Bathroom Design Trends

Thinking of remodeling your bathroom to give it a more modern look? KDH Residential Designs owner Kevin Holdridge, who has owned his own North Carolina-based business since 2007, gives us a few ideas for how to a create a dream bathroom without breaking the bank.

When I do bathroom redesigns these days, it seems like everyone wants the same thing — a bigger shower and no bathtub. That is the No. 1 thing that people request when they come in saying they want to makeover their bathrooms. The idea of getting rid of the tub and focusing on the shower makes sense, of course. After all, bathtubs don’t tend to get used often, and they take up a lot of space in most bathrooms.

But as with many remodeling decisions, getting rid of the bathtub can sometimes backfire, too. Just recently I had a client call me up and say he bought a house that needed a remodel. He said that this new home was great, but that the bathroom was odd. When I asked him what was wrong with it, he complained that it had a huge shower but no bathtub at all. He just couldn’t believe someone would make a bathroom like that, without a bathtub. What that shows, to me at least, is no matter how on-trend you think you are being with a remodel, there is always the chance that someone isn’t going to understand it or like what you did.

So in that instance, and in instances like it, a bathroom remodel that is meant to increase the value of a home can actually have the exact opposite effect, depending on who the buyer ends up being and what his particular tastes are.

More than just the bathtub or no bathtub debate, though, I think the main things that homebuyers are looking for in bathrooms are the same as they are looking for in the rest of the house — low maintenance.

Nobody wants to spend hours cleaning their bathroom each week, and I think that is part of the reason why big glass showers are starting to become less common in recent remodeling projects. Whereas big glass showers were once the most popular thing that people requested over and over, now I am seeing a lot more homeowners opt for tile showers. And the main reason for that is because nobody likes to clean all those water spots off the glass.

Another bathroom trend that has been popular for a while is the idea of keeping things light and airy. Keeping a lot of walk-able space in the bathroom and adding windows that give as much natural light as possible is really what people want these days. I had a client recently tell me that her makeup looks completely different when she walks out of her bathroom and goes outside because the light in her bathroom is just too harsh. So for clients like that, the real desire is to get more natural lighting in the bathroom so they can see if their makeup looks a little odd. And the best way to achieve that natural light is by adding more windows.

Adding high windows over the mirrors in the bathroom, for example, or adding high windows over cabinets, is an easy fix that can create a real difference for homeowners. Not only that, but putting windows up high can add a lot of volume to the ceiling, which makes the entire space look larger. That is what people really want.

Whether you are changing the shower or adding more light to a bathroom, it is important to determine what you want out of a remodel and then we can search for ways to make that happen.