The role of the bathroom is changing. It’s no longer merely a utilitarian room – today, the bathroom is a key feature of any home.
The modern-day bathroom is a place to luxuriate and linger – a room where you can spend some quiet time before work, or retreat to after a hard day to unwind in the tub. Other rooms of your home may be designed to impress your guests, but your bathroom is your own private sanctuary.
However, revamping your bathroom isn’t just a personal asset. With the demand for luxury bathrooms on the rise, updating your bathroom is also a lucrative investment. We as an estate agent in Knightsbridge have come up with some great ideas…
The London Market
The monetary value of luxury bathrooms is most significant in the capital. Mayfair estate agent Peter Wetherell recently made the bold prediction that bathrooms in his part of town were set to double in value in the next five to ten years, rising from £5,000 to a staggering £10,000 per square foot.
To put this into perspective, the typical value of a 32 sq. ft. bathroom in Mayfair would be approximately £320,000. That’s £70,000 more expensive than the price of an average UK home.
And why stop at a single bathroom? The desire for multiple bathrooms is growing so rapidly that many people are committing what was once the ultimate property faux pas, and transforming their smallest bedrooms into another bathroom.
And it isn’t just London either. Throughout the rest of the UK, fitting a luxury bathroom will add monetary value to your property, and send buyers flooding to your doorstep.
Luxury Bathroom Ideas
So what are buyers looking for? For a start, forget his and hers washbasins – bathroom designers are now planning his and hers bathrooms attached to the master bedroom. His is pretty masculine, with wooden panelling and neutral, earthy tones, whereas hers has a definite feminine touch. Oh, and a mini-fridge to store her face creams.
As for the heating of your private sanctuary (or sanctuaries!), don’t bother with unsightly radiators. Today it’s all about warm tootsies as you stumble to the washbasin in the morning with buyers scrambling for properties with underfloor heating, while cold, damp towels are banished with the installation of a heated towel rail or even a towel oven.
On the subject of heated fittings, a Toto appears high on many bathroom wish lists. For those who haven’t heard of one, it’s a Japanese toilet, with a heated seat which senses movement and rises or lowers according to need. They also come with many nifty features, including a built-in music system and a foot-warmer, just in case your underfloor heating isn’t quite doing its job.
Finally, in an idea that takes its inspiration from hotels, architects are combining sleeping and bathing into a single room to take advantage of the natural light, while retaining a certain separation of space using features such as glass walls.
So next time you’re planning to revamp your bathroom, take note. By installing luxury features and thinking about your space as your own private sanctum, you will double your benefits. You’ll have a bathroom fit for royalty in which to relax and pamper yourself, and when it’s time to sell up, you’ll reap the rewards in terms of your property’s value and saleability.
Thanks to Best Gapp, an estate agent with properties for sale in Knightsbridge for this guest post.
