Home Decor HD

For many disabled people, especially those confined to wheelchairs, the every day actions able-bodied people take can be a real hardship. Especially difficult is using the bathroom, whether it is using the toilet, showering or having a bath.

Clever, innovative bathroom design can, however, make a disabled person's life much, much easier. There are many clever bath and shower solutions on the market for the disabled, some of which we will discuss here, but it is the actual layout and design of the bathroom that will ultimately make the most of those solutions.

First, let's look at the solutions for the toilet. In many cases, a solid bar fixed to the wall or floor next to the toilet is sufficient for most disabled people. It is only placement that needs to be considered. However, other options include comfortable height toilets and portable toilets.

For bathing, there walk in baths, low sided baths and bath chairs, while for showering there are in-shower chairs, low door level showers for easy wheelchair access and large size controls for the visually impaired. Low level or high level sinks and shelving unites are other options.

Once you have identified the needs of a particular person, it's relatively easy to choose the fittings you need. The trickier bit is fitting them into the space you have available at home in the bathroom.

This is where a good bathroom designer is required, ideally using bathroom design software. Why? Because this will save you both time and money. Bathroom planner software can be used to recreate the dimensions of your bathroom in 3D, then place, again in 3D, the fittings you have chosen.

Working with you or the disabled person in your care, the designer will utilise this 3D CAD software to draw out the room, position the fittings and ensure there is sufficient space for moving around and actually using those fittings.

In addition, the software can help even with the decor. The designer will be able to change the colour of the walls, choose a suitable floor covering, window blinds or curtains, even place mirrors and / or pictures on the walls.

You will be able to visualise exactly how the finished bathroom will look and, more importantly, function. Once you're happy with the final design it can be passed to the bathroom fitters to work to before they have even started, ensuring there are no costly mistakes made or expensive adjustments required once the bathroom is complete.

The result of this is a much more pleasant experience for the disabled person, perhaps even a freer, more independent life, a beautiful, useful bathroom and a reduction in overall potential costs!

Disabled people should enjoy the same comforts that able-bodied people enjoy, and with a bit of careful planning, the aid of technology and the continued innovation in making everyday products and tools usable by the disabled, they can do just that.

When you are next looking at making your bathroom (or kitchen, bedroom - any room in the house) more suitable for disabled use, make sure you take advantage of every available tool to do so.

After a full-day in this modern world of hustle and bustle, more and more people are finding bathrooms to be the best place to relax, de-stress, and even luxuriate. This is among the main reasons why the number of homeowners who decide to undertake a bathroom remodeling project continues to increase. Other than enhancing the quality of living, this type of home improvement helps sell a home faster in the future and can be a good investment.

Unless you live in a custom-built home, a common challenge with such renovation is space, especially for those living in big cities like New York. This article discusses how to get more space out of bathrooms without needing to add square footage.

Showers and Tubs
Deciding to have a shower or a tub is a big decision when bathroom remodeling. Depending on preferences, it can either be of the two or both with the one piece tub shower units now available in the market. But if you choose to have just the tub, it would be best to shop for a one that is smaller in size but deeper. A shower on the other hand is the best choice if your aim is to save space, taking up only half of the space that a tub occupies. To create an airy look to the shower stall, you can choose to take down the partial shower wall and go for sliding glass doors instead of the usual hinged doors that take up much space when opened.

Maximize Light
Lighting is an essential element that should be maximized when working on small bathrooms. The more light you integrate into the bathroom remodeling; the more spacious the room will look. When planning on this the renovation does not have involve big changes. But if you can afford it, widening or adding windows would be a great step. If not, then you can achieve more lighting without spending too much by using design materials such as glass, mirrors, and other reflective surfaces. Neutrals and light colors also help diffuse light.

Tidy Up
Cleaning up alone can bring considerable change when it comes to freeing more space in small is bathrooms. While at it, try to evaluate what you have in the area that is unnecessarily taking too much space. If your old, bulky radiator is, then it may be better to move it high up on the wall or better yet replace it with a more efficient and more compact designed unit. Other items to be on the look out for include free standing mirrors, towel basket, large-sized cupboards and trash bins.

Storage
To promote and maintain organization in small bathrooms which is crucial to avoid clutter that makes the area look all the more crowded, invest in the right set of bathroom cabinets. Free up floor space by installing wall mounted cabinets. When chopping for cabinetry and vanities, choose narrow profiles that use up only a small amount of room. And to make use of every inch of storage, it would be wise to integrate cabinet upgrades and accessories such as roll-out trays, drawer organizers, roll-out bins, etc.

Your bathroom is one of the most used rooms in your house; it is used every day without fail. When it comes to buying furniture for your bathroom it is not always easy getting it all to fit together and look good in the room. Spending time planning out the bathroom is a vital key to success because you can have drawn out plans which let you see how much space you can have after the install of the furniture. Using computer programs which assist in the computer aided design can be used to show the perspectives of your bathroom. Programs like these are useful because you can play around with different pieces of bathroom furniture and see how they fit best.

If you want to update your bathroom furniture whilst sticking to the budget you have arranged, you should keep the layout you have and replace the furniture you have currently. This allows you to keep the set plumbing points which you currently have. Also because you are keeping the same plumbing points, this means that you won't be left without a bathroom while yours is being renovated.

When you are planning your bathroom and you are considering which furniture you would like, it is important to think what is going to be stored in the cupboards or draws. This can then determine the size of the cabinets that you will require or if you would need more than one. A useful vanity option which runs from the ceiling to floor provides the perfect space for towels and cloths. Having a vanity unit with a basin is a good space-saving unit and it can also have a surface which can be used for accessories.

When it comes to bathroom furniture its can either be wall hung or free-standing and they are very different from each other. The wall hung option for furniture is for more modern bathrooms which have a limited amount of space. The wall hung choice creates a minimalistic feeling in your bathroom and makes it seem much more spacious by taking up less floor space. The free-standing furniture has a more of a contemporary look and brings a stylish modern piece of furniture to your home. A good example of a piece of free-standing furniture is a chest of drawers these would be useful for the storage of bathroom products. In some cases it good to use both free-standing and wall hung furniture because this creates extra space.

If you are planning to renovate your bathroom then your objective should be to improve the utility of the bath and not just embellish the room with high end accessories, attractive fixtures and glossy bathroom tiles. These elements may enhance the beauty of your bath but you should think how they could improve the utility of your shower room. Everything from accessories to fixtures and lightings to flooring in the bath should be more utilitarian than decorative. But people put more focus on choosing accessories and slabs for decoration rather than making the room user friendly. There are certain factors you need to consider when renovating your bathroom.

Slip resistant: Wet floor can become slippery and you can have a bad time bathing in your slippery shower room. What makes a floor slippery is glossy slabs and soap mixed water. You should be cautious when shopping for bathroom tiles. There are many slabs in the market buy you should look for slip resistant pieces only. Ask the retailer to show you the slabs that anti-skid. If you are shopping online then search slabs that are anti-slippery. Online stores can provide a wide range of anti-skid flooring. Your bath floor must have the grip to hold your feet even when the floor is flooded with soap water.

Water resistant: Bathroom tiles must display excellent resilience towards water and moisture because they have to brave gallons of water every day. Finding waterproof slabs is not a difficult task as most of slabs available in the market have impressive water resistant feature. What is important is to make the entire bathroom waterproof. You should know that slabs require grouting. Grout is filler and it can't withstand water or moisture. Installing good quality waterproof flooring in your bathroom is not enough as you need to make the grout lines waterproof too. To prevent the grout lines from giving way to water, you need to seal the entire tiled floor.

Precaution is the key to maintenance of the bathroom tiles. You should make it your habit to wipe the extra water from the bath floor every time after using the bathroom. Stagnant water can break the sealing and bring out the grout lines. Also a moist floor can become a perfect breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Before it happens to your bathroom floor, you need to take precautionary measure. Make sure that your bath remains dry and free from moisture.

When you have a small bathroom you need to make every inch work for you. If you have to share a bathroom with others, the space is even more important is the space. Typically a small bathroom will consist of a commode, a sink and a shower or a tub/shower combination-- just the essentials. Put all these fixtures into a small space, only slightly larger than a closet and you have a real challenge. A bathroom five to six feet by eight feet is a tight squeeze, so make it all work for you.

Some things you can do to maximize your bath without changing any fixtures is to use the insides of cabinet doors for keeping curling irons and hair dryers within easy reach, without giving up valuable cabinet or drawer space. Look for wire type hangers for this purpose or look in the kitchen section of your home improvement stores for something like plastic and foil wrap holders, theses are narrow enough to hold hair sprays, tubes of gels and containers of lotion and the like. While these items are necessary, they do not belong on your counter tops.

There are a myriad of drawer dividers for jewelry, make-up and hair accessories; don't overlook kitchen cutlery dividers; you will find them in a variety of materials, from mesh metals, to bamboo and enameled plastic in great colors. If you do not have drawer space, put these items into a travel kit and put it away in a cabinet or closet and bring it out when needed. Again, these items should not take up counter space in any bathroom; they are the number one clutter creator in a bathroom. You can store these items under the sink in baskets just as easily. There is no need to keep lots of cleaning supplies under every bathroom sink either; doing so is a luxury indeed; instead get a carry-all intended for cleaning products and keep it with your other cleaning products, i.e. brooms, mops and furniture polish.

Little girls love lots of barrettes, ribbons and colorful clips; and busy moms need them accessible. Consider using clear plastic file pockets fixed to the wall, and fill them up with bands, clips and ribbons, this will keep them organized, readily available, off the counter and out of the way of everyone else who needs to use the bathroom. If you have enough space to add shelves to a blank wall, you can put these items in colorful baskets to go with your decor, label them and make them part of your decor.

Another tight area in a small bathroom is the tub/shower area. Sliding glass doors are difficult to bathe small children, and shower curtains often create more visual clutter than is necessary. If you can use a plain shower curtain instead, you can add a clear pocket liner to keep some toys, sponges and shampoos organized.

Take a ready-made shower curtain and carefully cutting off the grommet edge; save it; add a clear plastic or open mesh fabric, section to the width of the curtain, then add the grommet edge on top of the clear plastic piece, you will have a more open feeling to your cramped bathroom. By adding the new bowed curtain rod, you will add even more space to your shower area.

There are lots of ways to save space in small rooms; you just need to be open to seeing the space in a different way.