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Renovation Design

Are Laminate Splashbacks a Good Bathroom Choice?

Armrock Constructions specialises in bathroom renovations on the Gold Coast. In any bathroom renovation, a number of important choices must be made about materials, inclusions and styles. In this article, we review the topic “Are Laminate Splashbacks a Good Bathroom Choice?”

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What is a Bathroom Splashback?

A splashback goes on the wall directly behind a sink or wet area. It is a distinct section, designed to add a layer of protection against water splashing onto non-water resistant areas, and also has a role to play in the presentation of the room. In the following image, you can see the splashback on the wall beneath the lights, behind the vanity unit.

Bathroom Splashback

Splashbacks can be used in bathrooms, toilets, laundries and kitchens. Splashbacks can be made from different types of materials including tiles, acrylics, glasses, laminates, and other water resistant options. In this article, we’re looking into splashbacks made from laminates, and whether they are a good choice to use in a bathroom.

Do I Need a Bathroom Splashback?

While having a splashback isn’t essential, it is essential to protect your home from water. A splashback is not the only way of achieving this. A popular option in many of our Gold Coast bathroom renovation projects is to extend the wall tiling behind the vanity to provide a layer of water resistance and protection. This style is demonstrated in the following image:

Wall Tiled Splashback

This is just one of many possible ways to solving the problem of protecting your walls from water. Another example follows, where the mirror is extended down to the top of the vanity, ensuring water resistance is achieved:

Mirror as Splashback

While splashbacks aren’t the only way to solve the problem of water-resistance behind the vanity, they are a popular solution for this problem because of the design advantages that they can bring to a bathroom. When the decision is made to include a splashback, the next choice is the type of material to use. Are laminates a good option to use in a bathroom splashback?

Laminate Splashback Viability

Bathroom splashbacks need to be water-resistant, hard-wearing, long-lasting and easy to clean. A high-quality laminate splashback meets all of these criteria. Unlike kitchen splashbacks, where proximity to the heat of a stovetop may rule out a laminated solution, they are definitely a good option to consider in bathrooms.

In addition to these features, laminate splashbacks can also be custom-made by our team to suit your vanity unit, and come in at a favourable price point compared to other splashback options. This makes laminates a highly viable splashback option for bathroom renovations.

Laminate Splashback Benefits

A principal benefit of laminate splashbacks is the stylistic possibilities. Laminates represent the opportunity to incorporate a huge range of styles into your bathroom design. Check out some of the options available in the Nikpol range here. You can use them to simulate timber, stone, acrylic, or introduce patterns and dynamism into your design. Learn more about timber-look laminates here. Some laminate solutions also include texture, making their presence dimensional and truer to the original material that they are replicating.

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Filed Under: Bathroom Renovation, Renovation Design Tagged With: Bathroom Renovations, Laminates, Splashback Options, Splashbacks, Timber Laminates, Vanities, Water-Resistance

What Colour Blinds Go With White Walls?

Bathroom Blinds with White Walls
Bathroom Blinds with White Walls

What colour blinds go with white walls? When you’re choosing blinds for a room with white walls, does everything work equally well? They’re important questions and well worth asking, especially when you consider that the walls of most homes and businesses are white or a similar tone, and this is especially true for bathrooms, where white and light tones are always a favourite.

Get some insight into selecting the best blinds for your white walls with some help from the design team at Armrock Constructions, on the Gold Coast QLD. Enjoy! 

What Colour Blinds Go With White Walls – The Easy Answer

The easy and short answer to this question is “all colours”. Why? White is a neutral colour, so when you partner it up with any other colour, they just go along together nicely. It doesn’t matter what the colour is, or whether it’s light, dark, strong, vibrant, or has a pattern. They will work! Whatever you put with white will just go well. Whew!

What matters though, is that different effects can be created by partnering your white walls with different types of blinds. 

Because our goal is to find the best blinds for your white-walled rooms, in this article we will explore the way these effects can be created, hopefully giving you some tools to make better decisions when evaluating window-dressings for your home or business.

Why Are Walls White?

Well, have you ever wondered why? Walls could be any colour, so why are they (nearly-always) white? Sometimes it seems that white is almost a default colour for walls. Why is this the case?

Every approach to interior design has advantages and disadvantages. And interpretations are very subjective. It’s not that white walls are always the best option – but they are probably the easiest, for these significant reasons:

  1. White walls don’t date. Unlike stronger colours or heavy patterns and textures, white walls don’t go out of date.
  2. White walls are versatile. The room can easily be updated by rearranging fixtures and fittings like towels, pot-plants, and interior blinds.
  3. White creates space. And a light background creates an open, airy sensation which is not achievable when darker colours are used.
  4. White enables the usage of a wider range of colours. Darker colours limit the options that can be used alongside them.

With white walls, interiors are ready for a variety of design options with less limitations than other more advanced design solutions.

Overcoming the Challenge with White Backgrounds

If everything goes well with white walls, then what’s the problem when you’re picking blinds or other accessories for the room? The problem is there are too many options! When you’re starting off with white walls, there are so many possible combinations it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Unlike other colours, there’s no immediate colour foothold or guide (for example, a complementary colour) to get started from. So we find ourselves asking, “What’s right with white?” and not easily finding an answer, despite there being so many possible solutions. 

White is a neutral colour so whether your blinds are lighter, darker, the same, or patterned, they will just ‘work’ against a white background. 

Having too many choices can create issues, especially when we don’t have a clear vision of what we want to achieve. A good starting point is to create an impression of the room we’re creating as a whole, and to allow the selection of the blinds to contribute to that impression.

The Whole Impression

To get started, it’s useful to create an impression of the room as a whole. The way to approach this will depend on where you’re at with your renovation. If everything is going to change, then everything needs to be mapped out before any changes are made, to create a holistic design. However, if some things are already established and in place, then these ‘known’ features will affect the choices you subsequently make. Things to look at:

  1. What type of white are the walls? Are you whites warm, cool, or neutral? Are they matt or gloss? Do they have any texture?
  2. Do the walls have any texture?
  3. What are the other colours in the room?
  4. What is the theme of the bathroom?

It’s also important to extend beyond the bathroom to consider the relationship between the bathroom and the rest of the house. You can read more about this in Using Colour to Create a Holistic Bathroom.

Handy Links (External) 

  • 5 Ways to connect rooms with colour
  • Create a visual connection across rooms
  • Meaning of the colour white
  • Whites and Neutrals

Natural Light & Privacy Considerations

Bathrooms - Where Privacy Matters
Bathrooms – Where Privacy Matters

While evaluating the whole impression of the room, don’t forget to take into account natural light (through the day) and privacy considerations. After all, these are two of the main functional reasons for getting blinds in the first place. Natural light should always be used to your advantage when possible – what’s better than a bathroom flooded with beautiful sunlight? Depending on the aspects of your windows, privacy considerations are always important, especially with bedrooms, bathrooms, and toilets.

The Fad Hazard – a Design Tip
Exciting, dynamic colours that you love today may not be as favourable in 6 weeks – or even 6 days. Things that look really cool because they’re different can quickly become tired. The cool thing about blinds is that you can get creative without getting structural – but your decisions should still be somewhat future-proof. You don’t want to be rolling back down to your blind-shop in 6 weeks for another round of rollers!

Types of Blinds for Your Bathroom

After coming to terms with the whole impression of the room, including the natural light and privacy considerations, it’s time to make sure you’re up to speed with the main options in interior blinds. There are fabric-based blinds (such as roller blinds, vertical blinds, panel glides and Verishades) and shutters, which are a solid mechanism for blocking out light and vision. All of these have different purposes, and all come in a wide variety of natural and artificial colours and styles. Key information:

  1. Fabric blinds come in different types of fabric, which determine how much light and vision comes through the blinds. Depending on the aspect of your bathroom windows in relation to your neighbours, you can find a compromise between blinds that allow natural light into the room, and blinds that ensure you have adequate privacy.
  2. The three main fabric types you need to be aware of are blockout (or blackout), light-filtering, and screen fabrics. These all transmit light in different ways. Blockout blinds block out all the light and vision, making them a useful choice when you’re dealing with direct light or privacy considerations. Light-filtering fabrics block out nearly-all light and vision, but they do permit some light to filter through. Screen blinds permit both light and vision through the blinds.
  3. With fabric blinds, you will choose a fabrics and a colour / style. Different combinations have different outcomes for the appearance and functionality of the blinds.
  4. Different types of blinds and shutters come in at different price points.
Timber Venetian Blinds
Timber Venetian Blinds

The Importance of Contrast

When it’s time to choose the best blinds for your white walls, contrast is an essential aspect to understand and utilise for making decisions. Contrast is how different two things are, and can be low, medium or high. For example:

  1. High Contrast: White walls with black blinds (very different)
  2. Medium Contrast: White walls with a mid-tone colour blind (somewhat different) 
  3. Low Contrast: White walls with a light colour, similar to white (similar) 

The more contrast you create, the more visual stronger your solution will be.

Low Contrast Solutions

White on white! Alright! Not since the invention of (white) rice has anything been quite as white as white blinds in a white room. When you go with a low-contrast approach, you’re minimising the presence of the blinds, since they will be quite similar to the white walls. With this approach, the blinds don’t define the room. This is done by things like towels, pot-plants, and other bathroom features. The blinds are a continuation of the existing tones so they don’t have any significant visual impact. 

White on white concepts include: sterile; classical; minimal; calm; chic; masculine; feminine; corporate; medical; austere. However, with appropriate styling, white-on-white can be made to suit practically any requirement.  

After white-on-white blinds, you can look at combinations whereby the colour of the blinds is offset, but not by much, from the colour and tone of the walls. For example: off-whites, creams, mild-greys, beige colours, gentle pastels. Again, these are low-contrast solutions, where the colours used are similar to the white walls, and again, the blinds aren’t taking over. With low-contrast, the role of the blinds is to complement the walls.

The Low-Contrast Secret
The low-contrast secret is something to keep in mind when you’re selecting your blind colour. By using less contrast (in other words, a colour that is similar to your white walls) it’s much easier to arrive at a solution that has longevity and flexibility. The low-contrast secret is to minimise the impact of your blinds, essentially making them part of the background, like the walls. Sometimes in design, doing less achieves more!

Mid-Contrast Solutions

Blinds in a Medium Contrast Bathroom
Blinds in a Medium Contrast Bathroom

Using stronger colours in your blinds creates more contrast. Mid-tone colours like greens, browns, blues or greys are popular options with white walls – (everything works with white!) but now the impression is stronger and there is a discernible difference between the blinds and the walls. This stronger impression creates advantages as well, such as the anchoring connecting that can be established between blinds and furniture, or the way blinds become mini feature walls in the room. Also, bolder design statements can be made with mid-tones, since the blinds have a greater voice in the room. 

High Contrast Solutions

High-contrast interior choices are designed to be noticed, and high-contrast blinds are no exception. The strong impression that is created between high-contrast blinds and white walls will certainly not be for everyone. It leads to be a more sophisticated look, trending towards the expression of individuality more so than the family home or the modern office, because of the strong impression created. High-contrast solutions use colours that are very different to the white walls, so they may be dark, or bright colours, and a variety of effects are possible: classical / elegant (black on white), funky (bright purple!), sophisticated, masculine, feminine, luxurious. 

How Much Contrast is Good?

Contrast can be used to create different effects. It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve, and how much of your personality you wish to express in your interior design. Lower-contrast is easier to adapt to different styles, whereas higher contrast is more dominant but also more expressive. Contrast is a useful tool to build from for this reason alone. You can ask the question – how much of an impression do I want my blinds to make? Which will guide you into the appropriate realm of contrast to consider.

Handy Links (External) 

  • Contrast in design
  • The Importance of Contrast

Texture, Pattern, Fabric & Nuance

Talking about blinds exclusively in terms of colour is a pretty big simplification. Other factors such as texture, pattern and fabric type also have a role to play. They bring depth, interest and functionality to designs with any degree of colour contrast variance. A particular effect to highlight is the fantastic results that can be achieved with screen fabrics, which combine colour and texture towards a uniquely satisfying result, integrating the interior and exterior:

In this way, low-contrast colours can engender a more pronounced, integrated style, than possible if they were a blockout fabric with no transmission of light & vision:

Texture, pattern and fabric can be used to create the effects that really make blinds sing, creating nuanced expressions that don’t rock the boat with radical colour contrasts. 


Achieving Design Goals with Blinds

In the practical sense, interior blinds are a great opportunity to enhance the appearance and functionality of your premises. To help make decisions about the best colour to use with your white walls, and keeping in mind information about contrast, fabric type, texture and pattern, here are some popular interior design goals you can achieve with your interior blinds. 


Optimising Natural Light

Optimising Natural Light in Bathrooms
Optimising Natural Light in Bathrooms

Blinds can be used to stop light altogether, reduce light, or utilise light as part of the interior design. When the latter is achieved well, amazing results are created. This is very much a fabric-choice matter. Privacy is also important and needs to be considered. With double-blind options and multiple different fabric types, there are a wide variety of ways to optimise the way you interiors work with natural light. 

Creating Space

When rooms are small, often a design goal is to enlarge the perception of the room but your design choices. Selective use of screen and light filtering fabrics, when appropriate, can help rooms to feel larger because they integrate the interior with the exterior, and utilise natural light. Also, lighter colours are generally more conducive to creating a sense of space than darker ones. by virtue of their connection with the outside and admission of natural light into the room. This isn’t always an option, but lighter colours in general are more conducive to a sense of space than darker ones.

Flat Colour with Roller Blinds

A popular & versatile blind, the roller blind is a favourite in Brisbane and often a starting point for people in their quest for the perfect blind. A compelling reason why roller blinds are so popular extends beyond their simple effectiveness – they’re also the easiest blind to understand. Flat colour, applied with a roller blind, is a simple recipe with no complications and specific results can easily be achieved. We do great work with roller blinds, but are they always the best solution? It depends on how far you want to take your design.

Create a Mood for a Room

Different rooms have different purposes and different moods. Rooms are used by people, and their purpose can be reflected by interior design choices such as blinds. Colour can make rooms collaborative and cheerful, which may be great for a family kitchen. A bedroom, meanwhile, might be a calmer, restful solution. Blinds don’t always have to be the same through the whole home. Sometimes, a variety of different blind colours is the best way to achieve the result you’re looking for. 

In Conclusion – Measuring the Performance of Your Choice

The right solution depends on who’s using it, and how the design affects them. In conclusion, here are some helpful benchmarks by which the success of your colour choice can be measured, which are good to keep in mind when making choices in the first place. 

  1. Longevity – How long will your solution remains relevant
  2. Integration – How well does your solution integrate? 
  3. Purpose – How does your solution reflect the purpose of the room?
  4. Personality – How much do you need to express yourself in the design?

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Filed Under: Renovation Design Tagged With: Bathroom Blinds, Bathroom Colour, Colour Design, Privacy, White Walls

Using Colour to Create a Holistic Bathroom Renovation

Choosing the colours in a bathroom renovation is one of the most exciting and challenging parts of any bathroom renovation project. Unless you have done 6 years of interior design study at university, you may rapidly learn that there is more involved in colour selection than meets the eye. Making important colour choices can mean the difference between an average and an outstanding bathroom outcome. In this article, we will use examples of our Gold Coast bathroom renovation projects to discuss winning strategies for colour selection in bathroom design, towards the goal of a creating a holistic home.

What is a Holistic Home?

Regardless of the interior style you’re into, having the goal of a holistic home is what this is all about. That means the bathroom works together with the rest of the home in a meaningful way – fitting in with the rest of the home. Whether your existing interior style is modern, vintage, relaxed, conservative, bohemian or high-end, it’s ideal for your newly renovated bathroom to fit in with the overall theme.

Holistic Definition: Dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part [SRC: Cambridge Dictionary]

The Relationship Between The Bathroom and the Home

To create a holistic bathroom design, a great starting point is to remember to evaluate the rest of your home when you’re designing your bathroom. If you design your bathroom in isolation, it doesn’t stand much chance of successfully integrating because in a holistic home, relationships are everything! Some helpful things to look at are:

  1. List the colours used in the home.
  2. How colourful is the home?
  3. Is the home light or dark?
  4. Take a look at the colour and style of existing fittings such as handles & doorknobs.
  5. Describe the general theme in the home; e.g. modern, relaxed, minimal, natural
  6. Pay particular attention to the kitchen, laundry & toilets

These types of observations don’t need to explicitly guide our choices. But they do create awareness. We need to be aware that when we design the bathroom, the colours that we choose will have relationships with the existing style of the home, and these relationships can be optimised for a more holistic result.

Styling Beyond The Bones

A handy piece of knowledge that separates professional designers from everyone else is that less is more. All of the colours, shapes, textures and styles available in a bathroom renovation come in a bewildering array of options. An over-zealous approach can create a design that will tire very quickly.

A simpler and more conservative approach might sound boring, but bathrooms, like any other room in the home, can be styled beyond their bones. Accessories like pot plants, towels, artwork, and other items can also help your bathroom to integrate into the wider home, without compromising the bathroom with an over-zealous design approach. Read about What Colour Blinds go with White Walls for more styling ideas.

Approaching Your Bathroom Design

The safest approach to your bathroom design is to extend the home into the bathroom by utilising existing colour choices and styles to make the bathroom ‘more of the same’. It’s safe in the sense that, assuming you like the rest of the interior design, you will like the new bathroom, and it will fit in with the rest of the home.

However, being holistic doesn’t just mean being the same. It means that there is a relationship. The parts (rooms) of the home can be best understood as a whole (the whole home). While sameness is safe, most of the time, we want more from the opportunity of a bathroom renovation.

Bathroom renovations are a great chance to inject some of our own personality and stylistic intention into the home – to make it our own.

By keeping the rest of the home in mind when designing the bathroom, it’s possible to create a ‘safely creative’ design space, where design choices can be made that will help produce a holistic home: a home that is balanced between what the home is, and what you’d like it to be.


Winning Approaches to Bathroom Style

The following examples from our recent Gold Coast bathroom renovations demonstrate some winning approaches that can be adapted to suit a wide variety of bathrooms:

Complementary Colour Bathroom Style

Using two complementary colours in your bathroom creates a winning outcome that can be adapted to suit a wide range of bathrooms and homes. Here’s an example from a recent Gold Coast bathroom renovation, where we have used turquoise tiles and blonde timber-look laminate to create a punchy, energetic bathroom using natural tones.

Turquoise Blonde Custom Timber Laminate Vanity
Turquoise Blonde Custom Timber Laminate Vanity

The rest of the design falls into the safe zone with greys and whites, allowing the bathroom colours to effortless sit amongst the mid-tones for a light, fresh feeling.

Black & White: Low Contrast

Black and white are popular bathroom colours. This classical colour combination endures over time, and won’t tire as quickly as a brighter design may. In this black and white example, there is very little contrast (the bathroom is mainly white), with subtle black touches in the tapware, handles, grout-lines and tile-inset drains.

Colonial Bathroom Renovation

Black & White: High Contrast

This Gold Coast high-rise bathroom is another example of a black and white bathroom design, with a higher degree of contrast being realised by the black laminate bench-top. Immediately stronger in visual presence, this creates a sophisticated and high-end bathroom. Perfect for a penthouse!

Penthouse Bathroom Renovation

Juxtaposed Organic

This is a cool bathroom style. There’s more happening here than just the colours – shape and texture has a big role to play. In terms of colours though, the timber tones, brushed-brass tapware and mosaic tile splashback (and in fact, wall tiling) combine for a stylish meeting between organic and industrial ideas.

Gold Coast Bathroom Upgrades

White with Timber

Timber has such a great outcome in bathrooms. Paired with the simplicity of white walls, a timber vanity engages an organic vibe which is simultaneously modern and versatile. We use timber-look laminates to create great outcomes for our custom vanities, and sometimes a successful bathroom renovation doesn’t need anything more than this.

Gold Coast Bathroom Upgrades
Gold Coast Bathroom Upgrades

Feature Wall Splash of Colour

This bathroom renovation carries on from our white/timber concept to the inclusion of a baby-blue tiled feature wall. Note how the grout-lines are sympathetic to the timber / brushed-brass tones in the bench top, tapware and fittings. This concept creates a sophisticated and whimsical result. Again, it is ultimately a simple recipe: white, timber, and a feature-colour in tiles of your choice.

Gold Coast Bathroom Renovations
Gold Coast Bathroom Renovations

Extravagant Splashes of Metallic Colour

Typical bathroom metal colours are silver, black, and brushed brass. Surprising and interesting effects can be introduced by unexpected metallic inclusions. In this bathroom / laundry, an otherwise low-key approach (white tiles, timber-look laminate benchtop) gets a *surprise* addition of a brushed-brass tap and sink. It’s colourful, energetic, and adds some interest and excitement to the design, without overwhelming the room.

Laundry Tap & Sink
Laundry Tap & Sink

LED Lighting Excitement

Adding some LED lighting to your bathroom can be transformative. This simple black and white design gets a powerful punch when the purple LEDs are activated. What’s really cool is the versatility that this offers. You may not need it everyday, but when it’s party time, guest will be washing their hands in purple LED style!

Bathroom & Laundry Upgrades
LED Lighting in Bathrooms

Organise a Free Quote for Your Bathroom Renovation:

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Filed Under: Renovation Design Tagged With: Black and White, Colour, Colour Scheme, Contrast, Design Strategy, Holistic Design, Timber and White

Round Mirrors in Bathroom Design

Round mirrors are a popular bathroom design feature that are included in many of our Gold Coast bathroom renovation projects. If you’re trying to decide whether to include a round mirror in your bathroom design, this page will be a useful resource for you, and features examples from our recent Gold Coast bathroom renovation projects.

Connecting with Round Mirrors

A major advantage of round mirrors is the way they integrate bathroom elements without dominating the design. Round mirrors may not fill the whole space, but they feel like the do, and this enables them to not only connect bathroom elements, but do so in a lovely way.

In the following image, you can see a colonial-themed bathroom renovation undertaken by our team. Note that the vanity and window are similar in shape (rectangular) and size. We’ve used a double-round mirror here which helps to connect these two elements. Imagine a square, or rectangular mirror in this scenario.. it may overwhelm the room, whereas the round mirrors create a sense of connection and integration.

Double Circular Mirror Integration

Concentrated Design Focus

In the following image, from the same renovation project (it involved a double-bathroom renovation) we’ve used a singular round mirror above the vanity unit. This creates an interesting focus for the bathroom which wouldn’t exist if a larger or more dominant mirror were utilised. Because this colonial bathroom renovation requires the harmonious juxtaposition of multiple irregular objects, the round mirror provides a way to connect, integrate, and relate the room.

Single Circular Mirror Integration

Bathroom Flow & Circular Mirrors

A goal of bathroom design is always to make rooms that make sense. A sense of flow, or movement, through the bathroom elements can help to accomplish this. One of the great attributes of round mirrors is how they enable rooms to flow. Even in rooms with a static feel, a round mirror enlivens and rejuvenates the space, making it feel larger and more dynamic. Interestingly, on the majestic glass.com.au website, they note “if you are planning to redecorate your beloved bathroom, or just want to spice up the design, then the best and easiest thing to do is replacing the current dull mirror with a round one”.

Cultivating Visual Interest

Single Circular Mirror Integration

Round mirrors are a fantastic way to cultivate visual interest. The dynamic nature of the circle ensures the eye will always have somewhere to go. A round mirror activates and cultivates this sense of dynamism, which event by its solitary contribution can help take your bathroom to the next level. This particular bathroom also includes a built-in shower, which is a great option to consider for your renovation as well.

Anchoring the Vanity

Anchoring the Vanity with a Mirror

A bathroom vanity is the cornerstone of any bathroom. Utilising a custom vanity in your bathroom renovation is a great way to express and integrate your bathroom design. A challenge of working with vanity units is the difference of their shape within the bathroom. Low and horizontal, they can contrast poorly with taller elements such as the shower or the bathroom door. Because vanity units are always paired with a mirror, this deficiency is overcome; in the case of round mirrors, vanity units can achieve a vertical presence albeit at a much smaller footprint of bathroom real estate.

This effect is also demonstrated in the following images from a recent Gold Coast bathroom renovation below. Note how the circular mirror helps connect the vanity with the room, and creates a visual bridge between the vanity and the shower. Read about this project here.

By the way, isn’t the tiling in these projects fantastic! Learn more about tiling with our team here.

Anchored Vanity
Bathroom Integrity

Making Important Choices

Anchoring the Vanity with a Mirror

A round mirror isn’t always the best choice, and definitely not the only choice. It’s just a great option to keep in mind instead of defaulting to a rectangular or square mirror. Talk to our team about your Gold Coast bathroom renovation. We look forward to working together with you to create your ideal bathroom design, and then helping you to bring it to reality.

Organise a Free Quote for Your Bathroom Renovation:

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Filed Under: Renovation Design Tagged With: Bathroom Design, Bathroom Flow, Mirror, Round Mirror

Timber-Look Laminates in Bathroom Renovation

Gold Coast Timber Laminate Benchtop
Timber Laminate Bathroom Renovation
Timber Laminate Bathroom Renovation Design
Timber Laminate Vanity Construction Gold Coast
Gold Coast Timber Laminate Benchtop
Timber Laminate Bathroom Renovation
Timber Laminate Bathroom Renovation Design
Timber Laminate Vanity Construction Gold Coast
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Timber Laminates in Bathroom Renovation

At Armrock Constructions, we specialise in bathroom renovations on the Gold Coast QLD. A feature of many of our renovations is the addition of a beautiful custom-made vanity unit; the centerpiece of any bathroom project. Bespoke vanity style is often achieved nowadays by utilising timber-look laminates for either the vanity benchtop, cabinet, or the entire vanity unit. The results are so effective that we wanted to showcase some of their uses and share information about their applications to demonstrate how they can be used to enhance your bathroom renovation project.

Meanwhile, If you’re looking for assistance with a bathroom renovation on the Gold Coast, please don’t hesitate to contact our team for a free consultation & quote.


Sections in this Article

What are Timber-Look Laminates?
Timber-Look Laminates in Bathroom Renovations
Timber Laminates in Our Projects
The Advantages of Laminates in Bathrooms

Timber Laminates in Vanity Units
Timber-Look Laminates in Bathroom Flooring
Laminate Products We Work With


What are Timber-Look Laminates?

Timber-look laminates are basically materials that are designed to look like natural timber. They’re called laminates because they are created through the process of lamination, which just means that they are constructed with multiple layers that are compressed together. If you’re really interested, you can learn more about the process on Wikipedia. The important thing to know about laminates is that they are hard-wearing, great-looking and perfectly suited to making beautiful bathroom vanities!

Timber-Look Laminates in Bathroom Renovations

In a bathroom renovation, timber-look laminates are most commonly used in the vanity unit. They’re a great asset to bring design concepts into reality. With the wide range of options and styles available, our team can help with the design, construction, and installation of your custom vanity unit. A wide range of effects can be created, producing bathrooms that are variously natural, industrial, juxtaposed, integrated. Following are examples from our recent Gold Coast renovation projects where you can learn more about how we created these effects using timber-look laminates.

Timber Laminates in our Projects

In these Gold Coast Bathroom renovation projects, our team used timber-look laminates for a variety of compelling results. Click through to learn more about the projects, or read on to learn more about timber-look laminates.

Mosaic Tile Renovation

This bathroom renovation project utilises a textural mosaic tile, timber-look floor tiles and brushed brass tapware for a holistic result.

Continue Reading Mosaic Tile Renovation

Bathroom Feature Tiling

Brushed Brass Bathroom, Ensuite & Laundry Renovation

Join Armrock Constructions for a tour of this lovely, newly-renovated bathroom, ensuite and laundry on the Gold Coast QLD.

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Nerang Bathroom Renovations

Marble Tiled Opulent Bathroom Renovation

There is a lot to love about this beautiful bathroom renovation by Armrock Constructions on the Gold Coast QLD. Take a tour through a bathroom that is built to be enjoyed, and please contact our team to discuss your renovation. Every project begins with a free appraisal and quote. Floor / Wall Marble Tiling This…

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Timber-Look Laminate Vanity Top

White Tile and Timber Style

This Gold Coast bathroom renovation evokes a classic style with all the modern mod-cons. It’s a great example of the work achieved by Armrock Constructions. Our renovations make a difference – if you’re on the Gold Coast, contact our team today for a free measure and quote. Read on to learn more about how we…

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The Advantages of Laminates in Bathrooms

The advantages of using a laminated product are best understood in comparison to using other materials for the same purpose. Actual timber is expensive and may be limited in the type and options that are available. Timber-look laminates, meanwhile, are available in a wide range of purpose-designed styles. They’re made for bathrooms! Their advantages include:

  1. Hard-wearing
  2. Wide range of styles
  3. Cost-effective
  4. Accessible
  5. Versatile
  6. Corners can be rounded
  7. Textural (some laminates have texture, just like the real thing)
  8. Strong
  9. Water Resistant

Timber laminates can be used to achieve virtually any look you can imagine. No wonder we love working with them so much! In this project illustrated below, you can see how the vanity cabinet and benchtop have been finished with stylish curves, creating continuity with the round mirror and curved bathtub. With a skilful team and a quality product, it’s amazing what can be achieved.

Curved Laminated Edges
Curved Laminated Edges

Timber-Look Laminates in Vanity Units

Timber-look laminates are commonly used in our projects to enhance custom vanity units. They can be used for the benchtop, cabinet, or both. The approach depends on the goal of the vanity unit and its intention in the bathroom. The presence of timber elevates the bathroom and helps to connect it with the outside world. Tonally, lighter or darker shades of timber can be used to create contrast in the bathroom, or with the vanity unit itself. Between our carpenters and the design goals, you can capitalise on possibilities such as rounded corners to give your vanity a winning and individual look. In the following image, you can see how the rich, warm timber-tones anchor and connect the greater bathroom elements for a juxtaposed, modern style.

Marble Tile Timber Laminate Vanity
Marble Tile Timber Laminate Vanity

The best thing about laminates is the way they have evolved. Laminates have been around for a long time, and they have come a long way. Whether you’re doing a budget renovation or a high-end renovation, laminates are an option to consider. The wide range of styles and excellent engineering available, in conjunction with their competitive price-point, make laminates an essential consideration in any bathroom renovation.

Timber-Look Laminate in Bathroom Flooring

Timber-look laminates are also often used as a solution for bathroom flooring. The attributes that make them a winning solution for vanities also apply to flooring. Due to their larger visual footprint in this role, they have the ability to have a truly transformational outcome on the bathroom design.

Mosaic Tile Renovation

This bathroom renovation project utilises a textural mosaic tile, timber-look floor tiles and brushed brass tapware for a holistic result.

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Warm Inviting Bathroom Renovation

Warm Inviting Bathroom Renovation

This warm, inviting bathroom renovation demonstrates why Armrock Constructions is a leading bathroom renovation company on the Gold Coast.

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Laminate Products We Work With

We have been achieving great results with Nikpol’s EGGER range on our recent bathroom renovation projects. [Learn more about these options on their website] For timber laminates, this range even includes timber grain textures, making for a complete timber experience and creating a natural, calming aesthetic for your bathroom renovation.

In our Gold Coast renovations, we discuss options with our clients to communicate how your design objectives can be best met. Utilising the timber approach is a fantastic way to create affordable control, flexibly suiting the installation of the new vanity into an existing space.

Successful Gold Coast Bathroom Renovations

Bathroom renovations can be complex – numerous careful decisions and actions are required, in the right order, to build a bridge between your vision, your structure, your budget and your new bathroom. We’re here to help you make it a success. Get your bathroom renovation started today with the team from Armrock Constructions and make yours a success too.

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Filed Under: Renovation Design Tagged With: Bathroom Vanity, Laminate Bathroom Vanity, Laminated Benchtops, Timber Flooring, Timber Laminates, Timber Look Laminate, Timber Vanities, Timber-Look Laminate Vanities, Timber-Look Laminates

The Design Advantage of a Built-In Shower

One of the design challenges in a bathroom renovation situation is tackling the design challenge of making elements of different shapes and sizes (shower, toilet, vanity, etc) look like they are a family. Accomplished well, a bathroom achieves an integrated look and feel – the ultimate goal of a bathroom renovator! Of all the elements, showers can be one of the more challenging to make ‘at home’ in a bathroom because of the oppositional nature of their tall, vertical structure to other low-set elements in the room.

One sure-fire way our team achieves a connection between showers and bathrooms, that have used with success on a number of our Gold Coast renovations, is to build the shower into the room.

Managing Your Bathroom Renovation Budget

Any bathroom renovation is a careful balance between style and budget. Finding the right balance is the key to a successful renovation. Accordingly, a built-in shower may not be for everyone – it’s going to cost more than a prefabricated shower. But it will solve the design challenge of integrating your shower into your bathroom design, along with a number of other advantages explained below.

Types of Built-In Showers

Building a shower into the bathroom can be done to different degrees and effects.

A shower might be completely screenless (a ‘wet’ shower) in a bathroom designed to accommodate it. Alternatively, it may be built into a partial or complete recess, in the shape and size you need to achieve your ideal bathroom.

From these distinctions follow a wide range of possibilities in style and function, since all aspects of built-in showers can be fully customised to suit the needs of your bathroom.

From the design point of view, the advantage of a built-in approach is that the shower is integrated into the room, rather than added in as a separate element and made to fit as best as possible.

Alternatives to Built-In Showers

The alternative option to a built-in shower is a prefabricated shower. They are purchased as a ready-to-go unit from a plumbing provider and installed by our team. We can help guide you to the right type of choice to suit your project, and then install them in our project. You can achieve a great result with a prefabricated shower. However, a built-in shower has the capability to take your bathroom to the next level.

Built-In Advantages

The principal advantage of a built-in shower is integration. Because the shower is being built as part of the room, choices about the shower can reflect and inform choices in the rest of the room, and vice-versa.

For example:

  • The tiling in your built-in shower can create a relationship with the rest of the room.
  • A built-in shower can also include a tiled niche for storage of items such as shampoo and soap.
  • Built-in showers can use shapes to compliment the flow of the room. They don’t have to be square (a common prefabricated shower shape).

Built-In Showers with Armrock Constructions

In addition to helping your shower to integrate with your bathroom, there are other advantages to having a built-in shower. It can be designed for an optimal fit in dimension, functionality, shape and style. A quality built-in shower will enhance the resale value of your home and enjoyment of the bathroom for many years to come.

Filed Under: Renovation Design Tagged With: Bathroom Design, Bathroom Layout, Built-In Shower, Custom Shower, Shower, Shower Design

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Matt Lyons

Attention to detail. Great finish. Highly recommend these guys!

 

Lucy Fisher

Great communication, good attention to detail. We were so impressed. Our new ensuite looks amazing!

 

Terry Christo

We had the pleasure of dealing with Roland and his team. They are professional courteous clean and most importantly excellent communicators during the process. Their workmanship and pride in achieving an excellent result is a breath of fresh air when dealing with trades people. I highly recommend them.

Cameron Grant Ruksenas

Great service from the owner Roland. Nothing was a problem and service and price was reasonable! Will recommend to others.

 

Graham Robertson

Roland renovated both the Ensuite & main bathroom, removing the walls around separate toilets which increased the overall spaces. The team of guys who did the demolition & construction were really easy to deal with & the finish is excellent. It was no problem for us to request minor changes along the way. We’re really pleased with the outcome & would thoroughly recommend.

Al Dobie

Roland and his team were fantastic. The work was done on time and of a very high standard. Cheers Roland.

Reiner Ebenhoch

Armrock Constructions did our powder room first. We were so impressed with their work that we contracted Armrock to do a minor reno to our master bathroom and a major renovation of our guest bath room, which also included the complete rebuilt and conversion of one room into a steam room. Again, Armrock did an excellent job! What sets Roland and his team apart is their customer focus, their uncompromising attitude to quality, integrity and customer satisfaction. We can recommend Roland and his team unconditionally and have so already to many of our friends!

Cameron

Roland from Armrock constructions has completed a few projects for our company and is always a pleasure to deal with. Always reliable, not like some tradies we have chosen in the past. Quality is something Roland strives for and it shows in his work. Would recommend to anyone.

 

Small Reno Testimonial

I don’t often write reviews but felt this time I had too. A huge thank you to Roland from Armrock constructions. From the first time I contacted Roland he could not have been more helpful and professional. Roland was on time, got the job done and left my home clean and tidy. Please if your wanting a small spruce up or a full reno done these are the people to call. Thanks once again Armrock.

Renovation Testimonial

From quote to completion, Armrock was outstanding. We couldn’t be happier. Hassle free and on budget. If you’re after attention to detail you’ve come to the right place. Highly recommended. Thanks again.

 

Andrew Watkins

Roland and his team were very professional and affordable. We had two bathrooms and a laundry renovated by Armrock Constructions and we couldn’t be happier. Would definitely recommend them.

Joel Boniwell

The moment I contacted the owner Roland I was at ease with proceeding with this company. Not only does he come across as a genuine person, he is punctual and sticks to his word. He had everything organised and the renovation of my en-suite went exactly as planned and the quote was spot on. The tradesman he organised for the job are all extremely punctual and extremely qualified at their specific trades. I can’t give this company a stronger recommendation and will be sure to use Roland and his team for any future renovations. A+ Service in an industry that you will seldom find it in.

Richard Anyos

Good, friendly, prompt, reliable service with attention to detail.

Shayna Kivlins

Highly recommend your company to anyone wanting an amazing and highly professional job done your attention to detail with our kitchen was 120% you were very helpful in all aspects from start to finish and the end product exceeded my expectations. You are a very talented guy and I can’t thank you, Luke the sparkie and Chris the plumber enough for making my kitchen dream come to life.

 

Mark & Di Branks

Roland delivered an exceptional product. Our Bathroom upgrade was completed on time and to budget. As with most renovations there were a number of unforeseen issues and Rolands ability to offer practical, cost effective solutions was exceptional. A very professional, clean and tidy builder and we have no hesitation in recommending his services.

Geoff Haigh

Excellent workmanship. Professional, on time. Easy to deal with.

Keith Munday

Very pleased with a very professional job completed by Roland and his team. Roland never failed to turn up when expected or respond to a message if he was unable to take a call. He was also helpful and patient while we changed our minds repeatedly about what we wanted. We’re getting him back to do the kids bathroom!

 

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Our service starts with a free appraisal and quote. Organise an appointment with Armrock Constructions to get your renovation moving in the right direction today.

Armrock Constructions

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We service the Gold Coast area.

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