Tips to bring new life to your bathroom. Are you bored with your bathroom? Has it become... shall we say outdated? Boring? Traditional? Before updating your bathroom maybe you have some questions, after all renovating your bathroom will take time and you want to get your moneys worth.
The following tips will help you cut down on costs and by using simple and effective ways you can create a bathroom that is truly unique to your taste, an oasis for your senses.
New Lighting: Simple and cost effective. One of the most overlooked things in a new bathroom is the lighting, which is often the most cost effective way to add a touch of brilliance to your new bathroom. When considering lighting consider whether or not you want your bathroom lighting to be nice and elegant or would like to be a little more daring and bring out some radiant life in an array of colors! Either way pendant lighting can be just the thing to add that creative edge you were looking for to make your bathroom unique to your style. Instead of a standard over the mirror light you could also consider 2 sconces to be mounted aside your mirror for a more modern designer look.
Making it match or total make over? A great idea for a cost-effective design plan is to decide on hardware that matches your current tile and counter tops. First inspect your counter tops, flooring and wall tiles, if they are in good condition then by adding a dazzling new sink, toilet or bathtub that matches your existing tile and counter tops you'll save a lot of time and money. You can also dress up your existing tile by adding a new colorful top edge to your existing tile walls. Hoping you have white tile floor and walls and you want to add some pizzazz, you could install a new top edge that is color matched to your window treatments or your lighting shades. You can also either re-grout to give you tile a fresh face lift or you may choose to leave the time but remove the grout to change the color. While this is more work the color changed offers a lot of choices in design that will make your finished project just that much nicer.
Faucets: Standard or amazing? The faucet is yet another simple upgrade that should not be down played. Keep in mind the faucet is heavily used by not only yourself but your family, friends and guests. Would you rather go to a large home improvement warehouse and pick out a standard faucet that will make your bathroom plain and dull or would you rather select a unique hand-crafted faucet like a glass waterfall faucet that will give your guests a pleasant surprise? An artistic faucet is an affordable addition that will keep your bathroom looking amazing.
Consumer Advice: Know how to avoid seller trickery! Lowest prices and free shipping? Most home improvement stores down the street from you or online may advertise that they have the lowest prices, but is this true? Well most might think so, since after all there are no shipping costs... right? Wrong. Truth be told, they simply add their shipping costs into their product cost! To make their prices lower, the manufacturer must lower the quality of the product itself.
Some hardware stores online may also offer you, "free shipping" with large orders, but how is it free? Should we believe that they are taking the financial burden on their shoulders to help you out? Not at all, once again this is an old trick, they simply embed the shipping cost into their product cost and lower product quality to keep prices low.
To avoid this make sure the retailer states the shipping costs, it is far better for them to be honest with you about shipping, this is a good sign that they are honest about their product quality and reliability!
Know where to go: An analysis of the best bathroom fixture & decor retailers. I carefully studied several popular retailers and purchased several products (no specifics revealed) to see which are the best to turn to for bathroom fixture and d=E9cor needs, I will say that every customer's experience may vary; the following is however based on my own opinions about retailers based on several factors, including how honest they are and who has decent & reasonable prices while still offering high quality products.
TOP FIVE BATHROOM FIXTURE & D=C9COR RETAILERS rated on a 1-10 scale: 1 being poor, 10 being excellent.
ModernDanish.com Quality of Products: 10. The products are very high in quality; I expected to pay much more for what I received! Product Prices: 10 Surprisingly, considering the high product quality they have managed to hold their product prices down very reasonably. Shipping Costs: 9 Shipping Costs are pretty decent; they were up front and honest about shipping costs. Unique Product Line: 10 By far the most creative, daring and unique product line! Very nice.
Ikea.com Quality of Products: 10 The product quality is excellent. Products Prices: 9 Prices are fair and reasonable. Shipping Costs: 10 Shipping costs are excellent. Unique Product Line: 4 This is where Ikea greatly suffers, they are simply not very creative or daring... everything feels the same and almost has a 90's view of what Modern Design should be.
ExpressDecor.com Quality of Products: 9 Good product quality from what I have seem myself. Products Prices: 7 High prices and looks they resell similar products I have seen on the web on a few other website, and I am suspicious of what materials they are using to make the products because their prices fluxuate so much and they sell other companies products. Shipping Costs: 4 Has your local Post Office ever sent a package for you... for free? Truth is there is no such thing as "Free Shipping" as ExpressDecor claims to offer, they should try being up front and honest about the shipping costs. Unique Product Line: 9 Very nice product line, very unique selection.
FontaineFaucets.com Quality of Products: 10 Very high quality products. Products Prices: 3 Unreasonably high prices! Shipping Costs: 9 Fairly usual shipping costs. Unique Product Line: 7 Very sleek product line, but so much of it felt the same.
ModernBathroom.com Quality of Products: 7 Good quality products; very small imperfections. Product Prices: 4 Very high prices considering other stores carry similar products for far less. Shipping Costs: 3 "Free Shipping", high product cost, I'll let you decide what's going on there. Unique Product Line: 7 Pretty unique product line, some products only differ slightly though.
Article by: L. Miller is one of the top home d=E9cor designers in the industry. Miller has designed hundreds of the most sought after modern fixture designs that are being enjoyed around the world and has been in the business of home decor for more than 11 years. Article was reproduced with permission from L. Miller and is =A9Copyright 2007 L. Miller.