Scottish design duo Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are in Canada filming their latest series, Colin & Justin's Home Heist on HGTV, and we've convinced them to moonlight as columnists for STYLE AT HOME. Here, they dish out their decorating secrets, just for you.
5 bathroom renovation no-nos and how to avoid them
The bathroom's importance should never be underestimated. Often, it's in this smallest room that we get the chance to make the biggest impact. Besides enhancing your quality of life, a great bathroom will also bolster the saleability of your property. When putting together a look during bathroom renovations, think about two elements: convenience and comfort. For convenience, try to create efficient wash, makeup and hairstyling areas; for comfort, establish a restful, well-decorated haven for yourself. No longer just a place to wash and go, our bathrooms can provide sanctuary from the stresses and strains of the outside world. You owe it to yourself to get it right!
1 Carpets
Carpets are harbingers of, ahem, fluids, so opt for wipe-clean surfaces like stone or ceramic. The worst case of bathroom carpeting we've seen was in a tiny London home where the owners had gone potty (excuse the bathroom pun) and carpeted the floor, bath panel and even window ledges.
2 Coloured suites
Hell's bells, when will people learn? Bathroom suites can be any colour -- as long as they're white. That means a resounding no to avocado, beige and any offensive pastels. While filming How Not To Decorate, we encountered a bathroom with four different colour schemes: a bath so green it looked like Kermit the Frog exploded in it, a toffee-colour bath panel, a marshmallow pink toilet and, to top the lot, a navy sink with golden taps. When pressed to explain the error of her ways, our style-challenged homeowner proffered that on the lookout to save money, she'd bought (in various stages) sanitary wares through local newspaper ads -- regardless of colour. Stick to white, and introduce colour via tiling, flooring and accessories, instead. Listen to no one who tells you that avocado is back in style!
3 Cheap laminate flooring
Let us tell you about The Weetabix Bathroom. As part of Colin & Justin's Home Heist, we tackled a bathroom renovation in Oshawa, Ont., that initially didn't look too bad. But we discovered a cardinal sin: cheap laminate flooring. You see, those bargain-bin deals are not what they're cracked up to be. Some laminates are little more than a photograph of wood grain glued to compressed fibre board or chipboard. And what happens when you add water? They expand -- just like Weetabix does when you add milk. So take a tip: invest in the best and opt for water-resistant products like bamboo or teak.
Kitchen & Bath - Bathroom
Colin & Justin: Avoid bathroom renovation disasters!
Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan dish about bathroom renovation mistakes!
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- Page 1: Pass on the carpet, too much colour and cheap flooring
- Page 2: Hide your toiletries and skip the wallpaper
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7 Comments
we are renovating a 1970's bathroom (blue) and wanted a contractor to do it . We have $ 7,000 to do it and it's very small ,but the prices have all been over 15,000 so now we are going to do it with help here and there. Any suggestions on part one the rip out .tile and walls have to be stripped to the studs Thanks John from Pickering ont. jdoyle0521@rogers.com
John: While watching a couple of recent HGTV renos, it was stated that a small bathroom shouldn't exceed 10,000 max and that was a complete gut. It was stated that it should be a 50/50 split (material and contractor cost). More estimates are required.
Our house was built in 1948. The main floor bathroom is the classic toilet, sink (undersized) and tub/shower combo. Problem: the room is 4' deep x 7' wide!! We want to replace the tub/shower with a custom shower stall but are having trouble with deciding what to do for a shower door. We are thinking about tempered glass but the room is so tiny there may not be enough room the the 'swing' of the door. Any suggestions please? We already have a full bathroom on the second floor but that one is mine and I don't share very well.
Our house was built in 1948. The main floor bathroom is the classic toilet, sink (undersized) and tub/shower combo. Problem: the room is 4' deep x 7' wide!! We want to replace the tub/shower with a custom shower stall but are having trouble with deciding what to do for a shower door. We are thinking about tempered glass but the room is so tiny there may not be enough room the the 'swing' of the door. Any suggestions please? We already have a full bathroom on the second floor but that one is mine and I don't share very well.
You can do it yourself. Make sure you use a waterproofing base layer under the tile - like Kerdi - and if you are tiling the shower base the Schluter kit from Home Depot is excellent. Also be sure to use cement board instead of drywall in the shower/bath area. BTW - are you the same John Doyle from McLeod Crescent in the 80s, with a sister Sandra?
I still do not like white for a bathroom. Can't find much else. I guess the stylists rule. Too bad we listen to them soooo much. Try to find a magazine that pictures rooms with GOOD art or any art on the walls or use of antiques. What happened to individual good taste. The make-overs look very similar, just tweeked according to your budget. Eventually the best ideas will evolve, they always do.
Colin and Justin would freak at my "old fashioned 20 year old bathroom fixtures. Would love for them to do over my bathroom though...I wouldn't give up my huge soaker tub in cream color for nothing. Besides not everyone can afford a $10,000.00 room make over. I am in the process of doing my own reno's and agree that paint is a wonderful refresher as are new towels and accessories. One day I will tile the walls around the tub but not until I can afford it. Besides who knows what's going to be "in" 3 years from now.Fads come and go just like the dollars when designers tell us whats in and whats out. I am an individual and don't want the same as everyone else. Look at granite counter tops for example, next year they'll may obsolete.