The New Bathroom: Splashy, Stylish, Sexy it may start out with an aversion to the ?50s seafoam green sink, tub and toilet you?ve inherited from your house?s previous owner. Or that water stain on the den ceiling may loom perceptibly larger every time you take a shower. Or you simply tire of the morning elbowing contest at the only sink.
And as much as you may dislike having to put up with the mess, disruption and expense, the time for a new bathroom may be now. Whether the problem is esthetics or wear and tear or a need for more space, an estimated 3.5 million American families will remodel their bathrooms this year, according to Kitchen and Bath Business magazine. And on Long Island, where many of the development houses have reached the not-to-be-trusted age of 30, the bathroom remodeling business is booming like never before.
?There has been a tremendous increase in bathroom remodeling,? said Norman Rosner, co-owner of Danark Associates Inc. in Lynbrook, which specializes in luxury baths, kitchens and other remodeling. ?Our bathroom business has increased more than two to three hundred percent over last year.?
Other contractors agree. Jarro Building Industries Corp. of East Meadow, a general contractor, just added a bathroom showroom in response to increased demand. And at Aladdin Remodelers in Massapequa Park, designer Joseph Nicolini said, ?Five years ago bathrooms used to be about twenty percent of our business. Right now, they?re fifty percent, and we expect it to exceed that.?
There are many reasons why renovating the bathroom has become so popular of late. Bathrooms don?t last forever, for one. ?There were a tremendous amount of houses built here in the ?fifties and ?sixties, and the bathrooms are old already,? said Rosner.
The high price of moving is another incentive to fix up instead, especially now with more affordable home improvement loans. And if you do plan to sell sometime down the line, redoing a bathroom almost always makes a house more attractive to a prospective buyer. New Shelter magazine, in its annual survey on home improvement paybacks, says that homeowners will get back at least 50 percent of the cost of an average bathroom renovation when they sell the house ? not as good as the 100 percent-plus payback of adding a new bathroom, but not bad.
The improved economy has made a difference, too ? so much so that when people are replacing their bathrooms, they?re spending big bucks to do it. Although you can find a contractor to do a basic bathroom replacement for $5,000 or $6,000 ? and some places advertise it for even less ? many people are spending $15,000, $20,000 and even more. And most big contractors have stories to tell of $100,000 bathrooms.
It seems that people who are used to being pampered in health clubs want more sybaritic baths at home. No longer content to put in a basic sink, toilet and bathtub, more and more homeowners are demanding luxury in the bath ? at luxurious prices.
Hastings Tile & Il Bagno Collection in Great Neck is introducing a combination toilet and bidet for about $2,500. ?The fact that it?s expensive will make it more appealing,? said Rita Brown of Rita Brown Interiors in Garden City, who uses many Hastings fixtures in bathrooms she designs for clients. ?If they engrave the price on it, it would be even better. Like logos.?
Now that even 5-foot tubs can be fitted with water and air jets, local bathroom contractors say that at least 25 percent of their customers are adding whirlpools ? at prices that start about $1,500 and go up. Yet for many people, whirlpools aren?t very practical. ?After the thrill is gone with the whirlpool and everyone in the family uses it once, that?s about it,? said Joseph C. Ferrara, owner of Custom Concepts, Inc., in Huntington.
Skylights, fancy porcelain and gold-plated faucets, big double sinks, spacious vanities, sleek European fixtures, bidets, imported designer Italian tiles and even marble are becoming commonplace. ?The trend is now certainly marble,? said Ricki Cerino, manager of Hastings in Great Neck, which carries an extensive collection.
But ceramic tiles are still the most popular, and nearly every type and color of tile imaginable is available. Yet most people buy ?safe? colors. ?Neutrals always sell ? almonds and beiges,? said Don Ciliotta, co-owner of Old Country Ceramic Tile in Westbury. ?We have displays that show shocking pinks or reds, and people love them, but they stay away from them.?
The lonely mirror over the medicine chest is passe. Almost every new bathroom on Long Island has mirrors, mirrors and more mirrors ? on walls, doors, even ceilings. The new bathroom seems to provide more inspiration for sticking to a diet than a dozen Weight Watchers meetings. Linda Lieberman?s husband, Mitchell, a contractor, lost 80 pounds after they redid the bathrooms in their North Woodmere home. ?I don?t think my husband ever looked at himself except above his neck before,? she said. ?Now he looks gorgeous. I owe it to the mirrors.?
SOMETIMES PEOPLE decide only to have the ceramic surfaces of the tub and sink reglazed. Although such a half-measure can freshen up an old tub, it?s no substitute for a new one, says William Baessler, director of licensing for the Suffolk County Department of Consumer Affairs, who gets many complaints from homeowners who aren?t happy with the way reglazing looks. ?If you want it to look new, then buy new,? he said.
Like many Long Islanders, Adele and David Cohen of North Woodmere are fixing up their 30-year-old split-level rather than moving out now that their children are grown. They decided that all the master bathroom needed was a new sink, vanity and toilet, which Danark is putting in for $1,800. ?It?s what you call a face-lift, a tummy-tuck, whatever,? said Adele Cohen. ?Not major surgery.?
John and Mary Lou Pagano?s children are grown, too, but the South Shore couple opted for major surgery on their bathroom. For $37,000, Aladdin built an addition to their house, enlarging their minuscule master bath into a luxurious spa overlooking the Great South Bay, complete with a two-person whirlpool (which they?ve only used once because it takes so long to fill up), two skylights, a cathedral ceiling, a bidet, two sinks in a Corian-topped vanity and a stall shower enclosed in striped bronze glass. The renovation took about three months.
One way to remodel a bathroom is to hire an interior designer, who can draw up plans, help choose tiles and fixtures and supervise the work. You may want an architect to draw plans if you?re doing extensive renovations, including knocking out walls. Another way is to hire a general contractor. Homeowners can work as their own general contractor, but they?d better be prepared for a lot of headaches in coordinating the plumbers, electricians and tile setters involved. And they?d better start with a detailed plan drawn by a professional, for all localities require permits and the work must be done by a licensed contractor.
Still another way to get your new bathroom is to hire a bathroom specialist who will act as a general contractor and take over completely.
When Ilene and Richard Kirsner of Syosset decided to remodel both their bathrooms last year, at first they got estimates from remodelers who advertise in the weekly shopper. ?Most of them low-balled us,? said Ilene Kirsner, a special education teacher who?s at home with her first child. ?Then we?d sit down, and the price would go up five, six, seven thousand dollars.?
SINCE THE Kirsners didn?t know anyone who had redone a bathroom recently, they went to the yellow pages and discovered Bathrooms by Royal, a Franklin Square company. ?It was in the B?s,? Ilene Kirsner said.
After seeing a few of Royal?s jobs in people?s homes and asking questions of the homeowners, the Kirsners signed a contract for two new bathrooms. The remodeling took five weeks. Luckily, they could use one bathroom while the other was being redone.
?When they took down the bathrooms, it was a mess,? she said. ?I had covered everything, and it was still filthy. They were very neat, they brought their own dropcloths, but dust was everywhere.?
The Kirsners spent $5,000 on their smaller bathroom and $15,000 on the master bathroom, which includes a whirlpool bath without a shower curtain, a large window, Italian tiles from floor to ceiling and a large mirrored vanity. The color scheme is a striking navy and white.
Consumer advocates suggest that people who are remodeling their bathrooms do what the Kirsners did ? see some jobs the contractor has done before committing to a contract. It?s also essential, as with any other home improvement, to get three written estimates and to check the contractor?s reputation with the local consumer affairs office and the Better Business Bureau.
It?s all-important to have a detailed contract with every specification spelled out. Ina Alcabes, a spokesman for the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs, tells of a Valley Stream man who put in a new bathroom a year ago and still hasn?t been able to use it because the tiles keep falling off the walls. Since the homeowner has a specific contract, the consumer affairs agency has forced the contractor to go back several times and will suspend his license if the problem isn?t corrected soon. Without such a contract, the homeowner would have had no protection.
Source: http://roweandesign.com/remodeling-the-bathroom-craze-for-the-80s/
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