Upgrading a bathroom can seem like a daunting task at first. Some recommend that all the upgrades are done at once. However, if this isn’t necessary, it can be done in stages. Whilst it can technically be cheaper to upgrade it all in one go (if a contractor is brought in), it may not be financially viable for you to make all these upgrades in one attempt.
However, we’ve curated our favourite bathroom upgrades to ensure that you have a bathroom that you’re really happy with.
Add A Mirror
This sounds like a pretty obvious upgrade, but a lot of people don’t have a mirror in their bathroom at all. Some may have small one over their bath, or in the shower cubicle, but they don’t have a full size, dedicated one. It really does make the bathroom more open, as well as looking extremely stylish.
A great benefit of having a bathroom mirror is that a lot of them that are available online also have a cabinet built in. This means that you can store your shower supplies and any medicines that you may have as well, keeping your bathroom clutter free.
Installing a new mirror is fairly easy, and certainly doesn’t require a bathroom contractor. Even if you would need to get in a handyman, it would be a lot cheaper than getting in a contractor to carry out this very straightforward job.
Upgrade The Bath or Shower
Upgrading the bath, particularly for older ones can be very time consuming and difficult. In this instance, it would be best to leave this to a professional. However, you can easily upgrade the taps on the bath. This can be done by removing the bath panel and then disconnecting the old taps and subsequently installing the new ones.
There are a lot of tutorials online on how to do this. These go into various degrees of detail. The good news is that replacing old and tarnished taps is a really inexpensive upgrade that you can do yourself.
If you already have a shower installed, but it’s seen better days then you could quite easily swap it out with a new shower. We always recommend that one from a reputable brand such as Mira is chosen since they offer a long warranty in the unfortunate event that it should break down.
Some may feel uncomfortable in installing a shower by themselves. However, it is still much cheaper to buy it separately and then get an electrician to install it for you.
Lastly, an extremely cheap and easy upgrade to make to the bath or shower area is to replace the sealant that surrounds it. Over time, it will start to break up and it can look very unsightly (as well as allowing moisture to penetrate the gaps in it).
The good news is that you can do this yourself, at your own pace using inexpensive tools. Again, there are a lot of tutorials online, and we recommend that you have a look at YouTube so that you have all the information you need to carry out this job properly the first time around.
Change the Flooring
Depending on the floor that is installed in the bathroom, it can be very cost effective to replace it. If ceramic tiles are already installed then this will require a contractor to replace (unless you’re particularly handy when it comes to tile removal).
However, if it is Luxury Vinyl Tile, or cushioned vinyl that is installed, this is very easy to remove yourself. It will be time consuming depending on how much adhesive was used when it was originally laid, but it is much better for you to remove this than pay someone else to do it for you.
Adding new LVT or cushioned vinyl is also very straightforward. All you need to do is ensure that you measure twice and cut once and take your time whilst doing it.
The adhesive that you use to hold the vinyl down will inform you of any preparation work that you need to make to the floor in order to ensure that the flooring will stay in place.
There are also some vinyl tiles that come with an adhesive pre-applied which makes the application process even easier. If in doubt, check out this YouTube video.
Change the Lighting
One of the easiest ways to upgrade the lighting in the bathroom is to simply change the bulb within the light. There are so many bulbs now with different degrees of warmth that by simply changing it can have a massive impact overall to the bathroom.
Of course, if you want to have a completely new light, that is possible as well. Since the wiring will already be there, it should be a simple case of removing the old light fixture and installing the new one.
Bathroom lights are relatively inexpensive and can make all of the difference when changing feel of the bathroom as whole.
