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by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for The House Designers
When you design a bathroom around convenience, you’ll never want to return to basics. While the most user-friendly bathrooms are specifically designed to serve people with mobility concerns, anybody is free to draw inspiration from them. Universal design is only growing in popularity as more homeowners plan for their own futures and for resale, so a convenient bathroom is a fantastic investment no matter your situation.
Here are some ways to increase the usability of your bathrooms, including everything from fixtures that are easy to use to surfaces that are easy to clean. Take a look at the whole picture—what does this space do for you and what do you do for it? Consider convenience from both sides to find the best design solutions for your wants and needs.
A Handheld Shower
Everybody can appreciate the ease of use and maneuverability of a handheld shower—that’s why you’ll find them attached to bathtubs and installed in standalone stalls, independently or in conjunction with a regular stationary showerhead. A targeted water stream is ideal for people who have difficulty moving themselves under an overhead shower and for helping those who need assistance to bathe, but you’ll find that there are plenty of benefits beyond necessity, too.
Handheld showers make it possible to wash your feet without getting your entire body wet, rinse more efficiently to save water, and give the family dog a comfortable indoor bath while decreasing the risk of a mess. Some of these showers even come with hydro massage settings to introduce a dose of luxury to your everyday life, so be sure to explore the options and find one you’ll really like.
Shower Seating
For those who prefer showering over taking a bath, a shower seat can help relieve the strain of standing. You’ll find a ton of choices out there, including shower and combination stalls with built-in seating, stools that can be moved into place when needed, and folding seats that can be mounted in any kind of shower configuration. Folding seats are the most convenient by far, because they are permanently installed in place and thus can be used at any time, but they are also easy to push closed when you don’t need to sit. This gives you the best of both worlds—a chair that is always at the ready and still makes all your shower space available.
Low Maintenance Countertops
Anything that minimizes the time and effort needed to clean and otherwise maintain the bathroom seems like a great decision to most homeowners, but it can often leave much to be desired in terms of aesthetics. Now, engineered stone products offer the beauty of coveted natural materials with exceptional advantages for the people who have to take care of them.
Top your vanity with engineered stone if you want a durable counter that is practically impossible to damage. The extremely high density of this product helps it resist chipping and scratching, completely repel water, and reduce the potential for staining. Better yet, the surface possesses these qualities inherently, and that means you never have to seal it. Just wash it with soap and water—it doesn’t get much easier.
A Hands-Free Faucet
Wouldn’t it be nice to have your sink faucet turn on for you automatically like it does in so many public bathrooms? This technology was developed to promote better hygiene in shared facilities, and now it’s becoming available for residential use. Of course, these fancy faucets still have functional handles if you can’t help but reach to turn on the water yourself, and that means they will still work if their batteries run dry or the power goes out. A touchless faucet expedites the handwashing process and you won’t need to clean it nearly as often, so the time it saves will add up.
The Perfect Caddy
Depending on your bathroom, who uses it, and how they bathe, you might find that you could use some kind of extra storage. Take a look at various kinds of caddies to find one that matches your needs to help keep the shower organized. For example, a bathroom that serves multiple children should probably have a multi-tiered tower to hold their collection of shampoos and products. And for a bath connoisseur, a tray caddy is a game changer. Imagine having a place for any drinks and entertainment you like to partake in and say goodbye to balancing things on the edge or leaning over it to place them on the floor!
Be sure to take general safety measures into account, too. There are plenty of attractive grab bar options available that make it easier to move around the entire bathroom, and you should probably invest in some kind of nonslip mat for the tub/shower if young or elderly people will be using it. Find some good bath rugs that quickly wick water to prevent wet spots on the floor, and think about how to make nighttime navigation easier—glow-in-the-dark and light-up toilet seats are no longer things of the future! Design a truly convenient, safe, and just plain amazing bathroom and you’ll always be glad to have it.