Small changes ranked by what they actually change for the person using the room, not by how big a job they are. This is the insight that separates useful work from busy work. Moving a mirror down changes daily life immediately. Retiling the floor might take weeks but changes nothing about daily function.
The ranking by effect rather than by scale applies to accessible bathroom conversions done incrementally. Which change is worth doing first? Usually not the biggest one. Usually one of the smallest ones — the change that makes the biggest difference to how the room actually works.
The boundary between what can be done without opening a wall and what cannot is the real dividing line. Changing a fixture requires opening walls. Changing hardware does not. Moving a mirror requires opening walls to relocate blocking. Lowering an existing mirror does not. This dividing line determines whether a change is a weekend retrofit or a weeks-long project.
When changes happen one at a time over months or years, the order matters more than it does when they all happen at once. Doing the most impactful change first changes how the room functions immediately. Doing the easy changes first makes quick progress but leaves the person in a partially adapted space for too long. The order is a genuine decision.
What usually gets done first and what people wish they had done first are often different. Grab bars are usually first because they seem important. But lowering the mirror is what actually changes the morning routine. The thermostat location is rarely considered but affects daily comfort. The ranking by actual effect is worth thinking through.