Just ask Pam Peterson, who wanted to mine more space from her small 1954 bathroom. She turned to designer Matthew Rain of Abode Drafting, who, along with the remodelers at Mike Otto Construction, “grew” her limited space without changing the room's footprint and added modern elegance to a dated room.

Their solution relied on several fixes: reconfiguring the linen closet; brightening up the fixtures; updating the wall, tile and floor surfaces; and radically changing the vanity.

The Bathroom, Before and After

An oversized vanity and solid-color harvest gold tile visually shrank this already small bathroom.

With the installation of bright fixtures and right-sized pieces, this bathroom gains a big-time feel.

Bathroom before remodeling

Fewer doors, more space

More storage, fewer swinging doors

This corner is now functional storage with an open look and feel. Eliminating most of the cabinet doors and adding a pocket door created a greater sense of space.

Rain cleaned up the structural clutter by rethinking the original linen closet. It had four cabinet doors in the bathroom and another access door from the hallway. “With all those cabinet doors and the big bathroom door, I felt I was always dodging and weaving anytime I needed to get something,” says Peterson of the old layout. “Some door was always in the way.”

The new design turned a bad closet into a great one by shedding all but one of the bathroom cabinet doors and removing the hallway cabinetry entirely. “The new wall space in the hall allowed us to turn the old bathroom door into a pocket door. Eliminating a door 'in-swing' immediately gives a room a bigger feel,” says Rain.

The new bathroom storage area has five custom open shelves made of red oak (to match the room's new light-toned trim), perfect for stacks of towels (photo). “By leaving these shelves open, it also adds to the room's feeling of spaciousness,” says Rain, “and because you can quickly grab a towel, it's functional as well.”

Tiled for a big feel

Mixed tile colors

The rough edges and rich colors of the tile create the illusion of natural stone, but in reality, it's low-maintenance porcelain. Because the mosaic style breaks up the color pattern, the eye perceives that the room is larger.

Despite the recent interest in retro fashion, there is little nostalgia for the old harvest gold look. In this bathroom, the wall and floor surfaces were replaced with an easy-to-clean porcelain tile in a palette of warm colors—including gold.

While the mosaic tile is beautiful, it also serves a design purpose. “Both the scale of the 2-inch tile and the random arrangement give the feeling of being in a larger room,” says Rain. He found 2-in. tile that could be ordered in a random mix, which took the guesswork out of how much of each tile color to purchase for a mosaic (photo). “The dark floor tiles in a larger format, here a 6-by-6, also add to the spaciousness,” Rain says.

Bright, clean and open for small spaces

Photo 1: Open sink console

To accent the open space underneath the console vanity, a polished chrome finish P-trap was used.

Photo 2: New faucet and a refinished tub

The brushed nickel finish was selected for its long wear and because “it simply doesn't show dirt as much,” says designer Matthew Rain. The bathtub was refinished so it would match the clean white color of the new fixtures.

Peterson wanted a crisp look that wasn't overly modern. “I didn't want anything too elaborate in this little bath. It's hard to appreciate things in such a small room because there is no place to stand back and take it in,” she says. “I wanted a look with simple lines.”

Rain selected nearly all of the fixtures and accessories from Kohler's Memoirs collection. “The style matched up well with my client's tastes and the products were 'right-sized' for the scale of the room,” says Rain, adding that shopping online saved him and his client hours of legwork.

After 50 years of use, the tub was beginning to show its age. Replacement wasn't feasible without either special ordering an expensive custom bathtub to fit the constraints of the room or undertaking a more extensive remodel. “Because it's a high-quality cast-iron tub, I decided to spend $500 to refinish it,” says Peterson (Photo 2). “It looks good and saved money in demolition and installation costs.”

Warranties on tub refinishing vary but usually hover around the five-year mark. “I've found that a refinished tub will last about seven years when it's used every day or around 10 with low use,” says remodeler Mike Otto.

The old vanity was dated and with its clunky style took up too much space in the small bath. A contemporary console sink with square legs was used as a replacement with eye-popping results (Photo 1). The console style offers enough space to place toiletries by the basin but without the chunkiness of a traditional vanity.

“This is probably one of the biggest changes in the room when it comes to opening things up,” says Peterson. “I had wanted some unique pieces in the room and this is definitely one of them.”

A Small Bathroom That Feels Big

Read article : A Small Bathroom That Feels Big

The small bath problem and proposed solutions

Lead photo

Bathroom after remodeling

The kitchen may be the heart of the home, but over the past 20 years, the bathroom has morphed into the home's soul—a savored refuge from our busy world. Once little more than utilitarian space, the bath has expanded, both in size and in role, to serve as a pleasing retreat.

How to create such a retreat in an ordinary, compact 5 x 9-ft. bathroom could easily leave the owner feeling like a, well, lost soul. Remodeling a bath built to accommodate a standard 5-ft. tub, a toilet and a vanity without adding footage can be a challenge.

Just ask Pam Peterson, who wanted to mine more space from her small 1954 bathroom. She turned to designer Matthew Rain of Abode Drafting, who, along with the remodelers at Mike Otto Construction, “grew” her limited space without changing the room's footprint and added modern elegance to a dated room.

Their solution relied on several fixes: reconfiguring the linen closet; brightening up the fixtures; updating the wall, tile and floor surfaces; and radically changing the vanity.

The Bathroom, Before and After

An oversized vanity and solid-color harvest gold tile visually shrank this already small bathroom.

With the installation of bright fixtures and right-sized pieces, this bathroom gains a big-time feel.

Bathroom before remodeling

Fewer doors, more space

More storage, fewer swinging doors

This corner is now functional storage with an open look and feel. Eliminating most of the cabinet doors and adding a pocket door created a greater sense of space.

Rain cleaned up the structural clutter by rethinking the original linen closet. It had four cabinet doors in the bathroom and another access door from the hallway. “With all those cabinet doors and the big bathroom door, I felt I was always dodging and weaving anytime I needed to get something,” says Peterson of the old layout. “Some door was always in the way.”

The new design turned a bad closet into a great one by shedding all but one of the bathroom cabinet doors and removing the hallway cabinetry entirely. “The new wall space in the hall allowed us to turn the old bathroom door into a pocket door. Eliminating a door 'in-swing' immediately gives a room a bigger feel,” says Rain.

The new bathroom storage area has five custom open shelves made of red oak (to match the room's new light-toned trim), perfect for stacks of towels (photo). “By leaving these shelves open, it also adds to the room's feeling of spaciousness,” says Rain, “and because you can quickly grab a towel, it's functional as well.”

Tiled for a big feel

Mixed tile colors

The rough edges and rich colors of the tile create the illusion of natural stone, but in reality, it's low-maintenance porcelain. Because the mosaic style breaks up the color pattern, the eye perceives that the room is larger.

Despite the recent interest in retro fashion, there is little nostalgia for the old harvest gold look. In this bathroom, the wall and floor surfaces were replaced with an easy-to-clean porcelain tile in a palette of warm colors—including gold.

While the mosaic tile is beautiful, it also serves a design purpose. “Both the scale of the 2-inch tile and the random arrangement give the feeling of being in a larger room,” says Rain. He found 2-in. tile that could be ordered in a random mix, which took the guesswork out of how much of each tile color to purchase for a mosaic (photo). “The dark floor tiles in a larger format, here a 6-by-6, also add to the spaciousness,” Rain says.

Bright, clean and open for small spaces

Photo 1: Open sink console

To accent the open space underneath the console vanity, a polished chrome finish P-trap was used.

Photo 2: New faucet and a refinished tub

The brushed nickel finish was selected for its long wear and because “it simply doesn't show dirt as much,” says designer Matthew Rain. The bathtub was refinished so it would match the clean white color of the new fixtures.

Peterson wanted a crisp look that wasn't overly modern. “I didn't want anything too elaborate in this little bath. It's hard to appreciate things in such a small room because there is no place to stand back and take it in,” she says. “I wanted a look with simple lines.”

Rain selected nearly all of the fixtures and accessories from Kohler's Memoirs collection. “The style matched up well with my client's tastes and the products were 'right-sized' for the scale of the room,” says Rain, adding that shopping online saved him and his client hours of legwork.

After 50 years of use, the tub was beginning to show its age. Replacement wasn't feasible without either special ordering an expensive custom bathtub to fit the constraints of the room or undertaking a more extensive remodel. “Because it's a high-quality cast-iron tub, I decided to spend $500 to refinish it,” says Peterson (Photo 2). “It looks good and saved money in demolition and installation costs.”

Warranties on tub refinishing vary but usually hover around the five-year mark. “I've found that a refinished tub will last about seven years when it's used every day or around 10 with low use,” says remodeler Mike Otto.

The old vanity was dated and with its clunky style took up too much space in the small bath. A contemporary console sink with square legs was used as a replacement with eye-popping results (Photo 1). The console style offers enough space to place toiletries by the basin but without the chunkiness of a traditional vanity.

“This is probably one of the biggest changes in the room when it comes to opening things up,” says Peterson. “I had wanted some unique pieces in the room and this is definitely one of them.”

Award-winning PGI Homes' Casa de Antigua boasts 'wow' factors

Read article : Award-winning PGI Homes' Casa de Antigua boasts 'wow' factors

The chandelier in the great room is one of the wow factors at Casa de Antigua.(Photo: Blaine Johnathan Photography, Blaine Johnathan Photography)

It took 34 hours for gloved workers to string the 2,000 crystals on 790 strands to create the chandelier that hangs as a focal point in the family room. Yet that is not the only "wow" factor. There’s a secret room, an elevator that is similar to a bank chute, and a floating wine display.

These "wow" factors were some of the reasons that PGI Homes’ Casa de Antigua in Cape Coral recently won two Aurora Awards. The home won for Best Single Family Detached Home in the 4,000 to 5,000 square foot category, and for Best Master Bathroom in a home priced between $1 million and $2 million.

"It was like putting together a puzzle," said Anthony Farhat, president of PGI Homes as he spoke of the intricate chandelier.

The chandelier has more than 2,000 prisms. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

His wife,Tia Farhat, designer director of PGI Homes, said that chandelier is definitely one of the biggest wow factors in Case de Antigua. There is also a smaller crystal chandelier in the kitchen.

"That is my thing," she said. “I think the chandeliers are the jewelry of the house and I love bling and I blinged it out on that one."

Another focal point in the great room is the wine room that has glass walls and wine bottles that are filled with crystals, suspended in layers and look like they are floating.

"We took that inspiration of the bling again," Tia Farhat explained. "We custom made the wine rings. I know whoever purchases the house will fill it with real bottles. Those bottles have crystals."

Around the corner is a very unusual elevator.

100 percent vacuum operated like the" width="180" height="240" />

The elevator is 100 percent vacuum operated like the ones in a bank drive-thru. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

"The elevator is 100 percent vacuum operated," Anthony Farhat described. "It is a pneumatic tube like the one that's used in a bank drive-thru. It is 37 inches and 360 degrees of glass."

The tube takes up much less room than a standard elevator and is also a unique visual feature.

"The pneumatic tube, that is super cool," Tia Farhat added. "It is like when you are at a bank teller and it just sucks it up like air pressure. It is also cool that it is open with all the glass. You still have that open feeling. I love it. It is a good use of space."

Farhat believes one of the reasons the home won for best master bathroom is the secret room. Behind a set of high double doors is a hidden room with a washer and dryer and a small sitting space. Farhat said a safe can be installed there or it can just be used as a small private room.

"We are starting to do more secret rooms in homes now," Anthony Farhat said. "We are seeing more people liking it."

The other advantage is this small laundry room is right in the master bathroom. While there is another larger laundry room at the other side of the house, Farhat said having one in the master suite is very convenient for the homeowners.

Another convenience is the European-style kitchen cabinets that open up instead of to the side. Farhat said that makes it easy to leave all the cabinets open while cooking and no one will hit their head on a door.

Farhat added another little touch when he created a pool caddy just inside the door leading to the pool bathroom. This area has cabinets for towels and other pool supplies.

There are other features that led to the design award in Casa de Antigua. The home has two, two-car garages for a total of four garages. A dual fireplace has two sides that can be seen in both the great room and the den. It burns ethanol which is scent-free.

Huge 24-by-24 inch shiny white porcelain tile makes the floor look almost like an ice skating rink. White quartz by the fireplace and a flat-screen television add to that modern white look.

Casa de Antigua in Cape Coral won two Aurora Awards" width="540" height="405" />

Casa de Antigua in Cape Coral won two Aurora Awards this year. (Photo: Blaine Johnathan Photography, Blaine Johnathan Photography)

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home features two bedrooms downstairs and two more upstairs. All the bedrooms are en suites. Farhat describes the home as having one master bedroom and three mini-masters.

An upstairs living room and one of the upstairs bedrooms leads to a large covered terrace that overlooks the pool and canal. The pool area includes an infinity-edge pool and spa, a summer kitchen, and a terraced area leading to the water. There is also a boat dock and a little sitting area near the water.

The upstairs terrace has a view of the pool and canal. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

Farhat said there is no other home like Casa de Antigua.

"We never build the same house twice," he said.

Casa de Antigua spans 4,036 square feet under air and a total of 6,001 square feet of living space. It is priced at $2.39 million, fully furnished.

Farhat said he was honored to receive the Aurora award for Casa de Antigua. He also won Auroras for another Cape Coral house, Casa de Nautica, that is already sold.

The 36th annual Aurora awards cover homes in the Southeastern United States, offering awards in 55 categories. More than 400 entries were received this year. Judges are from the homebuilding industry, and represent the many areas of building and design, as well as geographic diversity.

Double doors in the master bathroom lead to a secret room. (Photo: Blaine Johnathan Photography, Blaine Johnathan Photography)

 

Read or Share this story: http://newspr.es/2wjdzTN

Clever solutions for small bathrooms

Read article : Clever solutions for small bathrooms

In any room, a shortage of space can make renovating and decorating tricky, but a small bathroom can be particularly challenging when you think about everything you're trying to fit in it. That's not to say it's impossible though. With a few clever tricks you can easily transform a pint-sized bathroom into a stylish, spacious and spa-like haven. Here are our top tips for living large.

1. Add a splash of colour

When it comes to small spaces, it’s best to avoid blocks of dark or bold colours. Light neutral colours, such as white, cream and soft pastels, are your best pick for the overall colour scheme and bathroom suites. You can then use splashes of bright colours in your accessories, towels or even on a feature wall.

Bright white bathrooms look airy and spacious. Add a few splashes of statement colour for maximum impact. Photo: Nick Watt / bauersyndication.com.au

2. Let there be light

Well-lit rooms always feel bright and airy so follow their lead and use natural light to create the illusion of space in your bathroom. If you're designing the room from scratch or planing a total refit, opt for multiple windows, a floor-to-ceiling glass door or a skylight. You'll reap the rewards of more light immediately. If you're on a budget, try changing the type of glass in your windows — transparent will obviously let in the most light, but if privacy is an issue, soft frosted glass still lets in a fair share of natural light. When it comes to fixtures and fittings, use halogen light bulbs. They're known for their brilliance and will help open up your space.

One way to save space? An integrated toilet design. The Roca Meridian In-Tank Back to Wall Pan is far less bulky than a traditional toilet. Photo: supplied

3. Go for an integrated cistern

Toilets can be one of the bulkiest items in your bathroom, but unfortunately they’re non-negotiable so it pays to shop smart when you’re designing a small space. Look for a concealed or in-wall toilet solution that allows the cistern to be “hidden” in a wall cavity or under a vanity benchtop. Or, for the ultimate small space innovation, opt for the Roca Meridian In-Tank Back to Wall Pan. The game-changing design integrates the cistern and buttons into the pan for a compact toilet that's both sleek and stylish — a lifesaver for small bathrooms.

4. Make your storage smart(er)

Clever storage that makes the most of whatever space is on offer and delivers multipurpose solutions is key when working with a pint-sized room. If vanity space is sparse, or nonexistent, install shelving units above toilets, sinks and baths. Or, you could go the other way, and stretch a vanity benchtop across a bath surround, boosting your storage space dramatically. Recessed mirrors and shaving cabinets are also another winning option for smaller bathrooms.

If in doubt, accessorise all areas! Photo: Hallie Burton / bauersyndication.com.au

5. Small doesn't mean dull

Don't be disheartened by what you have to work with — you can pack a lot of character into a small room. For instance, multiple mirrors work on many levels; they're practical, look good and visually open up a room. Hanging rails can house several coloured or printed towels which serve a dual purpose as a place to dry hands and a way to add a pop of colour. Trolleys or stools also make a welcome addition in place of a built-in vanity and together, all of them create an eclectic, maximising vibe.

6. Do sweat the small stuff

When space is at a premium, every little bit counts. Don't just focus your attention on the big ticket space savers — such as the bathtub, the shower and the actual foundations of the room — spend some time thinking about smaller details, too. The tapware, the towels, the tiles. They all contribute to the overall look and feel of your bathroom so opt for streamlined faucets, wall-hung accessories and hardware and penny-round tiles that will all enhance your space.

Carve out a little extra space — it all adds up — by opting for sleek and streamlined hardware in place of clunky, oversized taps. Photo: Martina Gemmola / / bauersyndication.com.au

Brought to you by Reece Bathrooms

Massive Tides Could Boost TRAPPIST-1's Prospects For Life

Read article : Massive Tides Could Boost TRAPPIST-1's Prospects For Life

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Earlier this year, Earthlings rejoiced when scientists announced the discovery of three rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone of TRAPPIST-1, an “ultracool dwarf” star located just 39 light years away. Soon after, astronomers brought us back down Earth, pointing out that it might be hard for life to survive on a world in such a tight orbit around such a dim star. But the debate has now taken yet another delicious twist, this time, in favor of aliens.

A pair of researchers at the at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is positing that strong gravitational interactions between planets in red dwarf systems and their host stars could make these worlds more hospitable, particularly if they are “tidally locked,” with a permanent dayside and a permanent nightside. On tidally-locked ocean worlds, stellar-induced tides could promote nutrient mixing, helping to set up gradients of temperature and chemicals that might otherwise be absent.

Those gradients, in turn, could play a key role in the emergence of life.

“Let me start by confessing that this paper resulted from the inspiration I experienced after taking a photo on the Waikoloa beach in the island of Maui, Hawaii,” astronomer and lead study author Avi Loeb told Gizmodo. Loeb explained how that photo of the beach at sunset got him thinking about what it would be like to stand on the surface of a tidally-locked planet.(It is thought that many of the potentially-habitable worlds orbiting cool, red dwarf stars may be tidally locked, thanks to the gravitational tug of the very close-by star.)

Advertisement

“[This] led me to conclude that real estate values must peak at the permanent sunset strip on the surface of these planets,” Loeb said.

Indeed, other researchers have argued this perpetual “sunset strip”—the region between night and day—would be the most likely spot to offer mild climate conditions suitable for life. But biology may still struggle, due to the absence of certain physical and chemical processes induced by planetary rotation and by tides.

As Loeb put it, on a tidally locked world,“there is no rhythm to the ocean-rock interface which some scientists regard as necessary for establishing life.” He explained how Earth’s tides, which are driven mainly by the Moon but also vary as our planet spins about its axis, give rise to cycles of flooding and evaporation that drive chemical reactions, including those that may have jumpstarted life.

Advertisement

But then, Loeb began to wonder: Could a planet that doesn’t have days and nights still develop a rhythm, due to strong gravitational interactions with its star?

“Shortly after taking the photo, I emailed my postdoc, Manasvi Lingam, and he followed up with detailed calculations and the write up of the paper, which shows that tides from the host star (or the milder tides from other planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system) can replace the role of the Earth’s spin on habitable planets around dwarf stars,” Loeb said.

Indeed, the tidal cycles induced by a nearby star are “orders of magnitude larger than those induced by the Moon on the Earth,” according to Loeb. The paper goes on to explore how these massive tides could drive flooding and evaporation along coastlines, drive oceanic Rossby waves (also known as planetary waves, these waves form as a result of the rotation of the planet), promote nutrient mixing, and on the whole, set the stage for complex chemical reactions to occur.

It’s important to note that this paper hasn’t been through peer review, meaning its ideas haven’t yet been vetted by the scientific community. At least one outside expert, astrobiologist Rocco Mancinelli at NASA’s Ames Research Center, thinks that the authors “hone in on some very good points” with regards to tides influencing planetary habitability.

“The fact is that having tides does increase the probability of chemical reactions that can lead to the origin of life,” Mancinelli told Gizmodo, noting that he co-authored a paper exploring this very concept back in 2007. The new study, he said, “reinforces a lot of the basic principles and premises brought forth in that older paper, in more detail.”

Mancincelli was a lot more skeptical, however, when it came to the authors’ hypotheses about tides influencing complex life. The paper suggests, for instance, that nutrient upwelling from stellar-induced tides might trigger massive algae blooms, offering astronomers a potential biosignature that we could spot from afar using telescopes.

Advertisement

“You get to more and more speculation—which doesn’t mean they’re wrong. But it’s a stretch,” he said.

It’s also important to remember that the premise of life existing at all in red dwarf star systems is speculative. It’s possible, for instance, that all of the TRAPPIST-1 planets have been stripped of their atmospheres due to powerful solar flares and stellar winds, leaving nothing but a handful of barren rocks.

Still, the notion that the gravitational pull of a nearby star would create tides on an ocean world, and that those tides could influence the planet’s livability, isn’t that crazy. And at the very least, speculative ideas like alien algae blooms are food for thought as we continue exploring red dwarf systems for signs of life.

And hey, who knows, maybe the aliens are little green men, after all.

Home Renovation for the Golden Years

Read article : Home Renovation for the Golden Years

“I never had to use the bar until now, but I’m grateful it was already there,” he said.

More than one out of four Americans age 65 and older fall each year and one in five falls cause serious injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The city Department for the Aging said there were nearly one million adults age 65 and older living in the five boroughs of New York in 2010, but that number is expected to rise to about 1.35 million in 2030. As the city’s population ages, officials are urging homeowners and landlords to make age-in-place fixes.

Continue reading the main story

“Something as simple and cost-effective as installing a grab bar can prevent debilitating falls and literally save lives,” said Donna M. Corrado, the commissioner of the Department for the Aging.

More than 85 percent of older Americans want to stay in their current home rather than move elsewhere, a 2010 survey by AARP found.

Iraida Gonzalez, 68, is one of them. She wants to live for as long as she can in Northern Manhattan in a building that is part of the Fort George Vistas NORC, an acronym for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.

Photo

A movable island is among the suggestions for a kitchen that is wheelchair- and walker-friendly. This kitchen was designed by Victor A. Mirontschuk and is in the Criterion in Jersey City.Credit Victor A. Mirontschuk

Ms. Gonzalez and her husband, Serafin Baldera, 73, have had numerous health problems, including temporary sight loss, diabetes, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. She used to grab the towel rack in the bathroom to help her get around. “It was scary because I knew it wasn’t the best thing to use,” she said.

Ms. Gonzalez recently received three free grab bars, a sturdy bathmat with suction cups to prevent it from moving, and some night lights, thanks to a grant secured by Isabella Geriatric Center, the nonprofit group that operates the NORC program in her building.

The organization worked with students from the Columbia University School of Nursing to conduct home assessments to identify residents at risk for falls based on their medications, medical history, level of activity and fall history. Then Charles Morano, a physical therapist and the owner of Morano Rehabilitation Home Services in Manhattan, conducted home safety assessments for the individuals found to be in danger.

Workers installed grab bars for Iris Boteler, 99, who said she had difficulty walking because of arthritis and other ailments. “You need things to support you,” said Ms. Boteler, who has lived in her building, also a part of the Fort George Vistas NORC, for about 45 years.

Depending on the items used, minor modifications can cost from several hundred to about $2,000. But if you have more money to spend, customization is key, said Barbara S. Roth, an interior designer and a founder of Camille Rossy, a design firm in Manhattan.

Photo

The aging-in-place renovations undertaken by Joyce Jed and Arnold Wendroff include an open kitchen and living area.Credit Emon Hassan for The New York Times

Ms. Roth described a client — a woman in her early 50s with multiple sclerosis — who wanted more cabinet space for her small, dated Murray Hill kitchen. But a place for a stool near the stove and counter was deemed as important as storage because it was getting harder for the woman to stand for long periods.

Continue reading the main story

Although no one likes to talk about age, health and physical disabilities, Ms. Roth said it is important to discuss these issues so an expensive renovation doesn’t become obsolete in a few years.

Because the client’s illness can lead to blurred or double vision, Ms. Roth also talked about installing extra lights and the importance of color contrast in the kitchen so the client could easily determine where the stovetop ended and the counter began. Her client chose ivory and white for the kitchen cabinets and backsplash, and black for the stove top.

“The goal was to not make the new kitchen look institutional,” she said.

For large or open kitchens, installing a movable island, either on wheels or with legs that have felt on the bottom, can be an easy addition, said Victor A. Mirontschuk, an architect and chairman of EDI International, an architectural firm with an office in Manhattan.

“Movable islands give people flexibility because you can push it out of the way,” to provide space when needed, he said, if a walker or wheelchair becomes necessary.

Photo

When renovating, Ms. Jed asked for a wide ledge around her bathtub so she can sit on it and “swing my legs over.”Credit Emon Hassan for The New York Times

Mr. Mirontschuk has designed movable islands for several multifamily developments. Although standard kitchen counters are about 36 inches in height, building an island at 34 inches or lower would also comply with regulations from the Americans With Disabilities Act, he added, because a lower counter works better for someone in a wheelchair.

Some people decide to make home modifications before the need arises.

Amy Lynn, 59, a benefits administrator for the town of New Canaan, Conn., said she had been waiting for years to redo two dated bathrooms in her raised ranch in Monroe, Conn. So when Ms. Roth advised her to shop for grab bars and a comfort-height toilet, which is about two inches higher than a regular toilet and makes the sitting-to-standing motion easier, as well as for new tiles and a sink, she was surprised.

“I just wanted new bathrooms, so I wasn’t thinking about what happens when we get older,” Ms. Lynn said. But with her knees already bothering her, the additions now “makes complete sense” and cost her only an additional few hundred dollars.

Ms. Lynn said she spent about $12,000 to renovate two bathrooms. Her master bathroom has a new shower stall with a built-in corner seat, a removable shower head and niches so shampoo bottles are kept off the floor. The other bathroom still has a tub, but the old glass door was removed and replaced with a shower curtain.

Continue reading the main story

A walk-in shower is ideal for people with leg and vision problems, since it gets harder to step in and out of a tub as you age, said Chrysanne Eichner, a senior occupational therapist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

Photo

A pullout kitchen drawer with pegs and a removable caddy from Häfele allow easy access to dishes.Credit Dan Smith

Building industry professionals are taking note. Since the National Association of Home Builders started to offer a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist program in 2002, nearly 7,000 contractors, architects, interior designers and occupational therapists have become credentialed by attending a three-day course, according to Elizabeth Thompson, a spokeswoman for the association.

Erik Listou, a founder of the Living in Place Institute, a professional training firm, said about 200 people have taken its Certified Living in Place Professional class, which started about a year ago. The firm offers the two-day program nationwide.

“These certifications bring industry professionals, like therapists, contractors and product makers to put ideas together” to make homes safe and accessible, Mr. Listou said.

Without divulging any specific data, Moen, a manufacturer of bathroom and kitchen products, said the market for its bath safety line has expanded over the past three years, after it started offering more stylish grab bars that match other bath products.

“When you remove the stigma that bath safety isn’t attractive, it invites consumers to purchase,” said Chris Nealon, a Moen product manager.

Photo

Iris Boteler, 99, lives in a NORC, or Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, in Northern Manhattan. She recently received a gift of grab bars through a nonprofit agency.Credit Emon Hassan for The New York Times

Joyce Jed and her husband, Arnold Wendroff, both 74, are ahead of the game at their home on the parlor and second floors of their three-story rowhouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ms. Jed, a horticultural therapist, said she started to weary of the many steep steps she had to climb inside her home every day. If she is bothered now, she wondered, how would it be in a few more years?

Since the couple knew they wanted to stay in their home, they decided to spend about $150,000 to fix up their ground-floor space, which over the years had primarily been used to house visiting family and friends. They chose to widen a hallway and two doors, open the back room to install an open kitchen and living area, and add windows for more light, among other things. Ms. Jed said much of her focus was on the design of a new bathroom with a walk-in shower and a wide ledge on the side of the bathtub so she could sit and “swing my legs over” to get in.

Continue reading the main story

Soon after the construction wrapped up in April, the couple’s granddaughter Alyssa Jed was accepted by the Fashion Institute of Technology as a freshman and needed a place in the city. So for now, she is enjoying living on the renovated ground floor. But her grandmother said she feels good knowing that the ground-floor apartment is in move-in condition for the day that she feels even less inclined to climb the stairs.

“It was a big undertaking, but I’m glad we did all of this while we’re spry and alert,” Ms. Jed said.

Renovations that help people’s mobility will reduce social isolation as we age, said Kimberly S. George, the executive director of Rebuilding Together NYC, a nonprofit that helps seniors and disabled low-income residents improve the accessibility of their homes.

“Ideally, you shouldn’t rely on family members or friends to help you get around the house,” she said. “You don’t want your own home to be a hazard.”

Correction: January 15, 2017

A cover article on Jan. 1 about home renovations that can help older residents stay in their homes misstated the length of a certification course offered by the National Association of Home Builders. It is a three-day course, not one-day.

Continue reading the main story

Minto's Alto model has airy feel

Read article : Minto's Alto model has airy feel

foot condo flat unit located in Centro in Centepointe. (Sean Kilpatrick photo)" title="" class="photo" />The Alto is a 1,038-square-foot condo flat unit located in Centro in Centepointe. (Sean Kilpatrick photo)

Report an error

The Alto is one of two condo flat designs Minto is offering in Centro and it's got an open, airy feel to it.

This 1,038-square-foot condominium would be great for a single or a couple starting out. Its neighbour, the Brio, is slightly larger and more contemporary and this design might be well suited to the downsizer.

The Alto has a starting price of $210,400 and comes with two bedrooms. Condo fees are about $56 per month.

The condo flats are walk-up units with building entrances on the front and the back that both lead into the units.

In the Alto model, the front and rear entrances deposit into the foyer where you'll also find a coat closet. A short hall leads to the living area and the kitchen bypassing a low wall with a view of the livingroom. It's an open concept with the livingroom and dining area set under a standard coffered ceiling.

There's plenty of light in this space with two windows flanking the patio door to a small balcony.

An island with curved eating bar sets the kitchen apart from the dining room.

Original plans called for a computer niche tucked into the hallway leading to the bedrooms, but it has been deleted in the model. Instead, it is showing with a kitchen pantry and the main bathroom has been enlarged to also include a shower stall beside the tub.

The powder room in the Alto is spacious and it's located next to a storage/utility/laundry room. The Alto's master bedroom sports a large window and in this model Minto has turned the second bedroom into a den.

The Alto is located in Centrepointe. Visit the Minto sales centre at 122 Centrepointe Dr. It's open Monday-Thursday from 12-8 p.m. and weekends from 12-5:30 p.m. For information call 225-8417 or visit www.minto.com.

patricia.hitsman@ott.sunpub.com

Your personal spa awaits — in your bathroom

Read article : Your personal spa awaits — in your bathroom

Most bathroom spaces are small and not terribly exciting. Many don’t have windows, especially in condos, but you can make the smallest room in the house special, the perfect place to start and end your day — your very own spa.

I have just finished remodelling this bathroom, which was not huge, but I wanted it to have a real sense of glamour. My journey began by choosing the tub, as this is usually the most expensive item. Freestanding baths, whether clawfoot or sleek and modern, are the biggest bathroom trend right now. Once you have made the decision to treat yourself, the homework begins.

You will want to check out the many varieties of baths, keeping in mind the space it will live in at your home.

Visit showrooms and don’t be shy — climb right in and try out the tubs. And ask lots of questions, such as: Where do the taps go, freestanding or on the wall?

You are looking for a combination of style, comfort, price and ease of maintenance. The least expensive are fibreglas, acrylic and porcelain over steel.

All three are at the lower price range, but they can scratch or chip and even fade over time. They are all light and easy to install. Cast-iron tubs will last a lifetime and do not chip or stain easily. They are very heavy and you will need extra help to install them and might even require the floor to be reinforced.

However, because they are heavy, they retain the heat well, which I love. They are also expensive.

Proving more and more popular are solid-surface tubs because they come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be fixed if they chip. They are natural looking, but they are still heavy and quite expensive.

One of the most exciting materials used to make bathtubs is QuarryCast. This is the bath I chose, as it is superior to everything else I saw.

Made by Victoria+Albert from finely ground volcanic limestone mixed with resin, it has a wonderful hand-finished feel. The natural white comes from the stone and is glossy and silky to the touch. It is harder than acrylic, which makes it incredibly strong and ensures there is no creaking when you lower yourself into the tub.

I was hooked; time to move on to the flooring and shower tile.

Again, there is so much from which to choose. Ceramica Sant’Agostino is an Italian tile that is available worldwide. They lead the way in innovative floor and wall tile. Last year, they introduced a tile that looks like carpet. It sounds crazy, but it is a textured tile, which I love, as I am constantly slipping in the bathroom, probably due to the fact that I am a splasher.

This bathroom is small, but I still put down oversize tiles and the room actually looks bigger.

In the shower, I took the same grey as the floor and added a pure white, creating fat stripes.

I did not apply the tile to the rest of the bathroom walls. Instead, a giant black and white photo of Sophia Loren was blown up onto thick canvas by Motive Media, a visual communications company, and adhered to the surface with wallpaper glue.

They will take your beloved art and photos and turn them into wallpaper. The photo is a stunning background for my stylish tub. The wall taps are also by Victoria+Albert and are part of the entire drama of the bathroom.

It’s exciting times for the smallest room in the house. Enjoy your research and go a little wild.

 

Debbie Travis’s House to Home column is produced by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Please email questions to house2home@debbietravis.com. You can follow Debbie on Twitter at twitter.com/debbie_travis, and visit Debbie’s website, debbietravis.com.

Rick Steves: Conquering Europe's quirky bathrooms

Read article : Rick Steves: Conquering Europe's quirky bathrooms

Wielding a handheld shower in a tight shower that lacks a soap dish or shelf may lead to some bathroom gymnastics.(Photo: Dominic Bonuccelli)

European bathrooms can be quirky. Just keep an open mind, and remember that nothing beats a good bathroom story when you get home.

First, don't expect big spaces. Over the years, hotel owners have carved out chunks of elegant bedrooms to shoehorn in prefab private bathrooms — and they can be very tight. Be careful bending over in the shower to pick up a dropped bar of soap — you might hit your head on the sink or toilet.

Toilets come in many forms. Older ones may flush with a pull string; modern ones may be more green, with two buttons to flush: one for lighter jobs, the other with more oomph. Some toilets — in lands where locals don't use toilet paper — come with a little squirter for rinsing. In Great Britain, you'll likely come across the "pump toilet," with a flushing handle that doesn't kick in unless you push it just right or several times. (Be decisive but not ruthless.) Some countries like Greece and Turkey have very frail plumbing. If you see an adjacent wastebasket with dirty toilet paper in it, that's a sign that the local sewer has a hard time handling TP. (The rule of thumb in those places: Don't put anything in the toilet unless you've eaten it first.)

At some point, you'll probably encounter a mysterious porcelain thing that looks like an oversized bedpan. That's a bidet, which never functions as a toilet but as a place for a quick sponge bath. Go ahead and give it a try. Just remember the four S's — straddle, squat, soap up, and swish off.

Showers can be equally mysterious. The dangling cord is not a clothesline; it's to alert the front desk if you've fallen and can't get up. This might not bring anyone to your aid, though. One of my tour guides in Croatia, lingering at the reception desk as his group went to their rooms, saw the room lights flash on one by one as the guests pulled these emergency cords. The hotel staff, figuring each flash was just another tourist mistakenly pulling the wrong string, just shrugged and ignored it.

Back when I was a student sleeping in dives, just getting a warm trickle to shower in was a challenge. These days getting hot water isn't an issue, but be speedy. To save energy, some hotels use little-bitty water heaters — after five minutes, your hot shower may turn cold.

If you start out with cold water though, it's often just a matter of figuring out the system. The red knob is hot and the blue one is cold — or vice versa. There are some peculiar tricks. For instance, in Croatia, look for the switch with an icon of a hot-water tank (usually next to the room's light switch). If you can't find the switch to turn on the shower, it may be just outside the bathroom. In Italy and Spain, "C" is not for "cold" but for caldo/caliente — hot.

 (Photo: Gretchen Strauch)

Handheld showers are common. Sometimes the showerhead is sitting loose in a caddy or mounted low on the tub. Not only do you have to master the art of lathering up with one hand while holding the showerhead in the other, but you also have to keep it aimed at your body or the wall to avoid spraying water all over the bathroom.

One night in Spain, as I was crowded by my hotel's shower curtain, it occurred to me that no hotel in Europe has invested in the wonderful bent curtain rods that arc out — giving big Americans in need of elbow room a more spacious place to shower.

Even in top-end hotels, I find some things poorly designed. Once, I used a particularly narrow shower stall with the hot/cold lever directly in the center. If I nudged it accidently while washing, it would either scald or freeze me. And even worse, there was no place to put soap but on the floor or balancing precariously atop the sliding door. In Montenegro, I stayed at a trendy hotel on the Bay of Kotor. My bathroom was far bigger than many entire hotel rooms — but the toilet was jammed in the corner. I had to tuck up my knees to fit between it and the sink cabinet. The room was dominated by a Jacuzzi tub for two. I'm certain there wasn't enough hot water available to fill it. I doubt it will ever be used, except for something to admire as you're crunched up on the toilet.

Your hotel's WC may come with luxurious heated towel racks — or a rattling fan and leaky sink. Either way, my advice is to wash up quickly and get out and about in the place you came to enjoy.

Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. E-mail him at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1h4UMPt

Capturing the Wild | House Profiles | Hudson Valley

Read article : Capturing the Wild | House Profiles | Hudson Valley

click to enlarge century landscape architect A. J. Downing. Downing was inspired by both the romantic movement and the egalitarian ideals of early American life. “Tasteful simplicity, not fanciful complexity, is the true character of cottages,” he wrote in The Architecture of Country Houses. “Nature here, as always, must constantly be respected.” - DEBORAH DEGRAFFENREID" />

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• Valerie Shaff’s Carpenter Gothic cottage was designed by 19th-century landscape architect A. J. Downing. Downing was inspired by both the romantic movement and the egalitarian ideals of early American life. “Tasteful simplicity, not fanciful complexity, is the true character of cottages,” he wrote in The Architecture of Country Houses. “Nature here, as always, must constantly be respected.”

In photography, as in life, timing is everything. Portrait artist Valerie Shaff has built a career, a home, and a life by mastering this truth. Best known for her intimate photos of the living and the wild, her work, born of patience and skill, captures and reveals the essence of the creatures—untamed and domesticated—that live amongst us.

Shaff's cottage, overlooking a quiet road in Germantown, is an embodiment of this same creative principle. Designed by 19th-century landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing and built in 1843, the carpenter gothic home, painted camouflage green, blends with the surrounding pastoral landscape. Rooted in egalitarian ideals, Downing's architectural plans rejected pretension and encouraged simplicity, usefulness, and reverence for the natural world. Symmetry and proportion, he believed, were the keys to beautiful composition, and a beautiful home should be accessible to all.

In much the same way Downing believed a home's interior should frame the surrounding landscape, Shaff's home serves as gallery for the fauna surrounding her. Hanging in simple frames along the home's interior walls and printed onto plush cushions lining couches and seats throughout the house, her diverse array of images offers a candid glimpse into the natural world. Animals are everywhere: Along the living room walls, snakes slither and a bison stomps. At the door to the downstairs bath, a dark horse is framed by a bright printed backdrop; on another wall there is a bright yellow duckling against a stark background of black. Shot with film then printed on canvas or material, Shaff's photographs seem as natural in the domestic setting as an otter swimming in a lake.

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid

Gateway Species

A Westchester native, Shaff grew up in a family of artists and a home full of pets. "We had a menagerie," she explains, "there were golden retrievers, cats, hamsters, and turtles—my brother even had a pet piranha for a while. I was always fascinated by watching animals be who they are." At age seven, her parents gave her a camera and a love of picture taking was born.

College years were spent at Bard, where Shaff began her studies as a painter. When the school started a photography department, it was only natural for her to lay down her brushes and pick up a camera, and Shaff shifted majors. After graduation, she took every opportunity available to make connections and further develop her craft, photographing everything from nightclubs to fishermen to historic homes for the architect Joseph Pell Lombardi.

Shaff's talent for working with other species emerged in those early days of her career. It began with pictures of dairy cows she had often biked past during her time upstate. The series on cows lead her to study other farm animals and then to dogs—a creature that, like many people, she'd always felt a close affinity with. Those early canine portraits proved so popular a friend suggested she try a book. This was in the early days of Amazon and both her subject matter and the platform amplifying it were fresh. The combination of those factors proved to be combustible and the resulting coffee table book If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You, published in 1998 in collaboration with humorist Roy Blount Jr., sold a quarter of a million copies and landed her on the New York Times bestseller list. The success launched her to new professional and creative heights.

By day, Shaff worked for a dog food company; in her creative hours she continued what was to become one of her life's major works. Her close, careful photographic study of animals took her to rescue facilities, sanctuaries, and farms. Along the way, Shaff encountered sheep, roosters, bunnies, dolphins, owls, wolves, and even rhinos and zebras. (Shaff's photo of a musk ox, Baby Highlander, appeared on the February 2004 cover of this magazine.) With each new encounter her passion for her subject matter deepened. "It's such an honor," she says, "to be up close and personal with an animal you might not otherwise have an opportunity to connect with." Shaff was studying the natural world, but what she was really gaining was a better understanding of herself. "Living with animals is a lot like doing yoga," she explains. "Through the careful observation of nature, humans can have a reflective, meditative experience and also get in touch with our intuition. Animals can help us feel more magical about life."

click to enlarge

• A row of pillows printed with Shaff’s bunny portraits. Designed to be affordable and lived with, her compositions are simple yet singular expressions of each animal subject, and by extension, the humans that identify with them.

Animal Refuge

Success kept her busy, but her heart never really left the Hudson Valley. After years of alternating between traveling for work, her Manhattan apartment, and weekends in the country, Shaff decided to buy a full-time residence upstate. With the same patience and clarity of vision she utilizes in her work, she searched out her house. "I wanted a refuge," she explains. "I was single and wanted a place I could be comfortable with on my own."

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• The library and study area of Shaff’s home. True to the spirit of gothic architecture, the home’s ample doors and windows invite the outside in. “One of beauties of being in the woods is affirming your own romantic natural essence—your animal being,” Shaff explains.

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• The dining area of Shaff’s home overlooking the backyard. “In the warmer weather we live between the house, the out building, and the iron bed under a shade tree,” she explains.

When she found the two-acre compound in Germantown, she was struck by its simple beauty and how much the aesthetic matched her own creative vision. "It embodied harmony between the interior and the natural world," she explains. A covered front porch overlooked a yard with a giant shade oak. Scrollwork around the windows and a slight touch of gingerbread ornamentation accentuated the board and batten siding.

Downing's ideals were also expressed in ways large and small throughout the home's 1,600-square-foot interior. The front door, with original twist doorbell, opened into a parlor with fireplace and wood floors. Through a library with built-in bookshelves was the home's pass-through kitchen leading to a 20th-century addition. "Every wall was covered in windows," she explains. However, it was the second-floor landing at the top of the wooden staircase, with its row of casement windows and curved ceiling, that sold Shaff on the place. It was somewhere that was both comfortable and would allow her to live close to nature. She knew she'd found her place to roost, and bought the house in 2000.

Familiarity Breeds Content

Shaff renovated and restored the home over the next few years, always keeping in mind Downing's aesthetic of simplicity married to usefulness. She stripped away dated wallpaper and repainted the walls, inside and out, shades of green. In the front parlor, a couch and high back chair sit next to the wooden mantel, where portraits of her dogs, gone but still beloved, watch over everything.

She removed a wall between the kitchen and a utility room, raised the floor, and extended the ceiling to create an airy dining area. Benches sit beneath double-hung windows around a table with views to backyard and forest. French doors lead to an added deck and pergola where grapevines, wisteria, and roses engage in a slow battle for dominance. Shaff added rough-hewn wood floors and screened doors to an out building with high-peaked ceilings and a woodstove. It's been guest room, yoga and photography studio, and the site of much summer dining and dancing. Five years ago, Shaff married real estate agent Stephen Kingsley in the home's backyard.

click to enlarge Stephen Kingsley enjoying their front porch. Behind them hangs a painting of a chipmunk by outsider artist Earl Swanigan. - DEBORAH DEGRAFFENREID" />

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• Valerie Shaff and Stephen Kingsley enjoying their front porch. Behind them hangs a painting of a chipmunk by outsider artist Earl Swanigan.

Upstairs, the master bedroom overlooks the backyard through a large square window. Shaff took space from the second bedroom to expand the upstairs bath. It now contains a soaking tub perched right below another row of casement windows.

click to enlarge real estate agent in Hudson, relaxing next to a pillow printed with one of Shaff’s hawk portraits. Many of Shaff’s bird portraits were taken at Green Chimneys Farm and Wildlife Center in Brewster. - DEBORAH DEGRAFFENREID" />

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• Kingsley, a real estate agent in Hudson, relaxing next to a pillow printed with one of Shaff’s hawk portraits. Many of Shaff’s bird portraits were taken at Green Chimneys Farm and Wildlife Center in Brewster.

The addition is where Shaff does much of her production work. She replaced a large picture window with double-hung panes and added an additional row of windows to the northern wall. Here, a large work table dominates and it's one of the only spaces in the house without animal companionship. Instead, a portrait of wild flowers—the draft of another series—hangs on the wall in the midst of being carefully considered.

Just as Downing advised, Shaff finds beauty and a certain symmetry in her life's unfolding. She finds herself sleeping in the same northwestern corner, along the same ridge above the river, as she slept in her childhood bedroom in Hastings. She's moved by the same western light as it bounces across the water, the anticipation of the seasons and the same sound of the train. "We live very close to the earth here," Shaff says. "It's a beautiful way to live."

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• Upstairs, Shaff captured space from a front bedroom to build her dream bathroom. This includes a soaking tub with bird’s eye view out the casement windows.

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• Like the rest of the house, the living room is decorated with Shaff’s images. She’s found that the photos that most resonate with people are analog images that are scanned and digitally printed.

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• An iron bed in the outbuilding is decorated with Shaff’s owl portraits printed on pillows.

click to enlarge

• Deborah DeGraffenreid
• The property’s rustic outbuilding has been utilized for guests, as a photo studio and even for dance parties.

Bathroom accessories

Read article : Bathroom accessories

WATER TECHNOLOGY

Bathroom accessories are often overlooked in the initial planning stages of bathroom design. However, they play an essential role in any bathroom space – both in how they make the space more usable, as well as how they add to the overall design aesthetic of the space.

When it comes to bathroom design, what sets a mediocre bathroom apart from one that really has that “wow” factor is the choice of accessories and lighting.

It is these finer aspects of the room’s finish that can bring much-needed functionality, convenience and luxury, both in a tactile and aesthetic sense, to a bathroom space. However, these fixtures are often overlooked during the planning phase, which can often lead to you going over budget. Careful consideration of what needs to be included in this department should not be disregarded, and remains a quintessential necessity in any bathroom design.

Bathroom accessories

There are the “basic eight” bathroom accessories that no bathroom can go without these include towel rails, bathroom shelves, toilet paper holders, towel rings, soap dishes, toothbrush holders, toilet brush holders and robe hooks. However, if you want to go the extra mile, there are various other accessories that can be included to take the room to the next level and transform your bathroom into a luscious and practical oasis. Some of these include shower accessories, such as shower and soap racks, free-standing towel rails to accompany free-standing baths, and foot rests for example. If your bathroom is going to accommodate elderly or disabled users, you might want to consider things such as grab rails and shower seats.

Heated towel rails are another wonderful inclusion, and although most people consider them to be a luxury provider of warm towels, that is actually not their main purpose. The fundamental use of heated towel rails is to ensure deliciously dry towels whenever they are required. This makes them a great addition for bathrooms located in very hot and humid, or very cold climates. They also add to the overall hygiene of the room, as they negate the possibility of bacteria multiplying in damp towels, as well as reducing your energy consumption as you won’t have to waste electricity washing your towels that often, or use a tumble dryer to dry them. Contrary to popular belief, heated towel rails do not have to be energy guzzlers – if you choose heated towel rails that function using Dry Element Technology (DET), they require a very meagre amount of electricity to perform. This is because DET allows for rapid heat-up times and offers the ability to control the temperature settings to suit the climate for all-year-round functionality, as well as being able to switch them off and on when required.

An important thing to consider when choosing bathroom accessories is to choose ones that have a mounting system that ensures a durable and steadfast installation. Traditionally, bathroom accessories are attached to the bathroom wall using grub screws. However, this often poses a problem – since bathroom accessories have a largely functional use, the screws holding them in place need to be regularly tightened in order to keep them firmly secured. Today, however, you can invest in bathroom accessories that boast installation systems designed to keep them securely locked in place.

Bamboo scale from Legend Housewares

Another consideration is what the accessories are made from. Chrome-plated accessories are more affordable than others, but bear in mind that if you choose these, the major drawback of chrome is that even though it offers a beautiful, highly polished aesthetic, there is always the possibility that it would eventually flake and peel. Today, the material of choice is stainless steel – it doesn’t rust, flake, peel or dull, and it is exceptionally strong and easy to maintain and clean. Stainless steel bathroom accessories come in two main finishes – polished (shiny) and brushed (matt).

Bathroom accessories Photo Gallery

Click on Photos for Next Bathroom accessories Gallery Images