There are so many different bathroom styles out there for you to choose from. The trick is being able to pair the style you have in mind with the house you're putting it into. This usually provides the greatest challenge for people who are designing a bathroom for the first time. It can be a nervous time because you want the finished room to look the same as the room you visualized before you started the process.

Before making a start on redecorating your bathroom it's a great idea to sketch out your current bathroom design. Include as much detail as possible - wall width and length, the same for floor cabinets, your bathtub, the location of all electrical outlets and switches and the distance from the nearest wall to the center of the toilet and sink drain. This will save you trying to remember where something was or how big it was later on.

One of the first problems you'll probably run into is locating all the existing plumbing piles and wiring that's in or around your bathroom. If uncovering any of these requires a major overhaul or changes to the structural integrity of your home then it might be worth reconsidering your overall plan. Even those structural changes might seem minor the costs can quickly spiral out of control.

There is a huge focus now and for the future on moving towards a more energy efficient environment or what some companies are calling the New Energy Future now is a great time to look at how you can incorporate any energy saving features in your bathroom design. One key example of this is using solar panels to heat your bathroom and housing water supply. These are expensive items but the costs can be offset by Government grants and subsidies which are there to encourage people to use this existing free energy technology.

When you're looking at bathroom design it's a good idea to look at the current layout of the bathroom and see what areas need the most attention first. If the flooring is in a poor state of repair then that's a major problem to be fixed. If the fixtures and fittings are badly out-of-date, cracked or badly work then there's a great starting point.

If you're lucky your bathroom was built with all of the plumbing and water supply systems and drains in just one wall. This will save you a huge amount of time when working with these but also makes repairing any existing problems far, far easier.

Electricity is a feature of all modern bathrooms and is one of the key areas you need to take extra special care with. Electricity and water mixed = fatal consequences. Personally any electrical work I've ever had done in a bathroom has always been taken care of a by a professional electrician. One simple mistake when you're wiring something in your bathroom could cause serious injury or death. Don't take any chances.

Once you've figured out how you want your new bathroom to look, you can begin selecting fixture upgrades for things such as the bathtub, sink and toilet by browsing online stores or taking a trip to your local bathroom supply store. Shop around - there's a lot of great deals to be had; especially on clearance items. Will you go with a traditional bathtub or a clawfoot style? Will you have a wall mounted sink or a vanity based sink? There's a lot of decisions to make before you even spend one cent.

Make sure that you design a bathroom which allows for plenty of storage space. Vanity cabinets are usually the primary source for this; however, you can also have a small storage closet built in for towels and other necessities. Just watch out for how much floor space you might lose doing this. Space is something that many bathrooms is missing so don't allow yourself to fall into this trap. There's nothing worse than a bathroom full of so much "stuff" that you can barely even turn around inside it.