A New Loo For You

Special Advertising Section

Once thought of as no more than a necessity, bathrooms are today’s room du jour. Homeowners look at the formerly small area as a haven—a place in the home to escape to for some calm—and are forgoing tubs, closet space, and unneeded bedrooms just to add space. Although these spa-like escapes have been popular for a while in upper-end homes, the retreat-style bath is beginning to filter through to the mainstream and affect both how the homeowner—and potential buyer—views the abode.

The standard bathroom used to be forty-five to fifty square feet, but now the typical size of a remodeled bath is at least sixty or seventy square feet, and people are getting the extra space by eliminating an adjacent bedroom closet or a portion of a nearby room. “We’re starting to take other space, as kids move out, to remodel the owners’ suite, and we are making the bathroom more of a spa-like retreat,” says Jeff Lindgren, lead designer for Streeter and Associates, in Wayzata.

Along with the added space for pampering yourself, one of the best parts about remodeling a bathroom is its payback. “Kitchens and bathrooms are always the number one best place to reinvest in your house,” says Todd Polifka, CEO of Vision Remodeling, in Little Canada, and president of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. “About 90 percent of your investment will be paid by the next homeowner. You get the functionality and livability of a new bathroom for ten cents on the dollar. The next owner will pay the ninety cents on the dollar for you to enjoy the new space.”

Excerpted from "A New Loo for You," Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, March 2008, p. 234.

Photos courtesy of The Tile Shop.