5 Practical tips for creating a family friendly bathroom

Photo by Andrea Davis on Unsplash

Creating a bathroom that is suitable for all of the family can be a challenge.  The adults in the family may want a more relaxing space while the younger children will need a place which is safe and practical.

In this post, we will discuss some of the easiest tips to follow so you can design your bathroom to firstly get the most out of the room and secondly to make it suitable for your family.

1) Make everything larger than it needs to be.

If you have enough space you should make everything in the bathroom larger than it would usually need to be. A family bathroom will mean on times there will be several family members using the room to get ready which can often lead to getting in each other's way.  

To combat this you will need larger sinks (or his and hers sink if the budget allows it), a large mirror so more than one person can fit in or even a bath and a shower so more than one person can get ready at the same time.  

When our little one was much smaller my husband would bathe him while I would have a quick shower.  This saved time and meant we could all get ready to leave the house in a reasonable time frame.

2) You will need a bath.

I much prefer a shower to a bath as I find it much quicker to use, but when you need to take into consideration the needs of your family, especially the small children, a bath is a must-have item, it also makes your home more valuable if you were to sell it in the future.

Marc a professional plumber from www.mandmheatingandplumbing.co.uk says that "Not having a bath in your home can put off potential buyers if you were ever to sell your home.  If you are limited for space you could go for an l-shaped or p-shaped bath that incorporate both a shower and a bath."

There are additional products that you can buy to make bath time with smaller children easier.  We used a bath seat with our little one, and it helped them sit up while bathing. A word of warning though, never leave your children in these seats unattended.

3) Add more storage.

A bathroom can become cluttered very quickly if used by multiple people.  Small children will clutter the bathroom with toys and baby products while adults will often have various cleaning products, perfumes, aftershaves and everything else needed to beautify themselves.

To keep your bathroom from looking cluttered you are going to need to invest in storage.  Cupboards, vanity units, cabinet mirrors and wicker baskets are all good solutions when it comes to storage.  

By adding storage solutions to your bathroom not only are you improving the aesthetics of the room but you are also keeping items out of reach from smaller children. 

4) Colour code your items.

When multiple people use the bathroom it's not long before you end up using each other's items which from a hygiene point isn't great.  The simplest way around this is to colour code your towels, toothbrushes, robes and anything else that you use.

If colour coding isn't your thing and you want to keep your bathroom to a set theme you could also opt for personalised items.  Towels, robes and your toothbrushes can all be personalised with a name for fairly cheap.

5) Soft-close hinges.

If your family does have younger children then soft-close hinges will be needed to avoid any trapped fingers in doors and toilet seats.  You can also use them around the rest of the home.  

Soft-close hinges can be purchased online for fairly cheap and you can also buy toilet seats with the feature built-in.  

Conclusion

Designing a bathroom that is suitable for all ages is difficult but with the 5 simple tips above you now have a set of actionable tips that you can use going forward to not only create a great looking bathroom but also one that is functional and safe.