6 BATHROOM UPGRADES FOR YOUR REMODELING PROJECT

Bathrooms are one of our most used spaces but can be a tricky space to upgrade or update. With unmovable fixtures and often tight footprints, options can seem limited at first glance. With a little creativity, though, you can add style and bring your bathroom up to date. We’ve put together a list of 6 bathroom upgrades and ideas that will transform your bathroom and make your bathroom remodeling project a success!

6 Bathroom Upgrades and Ideas

Hide the Toilet

If you’re working with a larger, master bathroom, a half wall can provide a new look and add style while creating a discreet nook for the toilet. A piece of furniture like an armoire or dresser can also create a functional and stylish barrier without the need for framing.

Update Your Surfaces

Bathroom surfaces contribute to your overall look while also taking a lot of wear and tear. Changing out your tile can drastically change the look of your bathroom. Look for larger tiles to minimize grout lines, which will make cleaning and upkeep easier.

Modernize Your Shower

Many people don’t make use of their bathtubs. Why not remove the tub altogether and create a large, luxurious shower? Body sprays, overhead rain showerheads, and even steam generators can upgrade your shower experience.

Create Space on Your Vanity

Bathrooms with double ‘his and hers’ sinks can be updated to create storage space. Getting a new countertop with a single sink can drastically change the look of the room while maximizing counter space for storage and décor.

Light it Up

Utilizing different types of fixtures in your bathroom can do a lot to brighten and update the space. In addition to overhead lights, sconces or other vertical fixtures on either side of the sink or vanity will provide even lighting for beauty routines or shaving.

Think Outside the Box

Replace mirrors and hardware with vintage brass for a chic, homey look, or with chrome to make your more bathroom modern. When shopping for tile and fixtures, look for something that suits your style and personality – even if it comes from outside the bathroom section of the store. Break the rules.

Bonus Tip:  Remember when you’re upgrading and updating your bathroom to draw in design and style elements from the rest of your home. Having a functional bathroom doesn’t have to mean having a boring one!

Give us a call at Tri-Lite Builders at (480) 895-3442 if you’re in the greater Phoenix area and planning to remodel your bathroom in the near future. We’ll schedule a virtual or in-home consultation to help you design the perfect bathroom with amazing upgrades and style.  Explore our portfolio of bathroom remodels for ideas here!

Pro Remodeler Article by Our Lead Designer

3 Reasons to Implement Personality and Skill Testing Into Your Hiring Process
by Sheila Lanier

Using personality and skills tests to vet potential employees isn’t a new strategy for our company, or to the industry. But a few years ago, Homework Remodels owner, Steve Shinn, and I realized that we needed a more in-depth hiring process in order to lower employee turnover rates.

Currently, we use a multi-step interview process that requires candidates to take the DiSC assessment, a skills qualification test. We also use the True Colors personality test (my personal favorite).

Here are three tangible benefits to this process.

1. The Assessment Doesn’t Lie

Coming out of an initial interview, it’s easy to know if you could work well with that person. But it’s important to recognize that in an interview, that person is putting on the absolute best version of themselves, and we cannot always be that best self.

Using a variety of personality and skills tests has enabled us to step back from our initial assessment and take into consideration a person’s underlying personality—not just the image they present to you.

2. It’s Easier to Spot a Mismatch in Skills

True Colors has been particularly helpful for us with this because it’s a lesser-known assessment than the popular DiSC or Enneagram tests. True Colors categorizes personality types into four colors—Orange, Gold, Green, and Blue—and emphasizes how each color interacts with other color types. The focus is on creating an environment of collaboration through understanding how people interact with other personalities.

The skills test we give includes job-specific questions that we are looking for a new employee to have—carpenters won’t get the same questions as administrative assistants, or even as production managers. Combining the interview with the unbiased tests allows us to take into account our gut feeling while also recognizing that certain skills and traits are necessary for someone to succeed in a given role.

3. The Test Results in Longer Tenures

All remodeling companies have been in a situation where you need a new employee now, and so you have to take the first reasonable candidate you find. We’ve also all had those situations end poorly, and we’re back where we started, in need of a new employee.

I will not pretend that we haven’t ended up losing an employee, even after they’ve gotten through our process. But when we have, it hasn’t been because we didn’t do our due diligence; for example, our most recent project manager had to leave us due to personal circumstances that neither he nor we could have seen. But there were no hard feelings because we knew that we had made a solid choice, and recognized that even with this, sometimes life has other plans.

Check out this article on Pro Remodeler’s Website here.

About the Author

Sheila Lanier, CKBR, UDCP Lead Designer at Homework Remodels, and Tri-Lite Builders has been designing award-winning remodels since 2006.  A graduate of the NKBA Certified Design program at Johnson County Community College, in a suburb of Kansas City, she learned the ropes in their impressive historic neighborhoods. Moving to Phoenix in 2011 she reached out to a fellow NARI Certified award-winning Remodeler to get some perspective on the Phoenix market.  One year later she was asked to join the team.  Over the past several years, she has sought to continue her education, becoming a NARI certified Universal Design Certified Professional.  Active with the Greater Phoenix NARI chapter, she currently serves as the Board Secretary. Lanier is in the succession plan to lead the company in the near future.  Her goal is to continue to build a culture that is about leading with humility and serving those who work alongside her to help homeowners love their homes again.

Featured on HGTV

Featured on HGTV

This mid-century modern home was originally designed and built by Ralph Haver in the Marlin Grove neighborhood in central Phoenix. Our remodel of this unique home was featured on HGTV and gained national recognition as well as locally on the Modern Phoenix home tour and website. The remodel of the home’s interior involved updating the kitchen, guest bathroom, and great room areas. This unique space was transformed and given a high-end European feel while retaining its 50’s flair

A more open floor plan

The mid-century modern kitchen remodel created a more open floor plan by removing the original box-like island from the kitchen. Then we replaced the island and the rest of the original cabinets with new frame-less acrylic-finish UltraCraft cabinetry. Adding bold touches of orange cabinetry as well as stainless steel kick plates accented this unique kitchen.

Quartz counter-top material wrapped three sides of the new island. The same quartz counter-tops were used on all of the kitchen cabinets, extending out onto the “floating cabinets” in the dining area.  The kitchen was also tiled with the same porcelain rectangular tile used in the adjoining great room.

Floating cabinets allow light

The floating cabinets are supported by a tubular steel framework between the kitchen cabinets and the dining room block wall. We replaced an unused exterior door in the dining area with a picture window. The floating cabinets allowed the light from the window to flow above and below the cabinetry into the dining area.

Additional lighting features

The mosaic glass tile back-splash was accented by the touch-to-activate under-cabinet lighting. A boxed fluorescent ceiling light was removed and replaced with cable lighting that would not conflict with the exposed ceiling beams.

For an even more in-depth view of this home remodel, check out HGTV’s video here.

Home Remodeling in the Greater Phoenix Area

Start your project by calling us at (480) 895-3442 or emailing [email protected] to discuss remodeling your home, kitchen, or bathroom. We offer no-obligation ZOOM or in-home consultation.  See more of our award-winning remodels here.

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