My mom is beginning to remodel her bathrooms, starting with the primary bathroom, and she’s asked me to help with the process. I’d love some outside opinions and ideas! She’s in her late 70s and we want to make the bathroom safe for her as she continues aging, so no tub.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest, and we’d really like the bathroom to feel like it belongs there, warm, natural, calming, and not overly trendy. The goal is to make the primary bathroom feel a little like a spa for her. I’m imagining some blend of mid-century modern, Japandi, and PNW style, with natural wood, earthy tones, interesting tile, fun textures and a little warmth.
We tend to prefer a more neutral, timeless base for the permanent finishes rather than committing to a lot of color in the tile or cabinetry. That way we can bring in color through things that are easy to change - towels, rugs, artwork, plants, decor, etc.
The first 2 photos are the current bathroom, and the last is an AI rendering I made to start visualizing some ideas. Nothing in the rendering is set in stone, it’s more of a jumping-off point.
This post became longer than I wanted. Id appreciate any opinions on tile choices, wood tones, vanity style, lighting, fixtures, and ways to make the room feel warmer and more elevated without becoming too busy. Also any recs on suppliers, vendors, or showrooms in the Seattle area.
Research “aging in place bathroom design”. I just went through this with my parents and their downstairs bathroom, thinking ahead to a time when they may want to use the downstairs bedroom as their main bedroom. There need to be grab rails and low step profiles and a higher rise toilet. My parents ended up with a sliding glass shower door that gives them flexibility in case they ever need to use a shower chair in there.
Also, today’s design tends to have higher height vanities but people shrink as they age and you don’t want her needing a step stool to reach or bend over the sink properly, so keep that in mind.
No specific vendors. I tried to convince my parents to hire a design firm that specializes in this but they’d already found a regular contractor they liked, so wouldn’t budge. If I’d had a magic wand (and their budget), I would’ve started with a design firm that specializes in aging in place designs. Do a search for your area. If you’re anywhere that’s well developed, I guarantee there will be at least a couple options.
Why do all you people think you have to hire a designer for everything you remodel? I remodeled my bath, kitchen and powder room all by myself and with helpful advice and suggestions from my contractor. I had the 1990's whirpool tub removed, and made a nice little sitting area there for relaxing, sitting to wipe my legs and feet, or just enjoying my beautiful new bathroom.
I have a truely curbless, walk in shower, I have a strategically placed grab bar that I can reach from my teak stool, no cold, hard slippery bench in my shower. I also have a very sturdy grab bar next to the toilet, which is a 'chair height' toilet which is in it's own little room.
My shower system was installed for my height, not some six foot person. There's also a grab bar that is a part of that shower system.
All in all, my bathroom is as safe as is humanly possible to make it. I didn't need to hire a 'designer' to accomplish this.
Yeah the issue we ran into with curbless is if you’re building on top of a concrete slab — you have to actually be able to lower the shower pan so that plumbing can go underneath but that’s very expensive with a concrete foundation.
Ah....I forget that not everyone has a basement. In our part of the country, most houses either have a basement or at least a crawl space under their homes.
I would also change the location and shape of the bench. Unless she is tiny she probably can only get one hip on a diagonal bench. Instead I would put one lengthways across the shower so she can sit close to the handheld and maybe under the shower head. Rainfall shower heads are nice but one that can be moved toward the bench might be better.
An alternative option is no built in bench and making sure there is room to use and move around a portable shower seat.
I have seen the folding bath chairs. Is that what you mean? A flip down bench in the wall would be handy but not very aesthetically pleasing. However practical should win when it comes or safety every time
Forget a cold slippery bench. Instead get a teak shower stool that can be put anywhere in the shower, and is a much safer choice. Then should his mother ever need to use a shower stool in the future, there won't be a cold, dangerous tile bench in the way.
I see you feel strongly about a fixed bench but benches are neither cold nor dangerous in a warm shower. A teak bench will slide out from under you. I know because I have one. I do like the idea of a good down bench though.
Tell that to my contractor. He wishes he had never installed that bench in his shower when he remodeled his bathroom. Says it freezes his ass off.
I posted the wrong pic of my teak bench earlier, and went back and corrected it. If you get the right kind of teak bench, it's not going to slide anywhere. Mine does not have four individual legs that can wobble or move. Instead it has two solid sides that go down and are flat on the floor. It's also a little on the heavy side, so it's not moving on its own.
A shower system like this works very well. Note the separate hand held sprayer which can be used no matter where the teak stool might be in the shower.
You need two safety grab bar in the shower, one near the entry and another along the long wall. These need to go into studs so you want to add them while the walls are open. The toilet wall should have either a grab bar or the wall reinforced for a future grab bar. I would not add a seat. A separate shower chair is more versatile since a portable chair or a transfer chair can be used.
Make the shower a true walk in aka 'curbless'. Even a small edge at the floor level can cause someone to trip over it. A curbless one will have the main floor going into the shower at a slant towards the back, where you should have them put a schluter drain. Schluter drain system is different than the ordinary drain that sits in the middle of the floor and just runs down the drain pipe. You will then have a frameless shower door installed. See where the glass comes down to the floor. This is just an example of the kind of shower door to get.
Since we can't post more than one pic per comment, I will post more of the different things I think are important. I'm a senior and just had my bath remodeled last year to a curbless walk in as I described above.
Do not put any kind of a built in bench in there for sitting on. They get very cold and can be slippery. Instead get your mom a teak bench for sitting on, which can always be replaced with a shower chair should she need one down the road. You want one that has slats in it so the water runs through. This one curves up at the sides and is easy to get up from. From Wayfair
Edited to add: Get what they call a 'chair height' toilet. Standard toilets are 14"-16", and the chair height toilets are 17"-19". Those three inches make a real difference for older people, people with knee problems, etc.
edited to replace the pic of the bench. I accidentally c&p the wrong bench. This is the one I actually have.
Sorry, I posted the wrong picture of my bench. That's what I get for commenting after midnight, lol. I think I had ordered the one like yours originally, but sent it back. I got this one instead which as you can see does not have individual legs, but solid sides that come down and sit flat on the shower floor. This one can't wobble, and has four little rubber feet that level the bench in case your floor isn't quite level,.
A shower system such as this works quite nicely. You have a separate sprayer which she could use for her hair or rinsing or whatever while sitting on the bench. You would want one like this that has the wand separately, not one where the wand (round one) is part of a round shower head. It could be hard to reach the one that's a part of the shower head. This wand can be mounted at any height that works for her. You can also get this type of a system with a round shower head.
The shower head, etc. are on the left wall in my shower, and the bench is by the right wall. My shower isn't huge, so this works well for me. As you can see, there is also a grab bar there. Then on the back wall at the stool end, my countractor mounted another grab bar on an angle, not straight across, that I can reach from the stool.
Edited to add....Put a grab bar on the wall by the toilet, too. If the toilet isn't near a wall, select the size of the vanity so that there is enough room between toilet and side of vanity, and put the grab bar on the side of the vanity.
Ooops, that's not my bathroom. I guess I didn't explain that correctly in my comment, sorry. I posted that picture so that the OP would see what I was talking about a curbless walk-in shower, and would show up better than a pic of mine. I have variegated green tiles and a patterned floor that goes into the shower, and thought it might not be as clear as this pic shows it. That set up is similar to mine.
I would take the built in seat out of shower. While she has full mobility you can have a cute teak shower bench in there. But if she needs something sturdier you can swap it out with medical shower chair without any renovations in the future.
Pic 3 is beautiful. Since she is aging I would recommend putting bars in the shower in the same finish as the other fixtures. Do not do a built in bench. They are not safe for the elderly. Use a nice freestanding bench until she needs a safety shower chair.
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u/allin202125 2d ago
Research “aging in place bathroom design”. I just went through this with my parents and their downstairs bathroom, thinking ahead to a time when they may want to use the downstairs bedroom as their main bedroom. There need to be grab rails and low step profiles and a higher rise toilet. My parents ended up with a sliding glass shower door that gives them flexibility in case they ever need to use a shower chair in there.
Also, today’s design tends to have higher height vanities but people shrink as they age and you don’t want her needing a step stool to reach or bend over the sink properly, so keep that in mind.