If it is that time of the year when you want to indulge in a ‘home improvement project’, your bathroom is a good place to start. Well-designed, stylish fixtures help to add life to your bathroom’s dull and dated look. Fashion conscious customers have a wide array of fittings to choose from. Suitably and appropriately selected bathroom fixtures can contribute towards changing the entire look and feel of your bathroom. The intention of the article is to enlighten you on the significance of bathroom décor with easy and fun tips to decorate your bathroom. It also includes a brief study of different types of showers, which would help you decide on the one that would suit your plumbing setup. Read and find out the latest in bathroom fixtures and bathroom designingand some common bathroom codes.
Good Bathroom Decoration
A good bathroom is an important aspect of your home since it is a place where you break away from the rest of the world. Your bathroom can be a retreat of sorts where you can have a relaxing bubble bath, light some scented candles, hum a tune and soothe your worries away. Bathrooms have moved from being a place to just ‘shower’ to being ‘home spas’. The bathroom is where you start your day to get ready for a hard day’s work. When you start your day feeling great, the rest of your day will certainly feel much more pleasant.
The market is flooded with good product choices to fit everyone’s budget. Accessories like towel bars; soap dishes, toilet paper holders and shower curtains together can tie the room’s design elements. It is a wise suggestion to check the bathrooms for faults before your project begins. Unless the bathroom is in good shape and safe from leakages, adding bathroom decoration to your existent bathrooms might not really make sense.
Decorate your bathroom
Whether you have a large bathroom or a small one, decorating it can be fun and easy. Here are a few tips!
- Instead of curtains on your bathroom window, paste pretty scenery that is printed on plastic with adhesive on the back. No one can see through the plastic and it allows a lot of light to filter into the room.
- Put your clean, rolled towels in a pretty basket. Have a non-skid bath rug in a pretty color. Buy a matching shower curtain and wastebasket.
- Green plants are always nice in a bathroom. Place a nice green plant on your sink counter top. Old, unique colored bottles add a nice accent to your bathroom. Place some potpourri in a bowl. It will keep your bathroom smelling fresh and nice.
- Scented candles add so much to a bathroom. Have different colors placed in the corners of your bathtub. Place a few on your sink counter.
Showers
In order to select the most suitable type of shower, it is important to recognize certain factors that can determine which shower is best for you. A mixer for example, would be the best choice in a household where both hot and cold water are supplied at equal pressure from the main storage system. Most modern showers are designed to be flexible to different water pressures (such as stored hot water and cold mains). It is important to note whether or not the chosen shower is capable of coping with certain systems and can regulate a safe level of water through the boiler. There is a multitude of choice in showers: pumped showers, electric showers, gravity showers, thermostatic, manual, power showers. Before choosing a shower, it is important that you understand the way the hot water is already heated in your house.
Let us look at three most common types of showers.
Power Showers
Power showers are mixer showers with integral pumps, which increase the rate of flow from the showerhead. They can only be installed on low pressure, tank fed systems. A dedicated hot and cold water supply is necessary. The water supply must always be above the unit to ensure that the pump is always primed and does not have to suck any air.
Electric Showers
Electric showers can be used within any domestic water system. Instantaneous electric showers can provide good performance, especially if they come with a good heater element rating. Instantaneous electric showers require cold water at a reasonable pressure. These showers pump water from a cold-water storage tank.
Bath / Shower Mixer Taps
Mixer showers will mix the existing hot and cold water, in a special valve, before it is available at the showerhead. Probably the simplest form of shower, the bath shower mixer tap is capable of reasonable shower performance provided that both the hot and cold supplies are of equal pressure. They can be used with tank fed gravity supplies, combination boilers and un-vented hot water cylinders.
Choosing the ideal Shower Head
Showers come with multiple showerheads, handheld sprays and body sprays combined in a single unit. Many models can be retrofitted into existing shower stalls, while others are part of shower enclosure collections that can fit in the footprint of a standard 5-foot tub. Before you make a purchase, consult your plumber. If your water pressure is straining to rinse out shampoo already, major modifications may be necessary to take advantage of multiple sprays. Consider your hot water heater’s capacity, too. If two people cannot simultaneously shower with the tank's current capacity, consider upgrading to a larger unit before adding extra sprays.
Shower Curtains
Shower Curtains add a new, fresh breeze in decorating your bathroom. Shower Curtains are available for prices ranging from $10.00 to hundreds of dollars. Whatever the price you pay for it, unless they are cared for and kept dry and clean, they will not last long.
Tips for care of Shower Curtains
The best way to care for them is to keep them dry and clean!
- Clean your curtain using a spray cleaner once a week
- Let your curtain dry thoroughly each day to prevent mildew that can be dangerous for health.
- If you are using a fabric curtain, dust it about every 3 months.
- It is best to buy two (similar) curtains when purchasing. If you have one in reserve you are not stuck with having to replace the entire bath decor if it is damaged.
Bathroom Codes
Here are some common bathroom code requirements that you are required to follow during bathroom decoration:
- The bathroom fixtures should be GFCI (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter) protected.
- There should be at least one lighting fixture permanently installed, which is controlled by a switch at the room’s entrance.
- The bathroom must contain an operating window or an approved exhaust fan.
- There should be a minimum of 15” clearance to either side of the closet flange.
- Shower fittings may require pressure-balancing mixing values.
