It’s easy to neglect the bathroom. In some ways, the bathroom is just a convenient place to relieve yourself and wash up. But it’s also an important space of the home where people can seek privacy, find some temporary comfort, and feel better about the house in which they live. If your bathroom is clean, accessible, comfortable, and treated with dignity and respect, it’s going to make your family much happier – and potentially lead to better interpersonal dynamics.
So what steps can you take to make the bathroom a more comfortable space for your family?
General Guidelines
There are a handful of important guidelines you’ll follow throughout the process:
- Communicate openly. It’s hard to make the bathroom a more comfortable space if you don’t know what would make the other members of your family more comfortable. That’s why your priority should always be communicating openly. Ask your family members what they’d like to see, how they feel about the current setup, and what their personal preferences are – and actively listen to them.
- Treat the bathroom as a collaborative effort. If you’re sharing the bathroom with other people, it needs to be treated as a collaborative effort. No one person should dominate the process of creating and refining this space.
- Be willing to adapt. You may not be able to establish the perfect bathroom in a single day – and the strategies you thought would improve the bathroom might fail. That’s why it’s important to remain flexible and adaptable throughout this process.
Equipment
There are several pieces of equipment that can make your bathroom more comfortable and enjoyable to your family, such as:
- A bidet. Bidets aren’t common in the United States, but they’re slowly growing to be more popular. Why? Because people are starting to learn just how beneficial bidets are. With a bidet in place, all your family members can walk away from a bathroom experience feeling much cleaner – and you’ll use less toilet paper as a result.
- A better showerhead. You may not have the budget to replace your entire shower or commit to a major renovation, but a better showerhead should be relatively inexpensive. With a superior showerhead installed, your family members will be able to enjoy a stronger stream of water and clean themselves more effectively.
- More storage space. If you typically find yourselves fighting over drawer space or arguing about hogging the counter, it’s important to find a way to include more storage space in your bathroom. This could take the form of additional cabinets, a secondary drawer, or even shelves mounted on the wall.
Design and Décor
Also pay attention to the design and décor of the space:
- Lighting. Better, more prominent lighting can make the space seem warmer and more inviting, while also offering the practical benefit of seeing yourself better in the mirror.
- Rugs. Comfortable, spacious rugs can help control water damage, give bare feet a warmer space, and feel comfortable as an added bonus.
- Color. The right color can instantly make the bathroom more interesting or cozier – work with your family to choose the right tone.
- Other touches. Flowers or houseplants can instantly liven the space – and there are hundreds of other décor elements to consider.
Cleaning and Hygiene
The bathroom needs to be cleaned on a regular basis and should be given at least a cursory wipe-down every day. Establish a point person to be responsible for each bathroom in your home, or use a chore wheel-style system to rotate responsibilities.
In any case, you should make it clear how the cleaning is supposed to be done – and who’s supposed to do it. A cleaner bathroom will be more comfortable for everyone.
Communication and Etiquette
Some bathroom etiquette should be obvious, but it’s still important to clarify expectations with your family members. Be willing to have a frank discussion about how each person is expected to use the bathroom – and how other people are expected to behave when someone else is in the bathroom.
For example, when someone is done using the toilet, are they expected to lower the seat? If someone’s not currently occupying the bathroom, should the door remain open or be closed? If someone uses the last of the supplies in the bathroom, are they expected to replace them?
These rules aren’t the type that requires strict enforcement or disciplinary action if they’re breached – but you should have a system that every family member respects.
With these items, décor choices, and communication protocols in place, your bathroom will be a much more comfortable space for you, your family members, and even your guests. If you have multiple bathrooms, you can focus on one bathroom as the center of your bathroom improvement strategy or work on all of them simultaneously.
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This post is brought to you by Larry Alton.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock
