If your goal is rich color and warmth, but contemporary style, that’s great. Vast tile and fixture selections will support any color direction you might want to take.
Plenty of dream pictures in magazine editorials and advertising for tubs and lavatories, faucets and tub fillers abound. In remodeling, a local home may be decades old and — rather than continue in an old adobe or Territorial style — you want to break with style and have a very contemporary bath. This can work, or not. It takes finishes, fixtures, and lights that bridge the divide between traditional Northern New Mexico style and still feels contemporary.
New, clean, and pristine goes a long way to updating any style. This approach works with traditional homes from other eras and locations. Craftsman, Prairie, California Ranch, New England colonial, Log home — we can update bathrooms that reference their authenticity, but look quite modern, or as classic as ever.
If your goal is rich color and warmth, but contemporary style, that’s great. Our vast tile and fixture selections will support any color direction you might want to take.
Plenty of dream pictures in magazine editorials and advertising for tubs and lavatories, faucets and tub fillers. In remodeling, a home may be older, and rather than continue in an old adobe style or Territorial style manner, you want to break with style and have a very contemporary bath. This can work, or not. It takes finishes, fixtures and lights that bridge the divide between traditional Northern New Mexico style, and still feels contemporary.
New, clean and pristine goes a long way to updating any style. This approach works with traditional homes from other eras and locations. Craftsman, Prairie, California Ranch, New England colonial, Log home — we can update bathrooms that reference their authenticity, but look quite modern, or as classic as ever.
WHAT DO YOU WANT IN YOUR BATHS?
- How many do you have and what size are they?
- Large spa-like Master Bath.
- Master Bath, but not so large.
- Smaller Guest Bath.
- Guest Bath that doubles as powder room.
- Powder room, limited family use
- Family bathroom, which may be the only bath in the home
Bathrooms Far and Wide, and Closer to Home
Most of our work this past year or so has been remodeling. With a bit of new
construction to keep it interesting. We love construction. Bathrooms especially. It’s a
relatively confined space with concentrated, mainly twice-a-day, functions.
We’ve been getting annual surveys and our national information is from several.
Primarily Kitchen and Bath News, and Houzz. Both are industry trade publications. We
follow what happens nationally and here will compare it to what we see in our Santa Fe
area work.
Size of Bathroom. Nationally, about one in five owners enlarge their bathroom. Our jobs
have not asked for that in many cases, as many have large bathrooms. But instead,
100% of our customers have enlarged their shower areas. Usually, this is done by
jettisoning the bathtub—especially the jetted tubs of the early 90’s—and devoting that
space to a large shower.
Tub vs. Shower. Nationally, more than a quarter of homeowners remove the tub during
a bath renovation. With the extra space, the majority enlarge their shower space, per
Houzz. More than 85% of our customers have removed the tub. Realtors here are
mixed on the need to maintain a bathtub somewhere in the house. Retirees with young
grandkids usually retain a tub, but never in the primary or master bath.
Wet Rooms. In three jobs in the last year, we made a large wet room area that includes
both a shower and a free-standing tub. We can still do a built-in, tiled-in, clad clean-lined
rectangular tub, but the trend is definitely toward a solo tub with no surround encasing it.
Instead, we finish the walls around the tub with stone or tile. They are beautiful. This
usually requires a floor-mounted tub filler, and some “digging in the dirt” and concrete
where we must avoid in-floor radiant heat lines. Our general contractor partners are the
go-to for anything this complex.
Why do it at all? Why remodel a mostly functional bathroom? Over one-third are doing
their remodel because the bathroom is terribly outdated, or has “broken parts” or at
worst is suffering mold that must be remediated. We’ve dealt with every type of
situation. About 40% nationally are rearranging their layout or floorplan, and moving
walls. That is what we have seen here, too.
In one case, we were asked to take two bathrooms and a bedroom entry and make
three bathrooms. So we made one bathroom smaller to eke out a powder room.
Upgrades. The types of upgrades are across the board. We have seen all of these, in
the following chart, plus the addition of the Japanese combination toilet set and bidet.
We send clients who are interested to Izanami at Ten Thousand Waves to test drive
them!
Some cost data. Nationally the median cost to upgrade a shower last year was $20,000.
And about 85% do upgrade the shower. In our case, 100% have upgraded the shower.
We are happy to show you specific designs and costs if you are interested. An even
higher share (87%) upgrade faucets, but wall finishes, flooring, and lighting fixtures
range from 82-83%.
Glass changes. Part of the cost of a shower upgrade is the choice to do a frameless
glass door and surround. Heavy half-inch or 3/8-inch glass is used. Our clients have
done this, as opposed to the more economical framed shower glass and door,
something out of favor today. 95% select a hinged door, or an opening away from the
shower head, with no door at all, rather than a sliding door.
Curbs. Another interesting trend is to do away with the curb at the shower entry…some
say, “Oh that is for wheelchair access later,” which it can be if the opening is at least the
ADA-required 32”. But this request comes from younger people not concerned with
access, but more with smooth style. Of course, we position and aim the shower head so
it will not flood the room. And the shower floor has to have the appropriate slope. For
safety the floor will have smaller dimensioned tile so grout joints help form the slip
resistance required. Some newer large format tiles have this slip-resistant finish fired in.
Finishes. Nationally, paint is the 80% choice for non-tile areas. Around Santa Fe, we’ve
done much more tile and stone on larger non-shower areas of the wall. It rules for both beauty and ease of permanent maintenance.
Vanities. Cabinetry-wise, over 75% in Santa Fe choose wood. 100% of our cabinetry
has soft-close doors and drawers and the best Blum hardware. We are seeing a rise in
people understanding the convenience and “clear counters” option of outlets inside
doors and drawers. We never want to see a hair dryer on our bathroom countertops.
And it is doable to hide the dental appliances. So why not? They are not designed for
beauty.
Pulls are getting more interesting than the national go-to of the bar pull. Finishes are still
usually matched to the plumbing hardware. And we are 100% away from the sheet of
wall mirror over our vanities. Framed mirrors, or mirrors tiled into the wall tile are our
favorites. We have a huge selection of mirrors to install on the wall.
Because today’s choices are endless, we could go on. We are just covering the basic
areas here. Everyone has questions and ideas. Let’s have a conversation!
