Design an Easy-Clean Bathroom
These ingenious strategies and sleek designs for the sink, tub, shower and toilet help your bathroom practically clean itself
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I hate cleaning bathrooms. There. I've said it. I'm not proud, but I'm not really ashamed either. I have better things to do with my time ... well, certainly more fun things to do with my time. Don't you? Not everyone has a housekeeper, so when you are the one who has to do the cleaning, your design choices will make a big impact on you every day. If you implement the strategies below, you can end up with a bathroom that looks and feels like a dream bathroom but cleans as easily as a no-nonsense public restroom.
Just say no to grout. Scrubbing grout lines has to be one of the least favorite chores when cleaning a bathroom. Using solid-surface choices for your walls will save a lot of elbow grease. Stone slabs have few seam lines, and they are very thin.
Caesarstone was used for the brown walls and countertop in this bathroom. You can use it all by itself or in combination with tile to beautiful effect.
Vinyl wall coverings have come a long way. They add beautiful texture or pattern to your bathroom, and you can wipe them down with a sponge.
Back-painted glass is another option for walls, and you can use it on counters too, if you're looking to go groutless.
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| In areas where your walls don't absolutely have to be tiled, paint is a great option. Use one specially formulated for bathrooms for its resistance to mildew. Many brands offer these. My favorite is Benjamin Moore's Aura Bath and Spa Matte Finish. I would love it in this sunny orange. What a great color for revving up your day in the morning. Tip: Buy the best and most quiet fan you can get for your bathroom and put it on a timer. That may not sound like a design strategy for making your bathroom easier to clean, but it is. If you have a fan that sounds like a jet engine, you're less likely to turn it on and that will lead to an increase in mildew ... and that means more cleaning for you. A whisper-silent one is so quiet that you'll need a timer so you don't forget to turn it off. |
by April and May
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If you can't eliminate grout lines entirely, then at least reduce the number and thickness.
Large-format porcelain tiles come in sizes all the way up to 24 inches by 48 inches. I had a little fun with the math. If you use a single 24-inch-by-48-inch tile instead of 4-inch-by-4-inch tiles covering the same area, you eliminate 42 feet of grout lines!
Large-format porcelain tiles come in sizes all the way up to 24 inches by 48 inches. I had a little fun with the math. If you use a single 24-inch-by-48-inch tile instead of 4-inch-by-4-inch tiles covering the same area, you eliminate 42 feet of grout lines!
Select a linear drain. See that narrow channel at the base of the wall? That's a linear drain. Installing one means that your shower floor will have a flat slope in one direction, so you can run your large-format floor tile right on into the shower instead of using little mosaic tiles to accommodate multiple directions of slope. It will set you back around $1,000, but ask yourself how much you hate cleaning grout.
Just say no to glass. I hate cleaning glass almost as much as I hate scrubbing grout. This shower is strategically placed around a corner in a wet zone, entirely eliminating the need for a glass partition. With large-format tiles and a slab countertop as well, this bathroom is very low maintenance.
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| You can go even more extreme and create a fully watertight wet room. The handheld showerhead lets you hose it down and go. In fact, handheld showerheads are a real help in cleaning your shower even if you have a more conventional-style bathroom. Get one with a nice long hose. |
Go frameless. The aluminum frames around glass shower doors are a magnet for gunk. Going frameless on your glass gives you a simple sheet to squeegee clean. There are a number of options for coatings on glass that also help it to repel water and soap scum. Check with your glass shower door manufacturer for factory coating options. Many people recommend manually applied water repellants like Rain-X.
by Bath Simple
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If you hate cleaning glass and a wet room is not for you, consider using a shower curtain. Toss the shower curtain and its waterproof liner in the washer to clean it. A nice bonus to using a shower curtain is the visual warmth fabric adds to the decor.
by Annis Lender
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Get everything off the floor. You already know I don't like cleaning grout or glass, so imagine my thoughts on cleaning toilets. The number-one disgusting chore in a bathroom is getting on your hands and knees to clean around a toilet crammed into a narrow space with that horrible, convoluted shape on the side.
Wall-mounted toilets are easier to reach all the way around. They also make cleaning the floor easier. Notice that in this bathroom they even wall-mounted the toilet brush. Nice idea! Mounting your vanity on the wall will also make the floor easier to clean. But of course, if you have one with pretty legs like this, sometimes a decorative element is worth cleaning around.
Wall-mounted toilets are easier to reach all the way around. They also make cleaning the floor easier. Notice that in this bathroom they even wall-mounted the toilet brush. Nice idea! Mounting your vanity on the wall will also make the floor easier to clean. But of course, if you have one with pretty legs like this, sometimes a decorative element is worth cleaning around.
If you choose not to install a wall-mounted toilet, then at the very least, choose a skirted model. The smooth sides don't catch as much dust and gunk.
Wall-mounted faucets are a better choice than deck-mounted ones. Gravity is working for you, carrying water and soap residue away from the faucet instead of having it all collect at the base. Wall-mounted faucets also keep the counter clear, making it easier to wipe it down.
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| Seamless stone and minimalist wall-mounted faucets are easy to clean. If you like to drink red wine in the bathroom, then you might want to choose something other than white marble — but it is pretty popular for bathrooms. |
Choose tile placement carefully. I've been showing you lots of bathrooms that stay away from mosaic tile, but If you love the texture and the look, then place it where it will need the least amount of cleaning. This bathroom vanity uses solid marble slabs all around the business area of the bathroom, with the herringbone mosaic placed higher so it's out of the splash zone.
by AMI Designs
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If you're craving texture but don't want one that tears up a sponge, there are some beautiful options out there. This crocodile texture has no sharp edges, and you can get it in large-format tiles.
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| This is another great example of a textural wall tile that would be much easier to clean than a mosaic tile. When you select your textural tile, run your hands over it. If it feels rough and scratchy, it is going to be a bear to clean. Ones like these feel silky and smooth, even though you can feel the high and low spots. |
Have a place for everything. One thing that makes it easier to clean a bathroom is to have a spot for what you want to put away. No thinking about where to place it or having to organize a messy drawer to make room.
| If you have the room, a washer and dryer in the bathroom will eliminate a lot of steps to keep towels and bath mats clean and fresh. |
Do you share your bathroom with felines? Having a well-thought-out containment area for the litter will keep you from having to sweep up daily.
Tell us: What design strategies have you used to create a bathroom that lets you focus on cleaning yourself instead of grout and glass?
More:
How to Get Glass Sparkling Clean
Magic Solution for Hard Water Stains
Tell us: What design strategies have you used to create a bathroom that lets you focus on cleaning yourself instead of grout and glass?
More:
How to Get Glass Sparkling Clean
Magic Solution for Hard Water Stains
Ideabook updated on April 19, 2012.
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FinSplash -- Thanks! Yes, I think most people love just about anything that makes chores a little less difficult.
appytrails -- It is inside its own lidded container, so you don't see the brush head. But getting if off the floor is good -- inside a cabinet where you don't have to clean around it on the floor would be excellent too!
crawfish -- That's one of the side benefits of a small space. You can splurge on nice finishes and it still doesn't cost too much.
syd1155 -- The big box stores have them online. To see wall mounted faucets in person, go into a plumbing fixture specialty store instead. You'll find a wide range of faucets on display. Cost ranges widely by brand, quality, style, finish so you can find them in many price points. If a brand has the same style faucet available in both a deck mounted and a wall mounted version, you'll find that they are very comparable in price.
gsfg -- There are many large format tiles that have texture to them so that you don't have to depend on grout for traction. Choose your tile carefully when going with large format tiles on the floor.
Charpelle -- This is the first complaint I've heard about a linear drain. Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. Sounds like it was really catching everything instead of letting it head down into the pipes.
I actually love every suggestion in this idea book, and I am saving it so I know what to do when I relocate this summer.
Does anyone have any experience with a drain in the floor of the bathroom (as opposed to in the shower)? Can you hide it under a removable piece of tile/marble/flooring so that it's not ugly? Doesn't it start to smell (I'm picturing the drain in the floor of a bar where I used to work)?
Regarding old style drains vs. the linear type: With the old style that most of us are used to, there was no lower chamber to catch hair, so each and every time you stepped into the shower, you were usually compelled to clean the hair off the top of the drain. With the newer drains having a space to capture all of that below, it leaves your shower looking clean pretty much every time ... but then you clean out the drain less often, so I can understand how it feels yucky. But then again, there is the advantage of being able to use the large format tile, so there's the trade-off.
rocoad -- Vessel sinks are quite easy to clean around as long as the space doesn't get sharply narrow underneath preventing you from getting your hand in there. And, if you have the wall mount faucet with it, then it is pretty easy to wipe the counter. I would steer clear of a glass vessel sink if your goal is less time spent cleaning. You really have to wipe it down even after just washing your hands, let alone after brushing your teeth. If you don't wipe the interior every time water goes in, then those look spotty. Vessel sinks are great for preserving as much counter space as possible in a small bathroom and also for not taking up your storage space under the counter.
"Self cleaning", huh? Little scrub brush wielding robots? Without a brand and model name or number I can't give you a definitive answer, but my guess is that they are referring to many products now on the market that have coatings factory installed on ceramic or glass that repel water and/or inhibit the growth of bacteria or mildew. Your bathroom won't clean itself, but with these types of surfaces, the dirt, mold, scum, mildew, should all take much longer to accumulate.
agmay -- Yes. But then, the topic here is bathroom designs that are easy to clean ... not bathroom designs that are inexpensive and thrifty. Some of these ideas are very affordable to implement. Others, not so much.
kazu1234 -- A "Wet Room" essentially means you have a very big, wall-to-wall shower that just happens to also have a sink, counter & mirror installed in it. Your floor slope has to all go toward that center drain ... or you could put a linear drain at one side of the room so you have the entire floor flat ... just slightly tilted down toward the drain side of the room. All drains have to be cleaned sometime whether they are in your shower or the middle of your floor, so if you keep up with it, then it is no more likely to smell than your shower drain. I might try to avoid pouring a lot of old beer and wine down it ;0)
And again, many of the newer drains have a nice option to install a piece of your matching tile to minimize the visibility of the drain.
Morgan Daniels -- Funny! Glad you liked a couple of these ideas.
And nowdays with matching drain covers and linear style drains, it would not look ugly or even visible. Even a round white drain looks ok. Would rather have a clean toilet, wall and floor with a ugly drain than a dirty drainless bathroom.
http://www.janitorialweb.com/clean_bathroom.html
The dual flush wall mounted toilet is a great idea but again I was worried about leaks and having to build the wall out so I recommend skirted toilets. I really liked the wall mounted toilet brush, I would add the plunger and the garbage bin to get things off the floor so you could quickly Swiffer.
I never thought to use large stone slabs on the wall or solid surface material. Does the stone have to be sealed just like it is on a countertop? Do you have to have an engineer figure out whether your floor can hold a a solid stone slab? How does the solid surface material hold up over time? Loved the large porcelain tile images where you calculated grout lines eliminated. Also loved your moving of tile out of the splash zone although I would have run the marble around the sides where the hand towel is because the splash zone is not just the front but the sides too and then tiled up the wall with the beautiful herring bone pattern rather than painted the walls. I detest painted walls, baseboards and cabinetry in a bathroom because they don't hold up well over time.
How long do wet rooms hold up for? I imagine at some point they fail how do you know when you need to re-grout, replace the waterproofing material and the tile?
Three things I noticed in the pictures that were not mentioned that make cleaning a bathroom so much easier were floating vanities, slab front cabinetry and under mounted sinks.
Floating vanities that don't touch the floor eliminate the water damage that occurs in the base and toe kick area with regular floor cleaning or heaven forbid the toilet or tub overflows.
Slab style cabinets and drawer fronts make cleaning vanities super easy, no nooks and crannies for grime to settle in. A damp sponge wipes everything clean.
Under mounted sinks eliminate sides to clean you just clean the bowl. A great reason to avoid drop in or vessel sinks.
A great post over all that I will save.
I have a blog on designing the house cleaning out of your home especially the kitchen and bathroom called Tenant Proof Design. My focus is more on keeping things classic so they stand the test of time and don't end up in a landfill as well as easy to clean.