If you’re planning a bathroom renovation in your “forever home,” we recommend thinking about contemporary features that maintain a luxurious aesthetic while also making it easier for you to age in place.
And you’ll likely find you can start realizing the benefits sooner rather than later. People who have more accessible bathrooms appreciate them when they’re ill, injured, have a guest visiting with mobility issues, or if they decide to sell their home.
Luxury For A Lifetime: Design An Aging-Friendly Bathroom Now
We often discuss with clients the importance of taking a timeless approach to bathroom renovations. This is especially true if you plan to remain in your home for the next five, ten, or twenty years.
The following are some of our suggestions for designing an absolutely gorgeous bathroom while also planning for years of comfort, relaxation, safety, and independence.
1. Does The Current Layout Allow Enough Space To Maneuver?
Sometimes, we get so complacent with the layout of our current spaces that we can’t imagine them in a whole new way. This is one area where the Details Construction Group excels. Flora and her team can immediately see when a different layout would make all the difference in a bathroom renovation.
Never assume that your bathroom is too small or that the existing layout is the only option. It may be true, but not necessarily.
Before you get too focused on the specific fixtures and finishes, view the existing space as a blank canvas and think about things that would enhance its function now and decades into the future. In a bathroom, that means plenty of room to maneuver around the toilet, sinks, and shower/bath spaces.
2. Design a Curbless Walk-in Spa Shower
Showers are slippery spaces whether you’re fully mobile or not. With a contemporary emphasis on “less is more” when it comes to visual accents, many of the showers we design are curbless—with nothing to step over. This design gently slows the shower floor away from the entrance and into sleek drains.
We also recommend adding:
- Multiple showerheads (including at least one height-adjustable hand-held version).
- Steam shower functions so your shower space also serves as an in-home sauna (proven to provide a wealth of health benefits).
- Comfortable benches you can sit on or use when shaving your legs.
- Grab bars that are implemented into the wall so you won’t have to carve up your beautiful tilework in the future.
- Recessed niches or built-in shelving.
Have other ideas to make your shower complete? We’ll work with you to make them happen.
3. Soaking Tubs for Now and Later
If you love to soak, we recommend thinking about a walk-in tub. There are luxury lines that look beautiful (including freestanding options) and offer additional features like massage jets, multiple faucets, comfortable seated ledges, and so on.
If you’re not interested in installing a walk-in tub just yet or are planning to keep your current tub, we can discuss how to design the bathtub space so that it is easier to install a design-friendly walk-in tub later on.
4. Blend Grab Bars Into Your Design
Like those afterthought ramps built onto a front porch, you can always tell when homeowners added grab bars after the fact because they don’t blend seamlessly into the design. Today’s grab bars come in standard and high-end designer styles, so it makes sense to take a forward-thinking design approach now.
Typically, grab bars are added where you may need support getting up/down or into/out of your bathroom features – near the toilet, shower, and bath. Rather than unstable and insecure towel bars, which are prone to falling with you, you can install stylish grab bars that serve two purposes – and look like they were always meant to be there.
Think about all the times you’ve visited the bathroom in the wee hours and grabbed onto a towel bar because you needed some stability. So, while some people may not feel they need grab bars, we guarantee you’ll use them far more often than you might have thought. We’ll show you grab bars that don’t look like grab bars, and you’ll have a bathroom that can support whatever changes life brings.
5. Installing the Right Toilets
Now’s the perfect time to install toilets with all the features that support getting up and down, whether you’re healthy, weak from the flu, or hobbling around on a sprained ankle.
- Consider whether changing the layout of your bathroom may leave more space around the toilet for better maneuverability if you or guests need a walker or wheelchair.
- Higher is better (look for stylish toilets with comfortable height options).
- Think about bidet features, which became quite popular during the pandemic and have become a top-tier choice for bathroom remodels.
- Easy-to-reach flush features or automatic flushing toilets.
Today’s luxury bathroom vendors know that today’s homeowners plan to age in place and want completely turnkey homes. This means your bathroom renovation adds value to your life in the long term and increases the home’s market value.
Schedule a Design Consult With Details Construction Group
When you work with Details Construction Group, you’ll have everything you need to design a modern luxury bathroom that looks great and keeps the tenets of aging in place at the forefront. Schedule a bathroom renovation consultation with us; we can’t wait to show you all that’s possible.
