When designing a new bathroom, it’s critical that you have a clear idea of your priorities: What is most important to you in your bathroom? A fabulous step-up bath? A two-person shower? A sleek-and-sophisticated lavatory? Every bathroom needs a focal point. While certain factors—location of existing plumbing, for example, or a bathtub’s need to be set perpendicular to floor joists—may limit your choices, you often can dictate what the bathroom’s focal point should be.

Stand in the bathroom doorway and decide what you would like your eye to strike first. Note that the eye tends to be drawn first to any source of natural light. A beautiful tub set under a bank of windows might be the perfect focal point for you, or a well-appointed sink area might be where you want your eye to go. As you establish the bathroom’s focus, the other components will fit in around it.  

Light. No element is more important in a bathroom than natural light. Ample operable windows, skylights, and transoms create brightness, warmth, and freshness—and can provide for natural ventilation. Whenever possible, design to take advantage of, and call attention to, the natural light sources of your bathroom. A single window, clad in a water-resistant surround of tile, stone, or even wood such as teak, can go a long way to lighting up a shower. A lavatory wall fenestrated at the top with a series of fixed windows or glass blocks brings natural light into the mirror area. A skylight of diffuse or clear glass set above the tub or shower not only brightens the enclosure but also adds warmth. Frosted or textured glass set in the windows ensures privacy while casting a soft glow into the bathroom. See more about Windows & Skylights.

Storage. It may not be your first consideration in remodeling or building a bathroom, but smart, efficient storage can make the design as functional as it is focused.

A bathroom requires a certain amount of hidden storage for personal items, but other necessities, such as towels, can be displayed to good effect. You may want a discreet cabinet near the toilet to house toilet paper, or ample drawers in a vanity for makeup and hair care items. You can opt for open shelving, either built-in or attached, or closed cabinetry and closets either built-in or freestanding.

Because the area is generally small, you can benefit from utilizing unexpected dead space—installing shelving or cabinetry above a toilet, for example, or building niches into the shower or tub walls, and low walls that might separate the toilet from the rest of the bathroom.     Remember that bathrooms can be damp, so any toweling should be housed away from the source of steam. If you place towels in a cabinet, make sure it is fenestrated to allow air to circulate to avoid problems with mildew. See more about: Bathroom Cabinets & Countertops.

Plumbing. The most essential element in a bathroom—plumbing—may dictate your bathroom’s layout, especially if you are remodeling on a budget. Plumbing is a major, if not the major, expense in a bathroom depending on what other materials you use. Shifting existing pipes during a remodel is costly, since it involves running new pipes under floors and into walls, but not impossible. See more about: Bathroom Plumbing.

Before your design proceeds, you may want to get an estimate from your contractor or plumber of what changing pipe positions will cost. Leaving plumbing in place can cut the cost of a remodel substantially, and does not have to limit you from achieving an entirely new effect in your bathroom. When adding a second-story bathroom, aligning it with the first-floor bathroom pipes will save a good deal of money. Similarly, locating all the pipes along one wall cuts costs.