Turn Your Bathroom into a Wellness Retreat

With health and cleanliness in focus, the bathroom is both a wellness zone and a place to refresh. Soaps, sanitizers and medications need an organized home — and you might even turn the whole privy into a personal spa getaway.

Courtesy Tracy Schorn, Karen Walls, Richard Heydenburg

Problems: Tacky accents, low toilet

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.

Join Now

Property Brothers, take us away! Our toilets are too low, the bathtub's too high and there's zero counter space for all that sanitizer and hand soap. Tracy S. sent pics of her “hideous” 1971 powder room—gold fixtures, winged accents and all. “It would be a dream come true if Jonathan and Drew could tell us how to scrap heap this,” she wrote.

Amber Day

$ Budget

Sand down and repaint your cabinet faces and update the pulls and handles. “It's something almost anyone can do,” says Drew, while Jonathan recommends updating old-fangled golds and avocados with neutral pastels or whites. To clear surface areas, “I'm a strong believer in medicine cabinets with extra depth that are framed flat like a mirror,” Jonathan says. “It's a couple-hour job for a handyperson.” Motion activated night-lights are convenient for middle-of-the-night bathroom visits, and an elevated toilet seat helps if your current throne is too low. Jonathan's final tip: “Get rid of those tiny bottles of moisturizer and shampoo that nobody ever uses! They're space eaters.

$$ Midrange

Rationing toilet paper? “Our older brother, J.D., swears by an electric bidet ‘smart seat’ called My Luxury Loo,” Drew says. Other brands include Tushy and Omigo. Replacing the entire bowl costs more, but the spray jets and touch-free operation reduce transmission of germs. “Once you go bidet, you never go back,” says Jonathan. Likewise, a new touchless faucet lets you wash hands ("Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you …") without spreading surface pathogens.

$$$ Splurge

Installing a walk-in shower/tub or curbless stand-up shower gives you “all the shower power but with nothing to trip over,” and can increase your home value. Or really luxuriate with a drop-in soaking tub (and grab bars that replicate the look of a towel rack) that makes you feel like you're at a five-star resort. “Because who's traveling?” Drew says.