The humble bathroom may serve some practical purposes, but keeping it updated is a big investment. In 2023, a bathroom remodel cost American homeowners more than $11,000 on average, with premium finishes costing $28,000 or more.
What does that money buy? Real estate professionals and home designers say homeowners are becoming increasingly mindful about their bathroom spaces. For some, that means incorporating hands-free tech or easier-to-clean surfaces in a bid to make their life easier. For others, it’s all about relaxation and turning to wellness trends to create a mini oasis that feels like a spa.
Here are the biggest bathroom trends experts say they’re seeing.
Spa- and wellness-inspired bathrooms
More homeowners and renters alike are turning their bathrooms into spa-like sanctuaries. Jo Chavez, a real estate agent with Redfin in Kansas City, Mo., tells Yahoo Life she’s seeing clients avoiding ornate, over-the-top patterns and tiles. Instead, they’re embracing more neutral colors — including creams, greens and blond woods — with “a lot of plants,” similar to what one might find in a wellness retreat.
“Ever since the pandemic, everyone has really made sure to prioritize self-care — and that’s only grown with time,” Dina Sartore-Bodo, an advice editor at Realtor.com, tells Yahoo Life. On a budget, Sartore-Bodo says, that might mean setting the mood with ambient lighting or incorporating more “spa-like products” such as aromatherapy and bath salts. For those with more to spend — and space to spare — “the idea of having a sauna has really taken off,” she adds.
Veronica Sanders, CEO and principal designer at Design with Veronica Sanders, tells Yahoo Life that “luxury clients” are turning their bathrooms “into personal sanctuaries.”
“Steam showers, body jets, waterfall showerheads and heated floors are becoming must-haves,” she says.
Nicole Kessler, a real estate agent with Compass in Austin, Texas, says she’s even seeing clients adding “meditation spaces” to their bathrooms. “I’m selling a house right now that looks like a normal bathroom, but then you come around the corner, and there’s this little space with a mirror,” Kessler tells Yahoo Life. “[The homeowner] has a yoga mat in there, and she says she just goes in there and stretches and does her own thing where it’s less noisy.”
And it isn’t just luxury homes that are making wellness and meditation areas a priority; Kessler says she sees average homes with similar spaces in or near the bathroom as well.
“Austin’s a very healthy city where [health] is a priority and a lifestyle,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be a multimillion-dollar house to create a little space like this.”
Simple, practical spaces that are easy to clean
Anything that’s difficult to clean is out, and bathroom styles that make life easier are in. Chavez says that means vessel sinks (sinks that look like big bowls on top of the bathroom counter) are less popular because water gets trapped underneath and is hard to clean. Faucets with wide spouts are also undesirable because they tend to splash water everywhere.
Pebbled and textured shower floors have also fallen out of favor because homeowners have realized they’re uncomfortable to stand on — “and, again, difficult to keep clean, especially if you have hard water that builds up around them,” Chavez says. Even the once ubiquitous subway tile is losing its appeal as more homeowners favor designs with less grout and crevices to clean.
For bathtubs, homeowners are returning to the basics with simple, minimal freestanding soaking tubs in graceful “sculptural” shapes, Kessler says. “Back in the 2000s, we were seeing a lot of the really in-your-face kind of tubs with columns,” Chavez says. “We’re no longer seeing big, ornate tubs. It’s definitely something that’s more simple.”
“If it has a Jacuzzi tub in it, that’s not as on-trend or as valuable,” Sartore-Bodo adds. “Jacuzzi tubs require a lot of maintenance, they’re very difficult to clean [and] they just don’t hold the same value as the soaking tub.”
‘Future-proof’ bathrooms
Sanders says she sees more homeowners thinking ahead and “designing with aging in mind, even if they don’t need accessible features yet” — including incorporating more elements such as grab bars and curbless showers.
“The conversation has changed from ‘Do I need this?’ to ‘How can this enhance my lifestyle now and in the future?’” she says.
Sartore-Bodo says part of the reason people are “future-proofing” their bathrooms is that more homeowners are choosing to age in their current home, rather than downsize to a smaller place when they get older. There’s also an uptick in multigenerational households, so more homeowners are making sure the bathroom is accessible for everybody in the family.
“There’s all kinds of scenarios where people are staying in their homes longer, so particularly in the bathroom it’s important to make sure that it’s functional for later in life — which includes updating the lighting and making sure that the room is brighter, everything is really visible,” Sartore-Bodo says. “The big remodel is to make sure that you have a walk-in shower, not necessarily the shower-tub combo, [which is] difficult as you get older to step in and out of.”
Family-friendly ‘wet rooms’
Wet rooms — where the bathtub and shower are in one big, tiled space — are also popular for two main reasons: practicality and family life.
“I’m selling a house right now that has it, and it looks cool, but it’s really about space saving,” Kessler says.
Chavez admits that at first she was “kind of puzzled” by the wet room setup, but she says clients, especially those with children, have been singing its praises.
“Your kids can be taking a bath while you take a shower, and so it allows everybody to get clean at the same time. You can keep an eye on the little one while they’re splashing around in the tub — and not making a mess,” she says.
And even for those without kids, Chavez says more homeowners are finding wet rooms to be a practical choice. The tub can function as seating in the shower instead of making room for a bench, and when you’re in the tub any water overflow goes straight into the shower drain instead of all over the bathroom floor.
Tech and ‘smart showers’
At all income levels, Chavez says “smart showers” are in.
“We love our tech, and so having a shower that you can control from an app or having [Amazon’s voice service] Alexa control your shower is great,” she says.
If you and your partner or roommate have different temperature or water pressure preferences, smart showers allow you to create specific settings. You can also program timers that limit how long your shower will last (an ideal design for regimented individuals or those with hot-water-loving teenagers).
And bathroom tech isn’t limited to the elite. Chavez says she’s also seeing smart showers and light-adjusting smart mirrors popping up in home makeovers as well.
“It’s actually pretty accessible,” she says. “We are seeing them in higher-end homes, but we’re also seeing them in a lot of [flipped homes]. I think a lot of times investors are trying to find the next cool thing, and even some of the starter homes in some of our areas have them because they’re not super expensive to do, and people really like them.”
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