Animal Kingdom Bathing

We thought this Friday we’d have a little fun with bath time. Here are some interesting ways our friends in the animal kingdom get cleaned up after a hard days work.

Dogs do it in style

Here are some other random animals enjoying the water.

4 Essential Steps to Remodeling Your Bathroom

The beginning of any home remodel or home repair can be a daunting task. This article is to help you with all things necessary to start this process.

The very first thing is to determine how involved you want to be in the project. On a scale of 1-10, decide how much of the design aspect you want to be in charge of. I would say the majority of individuals want complete control over the entire project, but with technical plumbing and electrical configurations the truth is we can’t do it all ourselves.

You shouldn’t worry if you don’t feel comfortable with demo, clean-up, construction and decorating; there are professionals that can help you with each step along the way. However, the purpose of this article is a basic overview for the DIYer rather than someone who wants to hire contractors and consultants.

Step 1. Plan: What do you want the space to become

If you’re renovating, the space is probably already defined (ie. bedroom; bathroom; kitchen; etc.). Remember, bedrooms can become offices, nurseries, gyms, dens, or even a walk-in closet. Don’t limit yourself with possibilities.

Step 2. Measure: Calculate the dimensions of your entire space

You need to know what you’re working with. The most important measurement is the length of each wall. This will help you create a floor plan drawling. If you’re renovating an exterior room, kitchen or wash room be sure to indicate where windows, doors, existing plumbing and gas lines are.

These are features that you either can’t move (windows and doors) or are difficult to move without having proper training (plumbing and gas lines). Electrical lines can be relatively easy to alter and move if done properly. While it will take significant research and first hand experience to alter your homes plumbing or gas lines, the payoff is well worth it for the dedicated DIYer.

Step 3. Organize: Record major components on your floor plan

For the purpose of this article I’ve created a basic bathroom blueprint plan to provide you a visual. For bathrooms you need to determine the location of the toilet, sink, shower and closet. Other fixtures that you’ll want to plan are the exhaust fan, overhead light and outlets.

IMPORTANT footnote on bathroom outlets: Outlets in the bathroom must but GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) outlets as mandated by building code. GFCI’s monitor the electricity used by the appliances plugged into them with an accuracy of a few milliamps (mA). A deviation from the norm of ~5 mA will trip the receptacle and turn off (it takes roughly 100 mA to stop the human heart). This is a safety feature that protects individuals from electrocution.
Check out this link for more information on GFCIs.

Step 4. Design: additional attributes you want the space to have.

In my case I want to add horizontal studs for where I’m going to place the towel bars and robe hooks. Adding a horizontal stud will allow the towel bar to be more stable and less likely to pull out of the wall. Towel bars tend to pull out of walls because people use them as grab bars and it pulls out of the drywall. An exhaust fan is important to design into bathrooms because they are mandatory if a window isn’t present. Read more about this building code.

At this point you are well on your way to having a new bathroom! Just stick to these simple steps to remodeling and you’ll be sure to have success before you even start demolishing your old, undesirable and probably drab looking bathroom. The great thing about being a DIYer is your ability to turn it into anything you want!

Read more: 4 Essential Steps To Remodeling Your Home – TheBathOutlet.com

Not Your Typical Bathtub

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to combine a luxury rain shower system with a spacious open-air bathtub? Thanks to The Leggera bathtub shower system made by Italian manufacturer Ceramica Flamina, that dream has become a reality, and a very interesting one at that.

So what makes this bathtub such a practical solution? While the tub’s irregular shape prevents water from leaving the tub when taking a shower standing up, the curvatures of the porcelain provides comfort while bathing, almost as if you are relaxing in an umbrella.

The shower system, which pierces through the bottom of the porcelain tub and rises high above it, is made of chromed stainless steel and features a handheld shower.

While there’s no doubt the Leggera carries a hefty price tag, adding this unique tub to your master bath would create an interesting talking point and have you bathing in both luxurious and comfort sensible style .

The New Airbus A380 Experience

You may already know about the comforts and amenities of a first class cabin, especially in wide-bodied aircraft and on long flights. But did you know that you can now take a shower on some of those flights?

That’s right, Emirates’ new A380 first class cabin is fitted with a shower! On longer flights, you can freshen up and take a 5-minute shower right before landing, or whenever you feel like it.

What’s more is the first class bathroom is equipped with high-end bath accessories such as LED mirrors that can aid you with shaving or makeup application. No longer do you have to wait until you reach the hotel room.

Although these new luxury cabins are for single usage, you can see from the pictures that theres still plenty of space for a comfortable wash up. Don’t forget, the handle bars are there for a reason! Take a look at some of the other design elements these in-air bathrooms have to offer:

Space Exlporation: How to get the most out of your bathroom layout

Amongst styling preferences and budgeting, one of the most important and often times overlooked factors when remodeling or renovating your bathroom is space management. The key to getting the most out of any size bathroom lay out is working with what you have, in the most efficient way possible.

Space conservation primarily begins with the largest pieces that make up your bathroom, i.e. the sink, toilet and for master bathroom layouts, the shower or bathtub fixtures. Oftentimes simply purchasing a smaller sized sink or toilet can greatly enhance the space you already have.

Many Italian crafted ceramic sinks offer a condensed length and width, which mounted on a wall correctly can save a significant amount of space. This is certainly ideal for tight studio apartment bathrooms and smaller scale hall bathrooms where ample maneuverability is essential. A round bowl toilet will also save you space as they typically don’t stick out as far as square style toilets. If you are looking to maintain a large counter top area then an undermount sink may suit your needs as well.

Along with space conservation, another essential element to any bathroom set up is storage management. There are many types of storage routes to go, i.e. cabinets, vanities or pedestal style sinks and tables. In order to utilize as much floor space as possible, it’s usually a good idea to invest in some style of wall cabinet. Vanities can also be helpful as most extend from the bottom of the sink down to the floor, an area where ample storage space can be utilized.

Without purchasing any type of storage components, home renovators have been using tricks for years to create the notion of more space by simply altering the style of lighting and the type of paint inside the bathroom. Painting your walls and/or cabinets with a lighter color tone has the ability to take up less visual space by allowing the area to feel larger.

Likewise, your bathroom lighting can have a profound impact on how spacious your bathroom feels. The general rule is the more light you can add to your bathroom (natural preferably), the larger it will feel. Adding additional bathroom windows, skylights, and light fixtures can all add to this sense of spaciousness.

While you may be on a strict budget and have a brilliant theme in mind, what really pays to keep in perspective is the amount of space being utilized in your bathroom and how it’s being utilized.

With a few simple tricks and cutbacks in fixture sizes, you can really start to explore the amount of space your bathroom has and get the most out of every square inch.