If it seems like more and more homeowners are talking about and embarking on bathroom renovations, you are probably right, and the statistics are there to back you up. In the next year, approximately 25 percent of homeowners are planning to opt for a remodel in the bathroom compared to just 15 percent who are planning on a kitchen remodel, according to homeowners surveyed for HomeAdvisor’s True Cost Report.
This move from the kitchen to the bathroom has many logical reasons. In general, bathroom upgrades are more manageable, less stressful and less disruptive than are kitchen renovations as they are usually smaller and less complicated projects. Also, bathroom renovations usually cost less and also take less time to complete. In terms of price, the national average bathroom remodel cost is around $10, 186 while that of a kitchen is about $22, 697.
Another reason is that bathroom renovations have a relatively high return on investment when it comes time to sell the home. According to Remodeling magazine’s 2018 Cost Vs. Value Report, a midrange bathroom remodel recoups 70.1 percent of its cost, compared to only 59 percent for a midrange kitchen remodel. What emerges is that a well done bathroom can be the tipping point in a home sale, while an out of date and rundown one can quickly turn off prospective buyers.
For many, bathroom renovations present an opportunity to inject personal style into the space, without the risk of making costly mistakes. Homeowners can focus on the basics like updating flooring, fixtures, and shower doors or they can be more daring by adding bright pops of color, tiles of different shapes and sizes, and by mixing and matching hardware tones in the plumbing and lighting fixtures.
For those with the budget to indulge, homeowners can take their bathroom to a spa-like level by including luxurious amenities such as shower body sprays and rain shower heads, specialized lighting, built-in audio speakers, and the most cutting edge toilets.
According to Affordable Plumbing, Heat and Electrical, toilets are a major priority simply because they are one piece of equipment in the home that gets used so often. Contemporary picks for people looking to create the most comfortable bathrooms are heated toilet seats, bidet toilet seats, and smart toilet seats that give you the ability to customize many settings, such as the option to spray cleaner into the toilet bowl, raise and lower the seat, spray warm air freshener and even play music.
Another bathroom renovation trend for 2018 is that of connecting the bathroom decor to what is found throughout the rest of the home. Whether it’s a fine rug or a sturdy dresser, when chosen carefully, furnishings help unite the bathroom with the rest of the home, rather than having it function stylistically as a separate entity.