As spring cleaning and home improvements shift to center stage on your weekend agenda, think about your bathroom. Does your home have only one or one-and-a-half baths? If so, a bathroom addition may be the area to plow your remodeling dollars into this summer.
Why? The cost of a bathroom addition to a home with only one or one-and-a-half baths will recoup a whopping 98.3 percent at resale time in the Chicago market, according to Remodeling Magazine’s 2003 Cost vs. Value report. Not a bad return on your investment, and you get to enjoy the extra space until you sell.
Realtors agree. “Bath and kitchen remodels show the best returns,” said Karen Piggott, managing broker at Baird & Warner’s south suburban office in Olympia Fields. If you were thinking of adding on a new bathroom, the cost would run in the neighborhood of $16,793 in the Chicago market, according to Remodeling Magazine’s 2003 survey. This type of addition would involve a new 6x8 foot bathroom, located near the bedrooms. For this cost, homeowners could install a cultured-marble vanity top, molded sink, standard tub/shower with ceramic tiles. The toilet would be low profile and the bathroom would boast general and spot lighting, a mirrored medicine cabinet, linen storage, vinyl wallpaper and a ceramic tile floor.
With many dual-working parents these days, home buyers don’t have the time or energy to do the work themselves. Realtors say home buyers want move-in condition. “Buyers are looking for updates. They don’t want to see the avocado and gold fixtures,” said Piggott.
The sky is the limit when it comes to remodeling your bathroom or adding a new one in your home. But, even some simple and inexpensive improvements can make a difference. “Painting is the cheapest and easiest change to make,” noted Mary Rubino, president of Mary Rubino Interiors in Evanston.
“The things which are permanent, the tubs, toilet and tile should be the most neutral color,” Rubino added. If a homeowner currently boasts one of those avocado tubs, resurfacing that to white is a fairly simple job. Rubino prefers white for the appliances, versus a tan or beige. “White is more versatile. If you choose tan or beige, you are stuck doing the bathroom in earthy colors to match,” she explained. Keep it simple and neutral. Slap some paint on the walls, change the towel bars, replace the sink and toilet, resurface the tub and voila, you’ve got a basic update, which will make your home more attractive at resale time.
Remodeling Magazine’s 2003 survey says that a mid-range update of an existing bathroom that is about 25 years old would run about $11,693 in the Chicago area and would recoup 91.9 percent at resale time. A job of this nature would involve replacing all fixtures, including a standard size tub with ceramic tile surround, toilet, solid-surface vanity counter with a double-sink. It would also include a recessed medicine cabinet, ceramic tile floor and vinyl wallpaper, according to the magazine.
If there is a little more cash to spare, homeowners can think a little bigger. These days the bathroom has become so much more than just a bathroom. Think of a home spa. “Bathrooms have become a showcase. They’ve gone from little teeny utilitarian functional spaces to being the size of bedrooms,” said Julea Joseph, owner of Reinventing Space in Palos Park. In fact, many designers note that homeowners have turned the bathroom into a “private retreat.”
“If there is room, buyers love to see whirlpool tubs,” said Piggott. However, she warned, “if you are trying to fit a whirlpool into a standard tub space, don’t do it. Because you’ll just end up with a smaller water capacity in your tub.”
Joseph suggests homeowners think realistically about their lifestyle and their needs before embarking on a major remodeling project. “You can get spas that cost $15,000. But, are you going to use that tub? Understand the room’s function and your lifestyle,” Joseph advised. “Is it a powder room where you could actually put in a wood floor? Or, do you have little kids that are going to be splashing around and you need more tile.” Joseph says when it comes to a bathroom remodel homeowners need to be good space planners.
“Bathrooms are like boats. Every piece of space matters. Think about if you really want to show off a pedestal sink in the guest bathroom, when you really need the storage space,” she said.
Homeowners looking to go all out could spend an average $25,882 on an upscale bathroom remodel in the Chicago market, according to Remodeling Magazine. This type of job should see an 89.8 percent return at resale time, according to the magazine’s 2003 survey.
A job of this nature would expand an existing 5x7 foot bathroom into a 9x9 foot space and would include 30 square feet of windows and/or skylights. This would involve relocating the tub and replacing it with a custom 4x6 foot shower, with top-of-the-line fittings and a glass block surround. The upscale remodel also moves the toilet to a portioned area and replaces it with a one-piece color unit. Throw in a bidet, stone tops on the custom vanity with twin designer sinks and a linen and storage closet and you are just about done. Tile floor, papered walls and hardwood trim completes the look. General and spot lighting accentuates the new space, along with a humidistat-controlled fan.
Once your new bathroom is complete, the finishing touches can offer homeowners “a soothing spa environment,” said Rubino. She pointed to “spa colors” such as “watery blues and greens” which create a room “that can offer serenity.”
Wondering what to do with all those windows in your new upscale bathroom? Rubino suggests using frosted glass or a window with ripples, which offers privacy. “Then you don’t need any window treatments, which adds to the open airy feeling,” she concluded.
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| mailing address: P. O. Box 130 • Palos Park, Illinois 60464 |