Renovating is what we do and ensuites are one of our favourite rooms to renovate. The ensuite is your sanctuary. This is your private space, where you start or end your day. Where you unwind, go for a good cry, or enjoy some closeness with your parner. For the long shower or the bubble bath, there is nothing better than a luxury space that you have carefully designed for all of your bathroom needs.
Here are 7 great features that we love to incorporate into our ensuite bathroom renovations.
1. A large open shower
Recall, if you can, a time when you had a shower in a tiny corner shower with a rickety door, or in a tub/shower combo with a shower curtain that keeps coming in contact with you while you are wet. If that is every day...well it may be time for a bathroom remodel.
Our favourite projects involve bathroom renovations to open up underutilized spaces to create stunning, open showers. If you had even an extra 6 inches you could feel less claustrophobic. We find this space with thinner walls such as tile or flat acrylic rather than the bulky acrylic surrounds of old. Perhaps we can move the toilet over a few inches and get a bigger tub or shower in there. Do you have an underused closet adjacent to the bathroom? If you have a tub in another bathroom, perhaps a shower is all you need. Showers are more roomy inside and we can add recessed niches, flip down benches and more.
2. An elongated and chair height toilet
Wherever possible, we install elongated toilets that are at chair height. These comfortable toilets provide a longer seat which is better for all people sizes. The height is called chair height which is 18-19” high. Before this improved standard, toilets were 14-15’ high. This new height makes it easier for older adults, tall adults, and sleepy adults to get up and down from a seated position.
Our favourite toilet is the Studio skirted toilet by American Standard. This narrow toilet is easy to clean and we have never had a callback (knock on wood). We have this available to test out in our customer bathroom.
3. Heated floors
One of the more popular luxury add-ons for an ensuite renovation is to add heated tile floors. We can even add heat to the floor in the shower. Our supply partner Schluter has several different thermostat options including smart phone connectivity so that you can get that floor warming up before you step out of bed and into the bathroom.
4. Lots of light
Your old bathroom likely has one light over your mirror. The bathroom renovation projects that we do today often include the addition of more lighting. We love a pot light near the toilet and one by the sink, but our absolute favourite thing to do is put in some tiny lights inside the shower. On those darker winter mornings, it is absolutely possible to keep the bright lights off and turn on your dimmer lighting in the shower to allow for a nice slow wake up. We have our showroom shower set up so you can see this in action. Schluter as also just introduced a niche that incorporates an LED striplight. This is another great way to add some ambient light for a relaxing shower experience.
5. Multiple shower heads
The majority of our shower renovations include more than one shower head. Our favourite combo is a handheld shower wand on a slide bar PLUS a rainhead. These systems include what is called a diverter. The diverter gives you the power to turn either of these water sources on or even have both on. For larger showers, 60” or more, we move the rainhead into the middle of the shower so that there is room for two and nobody is getting left in the cold.
6. Accessible and adaptable layouts
Age in place design. That is the phrase that we use to describe adaptable features that are incorporated into any design where possible. In bathroom renovations, this includes:
- keeping more space around the toilet
- larger showers with room for wheelchairs or other seating options
- flush or extra low shower base
- backing for future grab bars in various locations
- wider doorways
7. Heated towel racks
In 2024 we are getting more and more requests for heated towel racks. This luxury item requires some well planned electrical during the renovation so that you can use a hard-wired option.
If you want to see more of our favourite features, pop into our showroom and see our display showers.