Earlier this month our partners at Houzz released a summary of their annual homeowners study.  This year they surveyed more than 1,300 homeowners who renovated or remodeled their master bathrooms. Do you remember the difference between renovation and remodeling?  If not, please revisit this very popular blog post from 2018! 

Here are a few key findings from the Houzz 2019 Bathroom Renovation Study:

Showers Reign Supreme: 83% of homeowners upgraded their master bathroom showers this year, and 54% of the time it was to increase the size of the shower space!

Spa-Like Oasis: An on-going design element that we've been delivering for over a decade is providing "spa-like" features and functions to master bathrooms.  According to the study, this is represented by a focus on neutral tones along with white or wood vanities. 

Freestanding, Flat-Bottom Tubs:  Compared to their popularity in 2017, when freestanding, flat-bottom tubs were just 41% of replaced tubs, they've risen in 2019 to 50%!  And we've seen many Illinois homeowners combined an increased shower space along with adding a freestanding soaking tub with more than one third of our major remodeling projects! 

To learn even more from about what's happening with bathroom remodels, we are including the summary to this special study here!  If the New Year means a new bathroom for your home, please contact our Diamond Bath team today to schedule your free, in-home design consultation! 

It's a pretty common questions among home owners considering a professional bathroom remodeling project: How long will this take?  Luckily, most of the homes we remodel these days have at least two full bathrooms, so it's rare that there is ever a situation where people are greatly inconvenienced while our team completes each project.  Our only REAL challenge comes when a homeowner asks to remodel two bathrooms at the same time. 

While the potential for inconvenience is greater with a dual bathroom remodeling project, as you'll see from the photo gallery below, the reward is even more significant.  The Novickis family, in Wonder Lake, made such a request and are very pleased with the results our team delivered last month.   The photos that show the tub are in a hallway bathroom and the open shower photos are within the master bathroom. 

Look at these "After" photos carefully and you'll find some important details. For example, in the Master Bath: 

• Update included shower bend with a Hanstone Aramis quartz bench top.
• The shower floor is a hex tile which compliments the herringbone pattern back in the shower shelf niche. 
• Shower walls are classic arctic white subway tiles in 4" x 12" size. 
• The Pulse spa shower system was finished in brushed nickel. 
• Their charcoal grey vanity was topped with a Carrara marble top and under mount sink featuring a Kohler Katun faucet, also in brushed nickel. 

The hall bath has similar features and finishes:

• The new Therapeutic Comfort Flow tub features an upgraded jet system, with onboard heater, brushed nickel waterfall faucet. 
• The tub walls are the same arctic white subway tiles used in the shower, also 4" x 12".
• The bathroom floors were finished with large, light grey 12" x 24" tiles to limit grout lines. 
• The same charcoal grey vanity with Carrara marble combination used in the master suite was the same utilized in this hallway bathroom. 
• While not easily shown, both bathroom contain new exhaust fans the include a bluetooth speaker and LED lighting. 

If you ready to make one or all of your bathrooms as beautiful as this, please Contact our team at Diamond Bath today to schedule your free in-home appointment! 

It was almost exactly a year ago when this Diamond Bath blog post, Do It Yourself Versus Professional Contractors, caused a bit of stir.  Clearly, being a professional remodeling company for years, we are going to be a bit biased about our chosen profession.  Our point was not to demean or degrade the millions of DIYers and weekend warriors that make improvements to their homes each year; our mission was simply to communicate a few relevant points that are sometimes overlooked by those considering taking on a remodeling project themselves. For example:

1. Time:  We believe everyone's time is worth something and, if you are like us, you believe the time you spend with your family at night and on weekends is some of your most precious time.  Yet this is when most DIY projects happen, so time is spent shopping for materials, borrowing tools from friends, cleaning up an accident or watching another YouTube video on how to remove that old toilet. 

2.  Money:  Since we've seen our share of DIY projects gone wrong, we can surmise that many times the savings you anticipated with the cost of materials, gradually increases as you eventually discover additional items you didn't realized were required as well.  That new toilet will also need a new wax ring.  A new tub will likely not be the exact same size as your original tub, so that means changes to your flooring.  Even installing a new shower head will require some teflon tape for a watertight seal, and all those additional add-ons will add up. 

3. Resale:  While you might be very proud of your DIY project, how will  future home buyers feel about your remodeling abilities?  Potentially even more important, how will a certified home inspector view your efforts?  What about an experienced home appraiser?  Keep this future audience in mind when you are weighing the pros and cons of your DIY decisions today. 

Don't want to take our word for the various pitfalls of DIY projects?  Be sure to read this article from last month's Chicago Tribune, Your DIY home renovation project may actually lower its value. 10 things to know before you start the work.  If your ROI for going DIY is not measuring up, be sure to contact Diamond Bath for your free in-home estimate!

Last week we shared important details about the advantages of using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) to help finance your home remodeling project.  As we explained originally in this "How To Pay for Your Brand New Bathroom" article from March 2019, HELOCs are a common financing option for home owners with positive home equity.  Another popular option we've identified is unsecured financing, also known as a signature loan, and that brings us to today's exciting news to share for our future clients! 

Our entire team at Diamond Bath is proud to announce a new partnership with a nationally recognized leader in personal finance, Rocket Loans!  You may have seen their advertisements on TV, or within your favorite publications, and you may even have their app on your smartphone, but we are excited at how easy this new partner makes it for our clients to secure the funding needed for professional home remodeling projects.  If you've just purchased your home within the past year or two, you may not have positive equity yet for a HELOC, and tapping high interest rate credit cards may not make sound financial sense.  For those with good credit scores, a Rocket Loan, paid over the course of five years could actually save you money versus your credit card.  Here's a helpful comparison, right from their website, for a $10,000 loan: