Many bathrooms designed for the mobility bathing market tend to have a “hospital look” about them, which can put some people off making much needed adaptations to their own home. It’s true that some mobility needs require a bathroom designed for carer assistance, which does create this kind of look. However many mobility bathrooms can incorporate easy access adaptations into a modern, well presented new bathroom scheme.
How you can easily upgrade (without sacrificing looks):
- Many walk-in baths are now designed with a contemporary modern look and feel.
- Glass doors are available on some of the new designs, lending a pleasing appearance to the overall finish.
- A major supplier of power baths to the residential and care home market has recently revamped their designs to include new water saving features and stylish chrome fittings and feature colour stripes.
- Walk in showers can be created with tasteful sliding screens or fixed glass screens, though care should be taken as the more someone’s mobility is impaired the less practical these types of shower enclosures become.
- A shower can be finished using either tiles or waterproof wall cladding, which gives an almost endless choice of appearance to the final bathroom. Depending on choice and preference the type of tiles and cladding used can create anything from an ultra-modern look to a more traditional style, with everything in between.
A few points to bear in mind
Whilst it may be tempting to carry out the redesign of a new shower using aesthetically pleasing fittings, this should not be the overall concern. The last thing you want to end up with is a great looking shower, which is impractical for the end user.
When specifying a mobility bathroom this is often the challenge as the end user may love the look of stylish showers, but they may require half height carer assisted screens, which means a return to the “hospital look”.
In choosing the fittings, the end user should be sensible and open to what they require vs. what they like. Quite often with a mobility bathroom it is what is required for easy and safe access now and in the future that should be chosen and not what looks good and is pleasing on the eye.
If you or a loved one require bathroom adaptations but are a little confused about what is right for their mobility you need to call in specialist help of the kind that Absolute Mobility can offer. We offer a home assessment service to help us truly understand your needs so that we can design a bathroom that you’re going to love for years to come.
Please feel free to call us on 0800 29 22 110 to book an appointment, or to simply chat through your options.
