Most professional workplaces today are investing more in enhancing their bathrooms or restrooms. Not only do restrooms play a vital role in supporting the comfort and health of employees, but they also often serve as a welcome space for people with greatly demanding jobs to take a break.
Image by May_hokkaido
For this reason, if you own a commercial space, it’s smart to remodel or update old bathrooms and provide them with a more impressive design. You may be thinking that this would cost you a significant amount of money, which is highly likely. However, it is possible to remodel workplace bathrooms or restrooms on a much stricter budget and still secure amazing results.
The most important move to make is to hire really good interior contractors for the project. They can work with all kinds of budgets and ensure the best execution of makeover plans. To get you started on ideas, listed below are 10 creative ways to freshen up your workplace restrooms without going crazy with the cost.
1. Choose a new color scheme.
There’s nothing like a new color palette to give a room a totally different vibe. Take inspiration from the fancy hotel and restaurant bathrooms that are rarely ever just plain white. You could also visit Pinterest and Instagram to learn about the trendiest colors for interiors.
For 2020, the best colors for residential and commercial interiors are:
- Champagne
- Charcoal or Ash
- Dark Read
- Olive Green
- Peacock
- Soft Pink
2. Switch light fixtures for flashier and more modern illumination.
To give restrooms a more glamorous effect, make sure you do not have exposed white bar lights. Replace these with something warmer and less sterile-looking.
Likewise, opt for recessed installation. For a “wow” impact, include some architectural downlights or chandeliers. Also, add some sconces by the doors and on the left and right sides of restroom mirrors.
3. Change your floors.
If the floor is looking both dated and worn out, make it more visually appealing by changing the material. This may be the costliest thing that you can do, but it will be worth it.
How about laying concrete and painting it with interior decorative paint and finish? This will automatically elevate your floor’s appearance.
Another option is to retile. There’s nothing like fresh new tiles to make a restroom more inviting and stylish.
4. Upgrade your flooring further with floor treatments.
Make the floors plusher with carpets. There are heavy-duty carpets for the job. The best commercial flooring treatments have 100% PA solution-dyed fiber and can withstand heavy foot traffic. Plus, they are easy to clean and environmentally-friendly.
Decking out workplace bathrooms with carpets is even more ideal if there are seating nooks. Carpet in the restroom is always an indicator of a sophisticated style.
5. Create a seating area.
Big restrooms can certainly benefit from a seating spot for those who come to the bathroom just to touch up or to wait for a friend. You can add a couch with easy to clean fabric cover, an armchair, a small table with bistro chairs, or even a chaise lounge. To make the seating spot an even bigger visual delight, anchor it on an area rug.
6. Add texture and structure to the wall.
If you don’t want to cover the walls with tiles, fancy them up by installing panels. Wall paneling is an easy project to accomplish. Additionally, it doesn’t cost a lot of money.
Another option for upgrading the look of your walls is by creating an accent wall. You can cover just one wall in the restroom with a vibrantly colored and patterned wallpaper to either complement the color palette of the room or to create a rich contrast.
7. Install new hardware.
Replace old hardware with new ones that will create a more harmonious look with the refreshed style of the restroom. Look for a different color of the metal as well as beautiful designs of pulls, knobs, taps, hooks, and grab bars.
If you don’t want to spend too much on new hardware, you can simply have them painted. You can turn silver to gold, copper, and even matte black. Not only that, but you can also create a new finish for your hardware. You can create a brushed finish with decorative coating and painting techniques.
8. Accessorize for a better bathroom experience.
Accessories can contribute so much to the ambiance of the restrooms. These can be little details such as paper soaps in glass hurricanes, aromatic candles, a display of free fragrances, and stylish hand soap dispensers. Accessories can also be big, eye-catching implements such as tall potted plants, elaborate floral arrangements, and paintings.
These accessories can truly transform a restroom from a mere place of hygiene to a retreat for the mind.
9. Make the room brighter with more mirrors.
For restrooms, you can never have too many mirrors because everyone who comes in needs to have that moment to check their appearance. The mirrors in front of the sinks are never enough. Do install full-length mirrors as well because some people like to see their whole body.
Another advantage of having more mirrors in the restroom is that it can maximize the illumination within the room, which is essential especially if there are no windows. Plus, it can make a small restroom look more spacious.
Mirrors are also helpful in creating a sense of symmetry for oddly shaped bathrooms. With strategic placement, they can create a more balanced appearance.
10. Clean the air.
If it’s possible to add extra windows, do so. If not, add a dehumidifier, air purifier, and aroma diffuser and choose the best locations for all of them. These devices will make sure that workplace restrooms do not only smell fresh and nice, but they are also much healthier places to be for workers who need to step away from the grind momentarily and relax.
With these 10 ideas, your commercial space’s bathrooms will undoubtedly become the highlights of the property. You can definitely do more (toilets, taps, and even doors with sensor technology would be perfect), but these are more than enough to impress anybody.
AUTHOR BIO
James Prathap is the General Manager at NGC Nafees, one of the leading distributors of wallpapers, floorings, and fabrics in the Middle East and South Asia. Formed three decades ago, the business also offers high-quality panoramics, coordinated fabrics, and creative stickers for residential and commercial projects.
