When you have children your entire world changes. Your life no longer revolves around yourself and your needs. Instead, it revolves around your children. This means that when it comes to home design, each and every upgrade that you make has to be child-friendly, as naturally, you want to ensure that your home is somewhere that the whole family can live comfortably and safely in. That being said, just because you want to make your home child-friendly that doesn’t mean that you always get it right – from time to time we all get things wrong. One of the most common areas where parents get the design and decor wrong is in the bathroom. Below we’ve compiled a list of the most common bathroom blunders that spell disaster for families so that you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Water that’s too hot
Children don’t always think before they act, which is why hot water is particularly dangerous. Kids just turn the bathroom taps on without a second thought regarding the temperature of the water. That’s why it’s worth turning your water temperature down a degree or two so that the hot water isn’t scalding hot and won’t cause burns if your child accidentally turns it on instead of the cold tap. It’s also a good idea to pick out a mixer tap, instead of two individual taps as this means if your child wants to use warm water to wash their hands they can mix cold and hot to get the ideal temperature, preventing burns.
Flooring that gets slippery when wet
You would think that all flooring advertised for bathrooms would be non-slip, but actually, that’s not the case. A lot of flooring – especially tile and slate flooring – becomes slippery and dangerous when wet, making bathroom accidents more likely. To prevent slips and trips in the bathroom, the best thing that you can do is invest in non-slip flooring or look into getting a special coating put onto the flooring that you already have. Remember, it’s not just the flooring that gets slippery, baths and showers do too, so opting for a tub and shower cubicle that has a non-slip coating is also a must.
A lack of storage
You may not think of a bathroom as a space that needs a lot of storage, but the fact is once you’ve got little ones your bathroom also becomes a playroom, meaning that you need plenty of storage space for all of your children’s bath toys. The last thing you want is their toys to be constantly spread around, making your bathroom look a mess. So, it’s crucial to ensure that there is adequate storage space available for storing bath time toys as well as towels, soaps and shower gels, and anything else that you need in your bathroom.
A lock that’s in reach of little hands
To avoid your child locking themselves in the bathroom and accidentally getting stuck, it’s important to make sure that the lock in your bathroom is out of reach of little hands, unless you want to spend hours coaxing them out with step by step instructions for undoing the lock, that is. Or, another option is to buy a child safe lock that can be opened from the outside as well as the inside.
Hopefully, the tips and ideas above will help you to ensure that your bathroom is a space that’s suitable for the whole family to use and enjoy.
