By Caroline Smith
With the holidays out of the way, now's a great time to start tackling all those home improvement tasks on your "to do" list - and where better to start than the bathroom. Bathrooms get used on a daily basis and inevitably all this use can start to show through in shabby or outdated décor. However, your bathroom doesn't need to be a purely functional room with a bit of planning, it's possible to transform a tired-looking bathroom into a welcoming retreat where it's a pleasure to be, rather than a just a necessity.
A great place to start your bathroom's makeover is with your vanity unit and wall cabinets. In the course of being used so much, bathroom vanities and medicine cabinets are also focal points of a bathroom, so if they look good this has a beneficial effect on the appearance of the entire room. If your old sink vanity is looking a bit jaded, or your storage cabinet is stuck in the last decade, then it's time for a change. Decide on a theme for your bathroom's new image and select a new vanity and matching wall cabinets that fit in with this theme. For instance, antique-effect furniture styles look very elegant in a period home, whereas sleek, contemporary designs are more in keeping in modern houses.
Look at your bathroom suite, if your bath tub, sink and toilet are all in reasonable condition, you could get away with keeping them and just replacing the hardware such as the faucets. You may be surprised at the difference new faucets can make. However, if your bath is cracked or the suite is in a unattractive or dated color (avocado or turquoise spring to mind!), it's well worth getting them replaced with something that looks better.
If you have the space, consider installing a shower stall. With our busy lifestyles, it's nice to have the option of taking a quick shower rather than having to wait for the tub to fill. Alternatively, you could fit a shower over the bath. Of course, wherever your shower is fitted, you'll need to make sure there's some kind of barrier to stop water leaking out and flooding the bathroom. Fabric or plastic shower curtains are an inexpensive and easy option, and give you the freedom to add a splash of color to your décor. Or for a more permanent solution, you could opt for a frameless glass shower door.
These are just a few of the many choices available when it comes to giving a shabby bathroom a stylish new look. Visit showers-bathrooms.com for more handy hints and tips, including bathroom vanity cabinets, corner shower stalls and more.
