Renovating your bathroom – A guide to adding value to your home for resale
When renovating to increase the value of your home, bathrooms and kitchens are the two rooms of the house that real estate experts advise to update.
Bathrooms are a major focal point for potential homebuyers, so when renovating your property for resale, the bathroom should be a priority.
According to Domain.com.au, “The average number of bathrooms in new dwellings have increased to an average of 2.6 bathrooms per new home. Bathrooms are an area that buyers demand to be modern and up to date with clean and stylish fixtures and fittings”.
Stunning freestanding bath with classic neutral charcoal feature wall and floor with white walls tiled elsewhere – bathroom renovation by Master Bathrooms & Kitchens
Without doubt, updating your bathroom is a worthwhile investment whether it be to simply enjoy yourself and enhance your everyday or to increase your resale of your home. In either case, your aim should always be to add value to your home, improve the appearance and functionality of your bathroom and potentially attract home buyers to make resale in the future quick and profitable. Here are some simple rules to follow:
- Choosing your P.C. Items (prime costs items) i.e. vanities, toilet suites, baths, tapware and accessories, are items that generally speaking, set the tone and largely determine the cost of a bathroom renovation, hence the term “prime cost items”. In choosing these items alone, you decide the level of costing of your bathroom renovation from between “budget” to “luxury”. Remember, if your aim is to update your bathroom purely for resale, you wont be the one to enjoy the expensive spa baths, shower massagers or heated toilet seats and other such luxury items. However, it is important to purchase quality, modern items such as mixer taps, adjustable hand held shower roses and light/fan/heater units as these not only look great, but are standard in all recent bathroom renovations.
- Aim to include a bath in your renovation. Whilst almost all modern bathrooms highlight a spacious shower recess, your aim is to have your bathroom appeal to as many perspective buyers as possible, this includes families with young children. Not having a bathroom with a bath in the home will inevitably mean an instant “no” from these families unless they renovate the bathroom themselves which could in fact reduce the sale price of your home. There are many ways in which a bath can be incorporated in small bathrooms. Manufacturers have in recent years added smaller sized free standing baths to their product lines and built-in baths can quite easily be included within bathrooms with limited space. Aim to avoid shower over bath installations as these are considered outdated and a fall hazard to many people, although if necessary, a shower/ bath installation can be safe and have a contemporary appeal. See our article on Shower Bath Combinations for more information and inspiration for this style of bathroom.
- Remember, hiring a licensed professional who can guide you with your bathroom design will ensure you make the most out of every inch of your bathroom space.
Beautiful custom wall mount vanity with custom recessed mirrored wall cabinet with stunning herringbone tile feature wall – bathroom renovation by Master Bathrooms & Kitchens
- Choose a vanity with ample storage. Recent trends have seen vanities wall mounted and quite streamline and some with little storage space. While these may look great and certainly make the bathroom appear more spacious, some designs may be impractical as far as storage goes, so aim to purchase a vanity that is both modern and practical.
- Don’t just add a large mirror, but add a recessed mirrored wall cabinet aka shaving cabinet. This will add to the appearance of space within the bathroom and also add that extra, much valued storage space or “face level storage”. See our article on Bathroom Mirror Cabinets for more inspiration.
- Stick with classic and neutral colour schemes when choosing your tiles. Bold and bright colours that appeal to your personal taste and those that may happen to be on trend now, can actually date your bathroom in just a few short years. Remember, you are renovating your bathroom to appeal to as many perspective buyers as possible, not only those who prefer bold colours. White walls with a feature floor or a single feature wall is always a stunning effect creating a light, airy and spacious bathroom with character. Soft neutrals make a bathroom space calming, almost spa like while not overwhelming the room. The idea is to appeal to a large majority, so choosing a classic colour scheme will appeal to most while making the bathroom appear larger, brighter and won’t date. Bold and bright colours can easily be added with other decor such a towels, candles and other such decorations.
Contemporary shower/ bath installation with classic colour scheme – bathroom renovation by Master Bathrooms & Kitchens.
- Choose chrome tapware. Whilst black, brass and a variety of other tapware finishes are very much on trend and undeniably look amazing, they are of a particular taste. As with colour schemes, when it comes to resale, tapware is best kept with the classics to appeal to the majority. Chrome is by far the best choice for appealing to the largest percentage of buyers as it is a fabulous finish that does not require special care.
- Hire experienced, licensed professionals. It doesn’t matter how carefully you choose your tiles, fittings and accessories, if they are not fixed, fitted and installed correctly, the end result will ultimately appear cheap and nasty, this is especially true with tiling. Let’s not forget the importance of waterproofing, should the shower leak, it will be picked up on the building inspection. The bathroom is definitely not an area to cut corners by testing your DIY skills.
Related Articles:
Advantages of Linear Shower Drains
Advantages of a Custom Plinth supported vanity – Bathroom Renovations
Ways to Cut the Cost of your Bathroom Renovation
Regardless of whether you are renovating your bathroom purely for resale or even if you do not have any plans to sell your home anytime soon, always keep the future in mind. A bathroom renovation is a sizeable investment and when done professionally, will last for many years to come. One does not want to renovate their bathroom only to have to renovate it again purely to change dated colours and styles or to correct shoddy workmanship.
Master Bathrooms & Kitchens are a bathroom and kitchen renovation company that is family owned and operated. We have been renovating the Hills & Hornsby Shire beautiful since 1995 and can offer advice and expertise that only comes from years of experience. Be sure to peruse our website for more valuable renovation inspiration or simply call us (02) 9899 9330 to discuss your renovation and organise a quotation today.
Watch our video below of just some of our beautiful bathrooms & kitchens:
