Bathroom Trends
Wood textured / 3d tiles:
More than 500 exhibitors displayed their latest wares at the industry’s marquee event, the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS).
While E.L. James asserted that there are 50 shades of grey, it was Walker Zanger who made the biggest impact at KBIS with their new bold tile designs with warmer grey tones of wood textured porcelain paired with white marble in a variety of patterns. More and more people are going toward these textured tiles lately.
Their new Sterling Row collection won 1st place in the Best of KBIS/Bath category. The Oxford and Charcoal patterns give the impression of 3D tiles while the Chesterfield and Wingtip offer a more traditional look and feel.
Everything but the kitchen sink, or in our case “the toilet:”
The old saying is that cleanliness is next to godliness and, if that is the case, then the American Standard Optum VorMax toilet is heavenly. They started from scratch and developed a new flushing technology that eliminates the traditional rim holes around the bowl that deliver water during a flush. Instead, the VorMax flush delivers one powerful jet of water that scrubs the entire bowl clean.
The innovative VorMax flushing system has been independently verified to clean the bowl two times better than conventional toilets.
The toilet’s flushing action allows water to powerfully scour every square inch of the bowl, even the hard-to-reach spots under the rim. Mr. Clean would be proud!
The CleanCurve Rim replaces the traditional rim cavity and holes inside the bowl where dirt and buildup can get trapped and hide and when paired with EverClean, the unique permanent finish, the result is a toilet that inhibits the growth of stain and odor-causing bacteria, mold and mildew on the surface.
If that isn’t enough, it’s also a high efficiency toilet, using a water-saving 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) and has earned Water Sense-certification from the U.S. EPA for providing high performance while using 20 percent less water than traditional 1.6 gpf toilets. Just think a cleaner toilet while saving money – go figure.
Bathroom ROI:
The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) reports that bathroom remodels offer one of the better returns on investment for a home. While remodeling costs vary, depending on whether the original footprint of the bathroom is maintained and whether plumbing and electrical lines need to be moved, most bathrooms these days are starting around 30k and up. Experts estimate that homeowners get approximately 64 percent back in terms of investment when they remodel a bathroom, NARI states.