Installing a luxury bathroom
Adding a luxury bathroom to your home—whether you’re renovating an entire house or just remodelling the one room—can feel like a complicated process. It’s a big investment and you want it to be done to the very highest standards. However, installing a high-end bathroom suite, the ceramics to go with it and the beautiful finishing touches, like the taps, doesn’t have to be a headache. Here are the things you need to think about.
Working with architects and interior designers
DIY or trade professionals?
If you’re a seasoned DIY practitioner, you might be thinking about fitting your own bathroom rather than hiring in a construction team. Just bear in mind that, if you don’t have an artisan skill set, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to finish it to the same luxurious standards.
Were this just a basic makeover, that might not be such an issue. Remember, though, you’re crafting what you hope will be a timeless luxury washroom. So, unless you’re 100% confident that you have what it takes to deliver that level of quality, you might be well advised to hire a professional.
Also, if you’re planning to incorporate any robotics or automation into your bathroom remodel—the height of luxury—installing them can go beyond the skill sets of even the most seasoned DIY hobbyists.
The price you pay to have your bathroom installed will depend on a few factors. The geographical location of your property, the size of the space and the amount of work you intend to have done will all have an impact. However, you can price out your bathroom remodel fairly accurately before beginning the work on a job-by-job basis.
Working with architects and interior designers
If you're planning to change the layout of your bathroom—particularly if it’s in a larger home—or if your remodel is part of a bigger renovation project, you may want to think about working with an architect.
A good architecture or interior design firm will be able to advise you on the practicality and aesthetic impact of your deluxe bathroom layout. (Maybe there’s a good reason your freestanding bathtub can’t occupy the space you’ve seen it occupying in your mind’s eye.) They’ll also be able to provide you with proper CAD drawings and even help you to choose your bathroom products.
Make sure you spend some time browsing the websites of different architects and interior designers so you can see examples of the other projects they’ve worked on. If you don’t see any magnificent, contemporary luxury bathrooms in their case studies, it’s safe to say you should keep looking.
Contractor vs subcontractor
Should you decide to go with a professional team for your luxury remodel, you’ll no-doubt be wondering whether to hire a contractor who’ll oversee and deliver the whole project or a team of subcontractors, sourced individually by you.
The benefits of working with a contractor are:
- You won’t have the hassle of trying to find a plumber, plasterer, tiler, builder or someone to decorate your luxury bathroom
- There’ll be someone to project-manage the remodel—so you don’t have to
- The team will likely work together regularly, so will have a well-practised system
- It should bring your project in a little more quickly than working with various subcontractors
Of course, it’ll be more expensive to have a contractor oversee everything as they’ll put a mark-up on their employees’ rates to make a profit. You might prefer to subcontract individual jobs out so that you can push more of your budget into high-end fixtures and fittings. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that you enjoy project management and would rather oversee the remodel yourself. It all depends on your individual circumstances.
Installing your own bathroom
The opportunity to buy luxury bathrooms online, offered by companies like Riluxa, has empowered homeowners working on lower remodelling budgets to nevertheless deliver to the highest standards. What that means, though, is that more and more people are choosing to fit their own bathrooms so they can drive more of their budgets into stunning fixtures and fittings.
If you choose to do it yourself, make sure to do lots of planning in advance. Measure up for your bathroom remodel before even beginning to choose your products—you need to make sure everything is going to fit. (The good thing is, you can get artisan-quality vanities made to measure from companies like Riluxa, today, which means they can always be made to fit.)
Even if you’re a regular DIY fanatic, check out some online guides, such as how to fit your wall-hung washbasin, just to brush up on your knowledge. It’s good to be able to rely on knowledge gained during your past experiences, but this is the pinnacle of high-end design—there’s no harm in doing a bit of revision.
Looking for something else to read? Check out our article on Designing a Bathroom in Corian® Deep Nocturne.