Optimising Bathrooms with Shower Cubicles That Work
Planning on renovating a small bathroom area? Tired of looking at the same drab interior that you know could work so much better if you could just shuffle things around? Small bathroom ideas can completely transform the space into something modern and stylish, as long as you have smart units that fit your plans. Shower cubicles especially come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and finishes, bringing a sleek design to tired and small spaces.
The trend towards smaller lock-up-and-go spaces has also inspired today’s shower cubicle options, as people have cottoned onto the fact that smaller bathroom spaces can be fine-tuned to a degree that larger spaces often can’t emulate. Also gone, for many, are the old notions of built-in showers with their accompanying dirt and dust all over the bathroom tiles. No matter how careful the planning, builders all too often end up chipping and plastering in the shower area long after other smart fittings (like those expensive tiles!) have already been installed, leading to subpar end results. Fitting the shower door normally demands it, but it’s a lousy start to a supposedly smart beginning.
The stylish options available in modern shower units are largely the reason why built-in shower areas have become passe. When prefabricated, modern colours and designs are so freely available, it feels like reinventing the wheel trying to get the same results with a built product. With shower cubicle options today, both contractors and DIY enthusiasts have greater control over installations and renovations, and shower units are bringing current colours and modern form into homes.
Shower Cubicles Are Best for Small Spaces
A primary consideration when redesigning a small bathroom – or laying one out for the first time, for that matter – is which fittings you’re going to employ. Is there a trade-off between bath and shower? Are you worried that the basin is too small or too close to the loo? “Bath or shower?”, is usually the big question when space is limited, and shower cubicles generally show greater overall space-saving and health benefits than baths:
- Dermatologists generally agree: If you don’t have a skin condition that needs regular (soaking) treatment, showers are the way to go.
- They’re also typically in agreement on the fact that, because showers subject one’s body to far less water than bathing, while nonetheless providing ample cleansing, they’re healthier for your skin overall. An excessively protracted or even hot bath can strip human skin of its natural oils, resulting in persistent and subtle inflammation, or even in localised irritation – rashes, in a nutshell.
- Showers provide for far superior temperature control – no one is stuck on a single temperature for the duration of their ablutions – another aid in managing sensitive skin.
- Showers are time-savers, too. Who hasn’t wished they could just walk through a shower, get dressed, and go, while they sit watching the bath fill up? Someone’s arrived early at the airport, or someone needs an urgent lift, and the water is crawling!
- Showers typically use demonstrably less water than the average bathtub, making them both the economical and eco-friendly option.
- Showers don’t ask you to clean the muck out afterwards – no bath rings, no unsightly residues.
There are so many great shower cubicles for small spaces on the market today, and they lack the jarring shapes of bathtub attempts to get around limited space. Showers are broadly tubular, and their sleek, vertical aesthetic seldom disappoints.
Don’t Compromise, it’s Your Choice
Indeed, the vertical aesthetic of shower cubicles goes immediately to the heart of optimising small spaces, as they use far less surface area than bathtubs. That’s really the primary role of the fittings employed in small bathroom spaces, as stylish optimisation speaks of contemporary design and smart living. Baths have the ability to immediately disappoint, based on poorly matched colours and shapes, but shower cubicles look sleek and mod.
From a design point of view, shower units also come in a wide variety of styles, many of which will work in your unique space. Fancy a rather bold-framed unit with straight lines for modern chic, or perhaps a more fluid enclosure with far more organic touches? Whatever you’re looking for, you’re sure to find both a taste and a style that matches your design ideas.
Modern shower enclosures are versatile, and whether you’re planning a small en suite or even a second bathroom, some of the best modern design is crafted into shower cubicles that complement today’s tastes and styles.
Shower Cubicles Make Budgets Work
One of the best things about modern shower cubicles is that the options within any given price range are always extensive. More importantly, perhaps, most are within a comparable price range to begin with. Because you’re dealing with a smaller space, shower units tend to be capped within a broadly manageable price range, so no more living with a mess while you save up for a tub you’re still not sure is going to fit!
Overall, keeping costs manageable and sticking to even a tight budget won’t ask for any painful compromise on the final results when installing shower cubicles. Again, the great thing about a small space is that it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to refurbish it. You can get a superb finish in both form and function for very reasonable prices, considering their overall aesthetic value and the utility they provide.
Designs to Suit Available Space
In terms of dimensions, one can find shower cubicles that are tall and narrow for optimising an en suite, or cheekily (but successfully) equipping a guest bathroom with a shower option. “Compact without compromise” should be your slogan when shopping shower cubicles, as beyond basic measurements, all units come with bespoke design and smart finishes across the board. When shopping, populate your budgetary allocation with potential options, shortlist the right size units, and then compare available options in that range.
For minimalist overtones, frameless designs are popular. In fact, near frameless cubicles with front-meeting doors in the new D-shaped design are de rigueur as fashionable bathroom kit. These uniquely shaped cubicles act both as aesthetic focal point and an extremely comfortable showering space. For classic space saving, few units can top those that sport either a sliding door or a bi-fold door.
Opting for a sliding door unit means that the door will move on its own rail, with no need for you to worry about swinging doors and what they’ll hit, while a bi-fold door works like a concertina, folding in half and also settling behind the door pane without hanging wide.
Unique Spaces Often Need a Unique Shape and Size
If you’re limited to being framed by two walls only, opting for a unit that sports two door panels will stand you in good stead. Water will stay in, while access will be a breeze. Corner entry units are also extremely versatile, and an aesthetically smart choice for really small bathroom spaces.
Modern shower cubicles epitomise the prioritisation of space and budget. Square-shaped units are often very compact, allowing for sufficient clearance and utility inside, too. In fact, when you’re working within tight parameters, even losing a single brick width to a built-in shower can collapse the whole design. It ultimately comes down to personal preference and taste, married with the available space, in order that any small bathroom both works effectively with a good flow, while also being aesthetically pleasing.
One of the key takeaways from this article should be the conviction that smaller bathroom spaces needn’t constrain your creativity or predilection for stylish, elegant, and completely contemporary design. In fact, the opposite may be closer to the truth: when faced with tight dimensions, the required solutions often incorporate the minimalist aesthetic by necessity. Form, it’s safe to say, really does follow function.
GEZA: Home Products for Small Spaces
If you’re looking for great shower cubicles that provide versatility and functionality – while keeping your budget intact, too – look no further than GEZA’s stylish range of units. We have the experience in installation and usage that sets us apart from any other bathroom supply companies. Trust us to show you the most extensive range of fit-for-purpose cubicles that we know will give you years of service, while adding smart ergonomics and aesthetic value to any bathroom.
Call us first – it will be our pleasure to knock your socks off with some stunning unit options that make all the difference to the final finish!
