According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) annual “Cost vs. Value” 2007 report, published each year in partnership with Remodeling Magazine, it is revealed that an upscale bathroom remodel can recoup up to 93.2 % of the costs and a bathroom addition between 86% and 87%.
Celebrity Interior Designer Will Smith (HGTV) gives some excellent and fairly inexpensive advice to those wishing to update their bathroom spaces; Pay attention to mirrors, paint, hardware and lighting.
Smith, famous for creating high-end looks on a shoestring budget, shares his tips for making over a bathroom without sacrificing style:
Bathroom Mirrors: Unframed mirrors are passé. A frame completes a mirror and gives your bathroom a finished, more updated look. This may mean pulling down your existing mirror and simply adding a coping or frame to it. Or, you can get even more creative by replacing it with a large, art-framed mirror, hung like a picture. The project may require some paint where the original gigantic mirror was placed, but the difference is amazing.
Paint: Don’t go zonkers with mauve or pink tones, but new paint is never out. Popular colors are chocolates, olives, aquas and golds. The more contrast, the more zing.
Hardware: Mismatched hardware was never in and brass is now rather dated. Go for brushed nickel, pewter, antique or oil-rubbed bronze finishes, coordinating lighting fixtures, bath bars, knobs, pulls, switches and receptacle covers.
Lighting: PLEASE -- no more Hollywood lighting with exposed bulbs . . . Instead, go for fixtures that cast softer light (upwards or downwards) and add beauty, such as those using shades or sconces. When visiting “big box” hardware stores, you’ll see a dizzying array of up-to-date selections and also be amazed at how inexpensive a simple replacement can be.
Smith adds that you don’t need a full-scale renovation to get the look of an updated bath. Some well-placed and well thought-out, cost effective changes can go a long way.
Dena Kouremetis is a veteran freelance real estate consumer journalist and California real estate broker. She may be reached by email at REritr@aol.com.
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