Adding to or remodeling your house is one of the most exciting and creative processes you can go through. But with all that responsibility comes pressure to make informed decisions that will last. How can you make sure to get the right design for your lifestyle, stay within your budget and maximize the return on your investment? Start with a great design for every room in your house — including the bathroom.

Bathrooms, whether big or small, should always be well thought out and carefully located, and should function with multiple users in mind. We’re long past the era where there was one bathroom for every three bedrooms in the house, and everyone had all the time needed to use it. Today’s bathrooms need to be beautiful, use space efficiently and serve the users functionally. Avoiding common design blunders, can help you be happier with your bathroom for the long haul.

No View Out

No one likes a dark, damp bathroom with bad circulation — it’s no fun spending time in a space like that. If you’re building or relocating a bathroom, try to site it on an outside wall with windows.

If windows are not an option, installing an operable skylight can allow for the fresh air and natural light needed to make the space feel comfortable.

A Clear View in From Public Rooms

Whenever possible, avoid locating the bathroom directly off one of the home’s public rooms — like the kitchen, living room or dining room.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to put in a long hallway, but create some sort of formal separation to break up the line of sight. The last thing you want is to be sitting in the living room with a glass of wine and looking straight into the bathroom at the toilet.

Making It All About the Toilet

Avoid making the toilet the first thing you see in the bathroom, and avoid any sightlines to it from adjacent rooms. If you can, put the toilet and shower in their own room while keeping the sink separate. This allows someone to take a shower while someone else gets ready at the sink. The wall between the two rooms adds only a couple of inches to the overall size of the bathroom but doubles the room’s functionality.

Curbed-Shower Enthusiasm

A curbless shower makes a bathroom feel bigger and look cleaner — plus, it’s very practical for aging-in-place homeowners, since it adheres to universal design principles.

This look is fairly easy to achieve in a new bathroom or a remodel — just make sure you mention it to your architect or contractor prior to construction.

Thinking Bigger Is Better

That’s right: Bigger isn’t better; better is better. Whether you’re designing a large master bathroom in your dream home or trying to figure out how to squeeze in an extra bathroom for your growing family, the most important aspect of your new bathroom is that it has a great design that functions efficiently for your specific lifestyle.

The truth is, great design is less about how a bathroom looks (although it’s always nice when it looks fantastic) and more about how it works. Great design translates to a house that functions better, costs less to build, is more efficient to maintain and gets you more for less.

Whether it’s individualized storage spaces or clever details that will speed up your family’s morning routine, here are five features that pros say will help you get more from a shared bathroom. If you’re planning to remodel a family bathroom, read on.

Generous Storage

With a busy family and everyone having different bathroom products and needs, clever and abundant storage solutions in your bathroom are the key to functionality. Plus, they will also beautify your bathroom.

Being able to store and hide your everyday items is a must when multiple people use one space. Consider large mirrored cabinets that run right to the ceiling. There are many styles today that can be inset into the walls for a slimline look. Many also have finger-pull or push-to-close doors, meaning you don’t have bulky handles overcrowding the space.

A good top-mount vanity cabinet will help you organize your bathroom and everyone can have designated shelves within the cupboard.

Under-sink storage is also essential. Be wary of floating vanities that may only give you half the storage capacity of a design that goes right to the floor.

And don’t forget that the sink plumbing will take up a good portion of your vanity. For this reason, get the largest vanity possible for the space, with adjustable shelves so you can customize the interior.

You can also find storage systems that will keep your storage organized. For example, mini stacking shelves, acrylic containers and small storage-compartment units that fit inside cupboards and drawers to keep bathroom products and beauty items organized. These will help the kids find what they need and assist in the overall tidiness of your cupboards. 

Bathroom storage can extend to standalone items too, such as over-the-toilet shelving systems and beautiful hampers for storing laundry or used towels.

Also consider what is on your bathroom vanity. Seek out pretty yet functional decor accessories such as canisters to hold cotton balls and nice vessels for toothbrushes. Grouping like items together on small trays is a good way to reduce visual clutter.

Double Sinks

Whether you’re a large family of five or six or a small family, a double-style sink set-up is essential. It allows two people to use a basin at once, saving you time and streamlining the flow of your bathroom. On busy mornings when everyone is in a rush, this can be a lifesaver.

Heating

As we settle into the colder months, a well-heated bathroom will be appreciated by the whole family. There are three main options.

Underfloor Heating 

If your budget allows, investing in underfloor heating is a luxury worth having, especially if you live in a cooler climate. For bathrooms, an electric underfloor heating system is recommended as it goes above the waterproofing in your floor but below the tiles. Therefore, it can fairly easily be retrofitted. Being close to the surface, it means your bathroom floor will heat up quite quickly.

Three-In-One Heaters

These provide an exhaust fan, lighting and heating in a single unit. They’re a simple and affordable way to keep your bathroom toasty and warm.

Heated Towel Rack 

Ideal for keeping your towels warm and fluffy and reducing the need for constant washing. They can be plugged in or wired.

Considered Lighting

Good lighting in a bathroom doesn’t just improve the functionality of the space, but can set the right mood too. Harsh artificial lights in the bathroom are not as good as natural light in the day. At night, soft LED lights cast a warm, diffused glow. Think about having LED lighting under the basin, in the shower recess and above the bath.

A shower recess is another must-have feature in a family bathroom as it allows you to keep shampoos nicely displayed and not cluttered on shelves or on the floor of the shower.

Sliding glass shower doors are far easier to clean than hinged styles.

Vanity drawers are preferable to cupboards as they provide more user-friendly and accessible storage — and often up to 30% more storage, according to some cabinet makers.

Using boxes inside your drawers is a great way to divide items internally so everything has its place. If you have multiple people in the family using the drawers, give everybody their own box — you can even try labeling them to separate items and prevent arguments.

Overhead mirrored shaving cabinets are a great way to store lots of products. With their shallow shelves, items are easy to see and access.

Include electrical outlets in your shelving cabinets is a smart upgrade as it allows you to keep your electric toothbrush off your vanity top, and it will always be fully charged.

If space in the bathroom permits, another great option is the inclusion of a tall storage cabinet, which you can use to store spare towels and toilet rolls.