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It
has been said that the little things can
be the most important, and in the case of
your bathroom accessories nothing could be
more true. Considering the exact location
where the towel racks, wash cloth rings,
grab bars, robe hooks, shelves and don't
forget the toilet paper holder should go
is not something you have to think about
everyday so it is natural that you might
be a bit perplexed at where exactly
everything is supposed to go so it works
right and doesn't look funny. Believe it
or not there are actually
measurements, distances and spacing that
are considered rules of thumb, when
it comes to the placement of just about
anything mounted on your bathroom walls.
The
arms reach rule - starting with the
simplest rule which would be to keep
devices and accessories within an arm's
reach of the task they support.
Towel
Bars - typically you want at least one
towel bar, two if you have the room.
Eighteen and twenty-four inches in length
are the typical choices, with twenty-four
being more desirable. The bigger version
allows for better stretching out of wet
towels for drying or allows two towels to
be hung in a space where one will usually
only fit. Towel bars should be
mounted from 36 to 48 inches off the
finished floor, (or 3 to 4 inches above
any chair rail or wainscoting) and since
they are horizontal elements they
should be centered evenly between vertical
elements (windows, walls, corners, columns
etc...)
Towel
Rings - Typically located near
the vanity and used to hold smaller hand
towels or wash cloths. Mounted from 12 to
18 inches above the vanity counter.
Robe
Hooks - They are used for two things,
obviously you can use them to hang your
bathrobes on, if mounted near the shower
they make a great place to hang your
showering towel so it is within easy reach
of you exiting the shower (the arm's reach
rule in effect.) Robe hooks should be
mounted 70 inches off the floor.
Toilet-Paper
Holder - 24 to 28 inches off the floor
and 30 to 42 inches from the corner of the
wall behind the toilet. Of course there
are also stand alone toilet-paper holder
stands. These should be located when
seated on the toilet so that they are
within easy view and reach, usually in
front of the toilet, never in the corner
behind it.
Hotel
Shelf - These are the nice fancy
shelves that lend themselves to storage of
items you need from time to time. If
located over the toilet they should be 60
to 66 inches off the floor. If mounted
over the vanity and under the mirror or
medicine cabinet they need to be located
low enough so that the medicine cabinet
door can be opened without knocking any
items off the shelf.
Switches
- 38 to 46 inches off the floor.
Outlets
- center of the outlet should be 38
inches off the finished floor and of
course centered between other vertical
elements. A nice trick is to install a
recessed outlet inside the medicine
cabinet for recharging a razor or electric
tooth brush and keep it out of site. Or
mounted on the wall directly behind a
vanity drawer so hair dryers can be left
plugged in and set in the drawer to hide
them.
Thermostats
- 58 to 64 inches off the floor.
Shower
Controls - 42 inches off the shower
floor.
Shower
Heads - typically 76 inches off the
floor, but this is strictly by preference,
most people prefer them even higher.
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