Here on the Homethangs blog, we spend a lot of time talking how to update the look of your bathroom – how to build a dream bathroom that you’ll love. But renovation and remodeling aren’t just about style. In fact, an important consideration in any bathroom update is the impact any work you do will have on the overall value of your home, and how it compares with the expense you pu

I think having lots of light is great in any room – there’s nothing quite so inviting and welcoming as a brightly lit space. But having adequate lighting is even more important in the bathroom. After all, our morning grooming time is probably the most time any of us spend looking at ourselves, so it’s important that we can see ourselves well to be able to put our best faces (lite

Last week I talked a little about the basics of French country bathroom design – all the elements that go into making a bathroom that’s historical, sophisticated, and comfortable. But for a design that’s so heavily based on tradition and cultural nuance, sometimes it’s the smallest details that lend the most authenticity, and do the most legwork in terms of updating your ba

I’m a big fan of bathroom chandeliers. A huge fan, even, and not just certain bathrooms, but almost any bathroom big enough to justify one. Modern bathrooms, vintage bathrooms, country bathrooms, you name it – the right chandelier can do wonders for your bathroom ambiance. Really, this stems from my deeper love of lighting fixtures, but bathroom chandeliers are a unique, surprising way

Seasons come and go and design trends change right along with them. So even if you’re in the habit of updating your home regularly, last year’s words of wisdom usually don’t still apply. And if it’s been even longer since you’ve updated your bathroom, it can be even harder to figure out what’s hot and what’s not. As we chug along towards the new year, I wa

The bathroom is simultaneously one of the most difficult spaces in your home to light well, and the place where it’s most important to do so. While lighting for function and ambiance is important everywhere, inside and outside of your home, the bathroom is where you do your grooming, and the one place to get yourself looking the way you want before you step outside. Inadequate lighting in th

At its core, Parisian chic design is an homage to the fashion and luxury – past and present – of the City of Light, and a way to bring a little slice of it into your home. It’s one part modern, one part antique, and all about luxury and style. As with any theme, Parisian chic design is best done on a smaller scale (say, a single room) to keep it simple, keep it subtle, and to kee

Lighting is one of the most important elements of bathroom decor – decadent, layered bathroom lighting can really make the difference between a so-so design and something really stunning, purely by virtue of the warm, inviting feeling of lots of lighting. That said, once you’ve figured out what kind of functional lighting you need, there’s still plenty of room left to find fun, s

There area a lot of elements that go into great bathroom design. From the shade of your tiles to the size of your tub, it’s attention details, big and small, that really make a remodel shine. But it’s all too easy to forget about bathroom lighting – and it can be especially difficult to get it right when you can’t see how any given fixture will illuminate your space until i

When people talk about “decor,” they usually mean those finishing touches – big and small – that you use to perfect the look and feel of your living room. Sometimes it comes up in the context of a kitchen or bedroom as well, but more often than not the bathroom is hugely overlooked. Now, that isn’t to say that it’s totally unheard of in a bathroom – far fr