Often, the room we spend a great deal of time in, but seems to get short shift when it comes to updating and aesthetics. There are a host of quick and cost effective solutions that you can employ to refresh and renew your baths. Many won't take more than an hour or so and yet the impact is timeless. So take stock of what you have, and look for areas to improve!

Update your hardware. This isn't limited to just the cabinets and drawers but also the faucets at the sink and tub and the shower controls. All should be in a coordinated finish whether your preference runs to brushed nickel, bright chrome, rubbed bronze, or even old time white porcelain. Have fun with this, it can really make a wonderful personality statement.

Change your mirror from wall mount edgeless to framed. Now there are two ways to do this. The most effective is to literally remove your mirror and replace it with a fully framed mirror. If you use almost the same size it will conceal any challenges with sheetrock and such from removal. If not, you may find you have some patching and touching up to do. The alternative is to frame the edgeless one you have with beveled glass stripping, mitered at the corners and applied on all four sides. This is available with self adhesive backing strips in 2", 3", and 4" widths (I recommend going as wide as you can), and can be custom cut to lengths required at most home improvement sources. This is a way to truly update your own reflection.

Add a robe or towel hook if you find it handy. Remember it has to work for you not anyone else.

Replace your countertops with granite. Often this can be achieved at a reduced cost using so called "scrap" pieces. If you have a small bathroom, this can be done for under $1k, and really make an elegant difference. Some home improvement resources supply ready-made granite tops with undermount sinks for a nominal cost to fit ready-made bath cabinets.

Get some favorite bath accents and accessories. This is a way to literally decorate your bath with functional pieces. It also cleans up the countertop giving you a place to stash your toothbrush and toothpaste, a holder for soap, a jar for q-tips or cotton balls, and a cover for the facial tissue.

Plants live or silk are wonderful additions around the tub. Live are usually easy since there is moisture in the air and they will thrive with a garden window.

Design an artglass window for over the tub. Yes it is a bit of an investment, but with professional installation it can be removed when you move and framed into another window, or consider it a selling feature. This eliminates the need for a window treatment and something that may get splashed or fade with time.

Save the retiling and new cabinets for a full remodel. You can always paint what you have for a quick fix.

Make that bathroom, no longer a place you dread, but instead a restful inviting haven from the daily grind, and a place where you look forward to starting your day!

2005 Melissa Galt

Melissa Galt

Defining Melissa Galt is like capturing wind in a glass box. She is fascinating like her famous mother, the late Academy Award winning actress Anne Baxter, innovative like her great grandfather, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and has an innate sense of style like her well known godmother, Hollywood costumer, Edith Head. But she has made a name for herself as owner of Linea Interior Design, without borrowing on the glory of her gene pool.

Recently renaming her company, Melissa Galt, Inc. Melissa works with lifestyle design clients throughout the Southeast. Focusing on the tastes and desires of each client, she creates interiors that are a seamless mix of old and new, crafted to be a comfortable, collected environment that works with the client?s life style.

Originally from the West Coast, Melissa received a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel administration from Cornell, and began her career in the hospitality industry. She quickly rose in the industry moving from one large hotel to another, ending up at Callaway Gardens in Columbus. Frustrated with the lack of creativity, she decided to pursue a design degree at Southern Institute in Birmingham before moving to Atlanta in 1992 to launch her design career.

Having taught adults for over a decade at Evening at Emory, she is now addressing audiences nationally on how to use design as the catalyst for ?creating the life you?ve always dreamed of?.