All that glitters

15 January, 2010

Forget clean lines, crisp white sanitary ware and sleek chrome, this year’s bathrooms are all about glamour. We’re talking full-on Hollywood style—luxurious crystal, acres of marble, exotic, unexpected materials and sparkle. Lots of sparkle. This is not to be confused with gaudy, over-the-top glam— sorry, but Russian or Middle-Eastern bathroom decor isn’t the next big thing. Instead, the glamour train stops just shy of oligarch, instead taking its style cues from the sophistication of the Orient Express. ‘Modern bathroom glamour is about experimenting with texture and using interesting finishes such as rough stone, velvet and metals combined with extravagant accessories. In short, these are indulgent bathrooms reminiscent of boutique hotels,’ says Gail Taylor, design director at Taylor Howes.

In the past year there has been an explosion of glitz on the bathroom scene. It started, as you would expect, with the big-name design darlings. Few visitors will forget Marco Piva’s gold-infused D’Luxhotel stand for Gessi at neither the 2008 Milan Furniture Fair, nor Marcel Wanders’ sparkling Aqua Jewels brassware for Bonomi in the same year, not to mention Sieger Design’s eye-catching champagne finishes at ISH 2009. The use of luxe materials is now filtering down to more mainstream production and demand for decadent furniture, brassware, sanitary ware, wall coverings and accessories is soaring. ‘The trend for more decadent bathrooms stems from the fact that people are using certain rooms in the house to provide a glamorous and perhaps comforting shelter from the recent harsh climate outside the home environment,’ says Steven Salt, showroom manager at Boffi Chelsea.

The bathroom—being the smallest room in the house—is a great candidate for a hearty dose of glamour because this look is clearly not cheap to achieve. Brassware finished in 22ct gold is never going to be stocked by Ikea but restricting such luxury to a small area like the bathroom helps to keep budgets sensible.

Many designers recommend blowing the budget on a key statement piece in the most lavish materials available. ‘The most important piece of the bathroom to get right is the vanity —it defines the whole room. Make this gorgeous and well thought out and the rest of the room will follow,’ says Gretchen Trusted, founder of Shake the Sky. Fortunately, sourcing a lavish vanity is not difficult. Check out the mirrored glass Barbara Barry Glamour collection at West One Bathrooms, CP Hart’s copper, star anise and conker-clad Hoxton vanities or the luscious lacquers of Diva by Burgbad. Fresh from Cersaie, Alchemy Design Award has taken stock of Oasis’s Pasha vanity range, which includes furniture with hand-applied gold leaf and opal inset mirrors, while Milldue’s Majestic bevelled black glass vanities continue to command attention with their undiluted opulence.

While grand-scale glamour is undoubtedly enhanced by grand-scale architecture, the look is certainly possible to achieve in bijou bathrooms. ‘There is no reason not to bring glamour or decadence into smaller bathrooms or cloakrooms,’ says Sean Cochrane, director of Cochrane Design. ‘In a recent project, we were lucky enough to have tall ceilings, which allowed me to incorporate an extra tall upholstered door, panelled walls and a chandelier within only 2m2 of floor space. It’s amazing how much colour and design small places can handle.’ Clearly mirrors are essential in any small bathroom and bevelled glass or ornately framed mirrors are the way forward. Using antique glass will add a period touch (try Mirrorworks, which offers a resilvering and bevelling service) while cladding walls in framed mirrored panels is pure art deco.

The key to pulling off a truly extravagant bathroom has got to be the use of unexpected materials and products. According to Cheryl Gurner, director of Bathrooms International, onyx is going to be a big material for bathrooms in 2010, particularly given that it can be back lit so magnificently. Gurner also advocates the use of outsized chandeliers over a statement bath. Indeed, items more typically associated with living rooms or bedrooms are creeping into the bathroom more and more, with increasing requests for upholstered chairs, swag curtains and even a sofa or two. In a recent project in Notting Hill, Soane’s Christopher Hodsoll was asked to include a full-sized antique wardrobe, sofa and coffee table, with the bath almost becoming sidelined in the client’s desire to chill out after bathing. In this situation, the importance of decent ventilation—an air conditioning system if possible—shouldn’t be ignored and it pays to choose fabric wisely. For example, Hodsoll had removable toweling covers made for his client’s sofa but there are also more decorative fabrics that are better suited to moisture-prone areas. Avoid silk because it does not react well with water.

On walls, beautifully book-matched Carrara marble adds instant drama but don’t ignore tiles altogether. The recent trend for wallpaper inspired tiling such as Villeroy & Boch’s New Glory range and British Ceramic Tiles’ Chambray Brocade collection are pushing the boundaries of tile design. Original Style stocks gold-clad mosaics, while Maybury Home’s real mother-of-pearl tiles are beautifully elegant. Wallpaper is also making headlines in the bathroom and, as long as the room is well ventilated and the paper does not come into direct contact with water, it is not as impractical as you might imagine. ‘Vinyl wall coverings are a good option for bathrooms as they have a washable finish. However, application is just as important as the correct specification. Mould-resistant adhesives must be used in this environment,’ says Neil Ogilvie, national president of the Painting and Decorating Association.

Now that fewer people are renovating with a view to selling up, we can afford to indulge a little personal taste and even a touch of whimsy. The new glamour trend is certainly appealing. Who can blame us for getting excited at the realization that we can have gold taps, etched glass, mother of pearl or onyx finishes without the fear of putting off potential buyers? ‘Luxury for most of us may not be very affordable at the moment but a decadent bathroom can provide a wonderful spot to escape to,’ enthuses Jenny Gibbs, Principal at KLC School of Design and Vice-President of the British Institute of Interior Design.

A good bathroom is a well-ventilated bathroom. Entering a bathroom full of the fug of someone else’s bath or shower is not a good start to what, we are frequently told, should be a therapeutic experience. Aside from the irritation of steamed-up mirrors, damp and condensation on surfaces can create a slip hazard. The problem of excessive moisture is further complicated when delicate materials are specified. Whether this means plastered or painted surfaces, delicate ceramic surfaces or the use of textiles on floors or walls, architects and designers should obviously take care to ensure that the surfaces are able to withstand particularly humid air. And they should make sure that clients looking to use sensitive materials in schemes are aware of the importance of ventilation as a daily responsibility (rather than suffering the consequences of expensive remedial action). Many materials are now being brought to the market whose moisture resistance has been intrinsically improved to add to the moisture tolerant materials that already exist. A number of lighting companies have recently launched IP-44 rated products that have been specifically designed for the bathroom and it is easy to see that designers have relished the opportunity to introduce more glamorous pieces for the first time, confident that the products are now as safe as they are sexy.

Ventilation is particularly important in light of the recent trend to bring the bath into the bedroom, as in the Italian apartment featured on the cover of this Focus section and the London apartment featured in Portfolio 2 (p.78) where there is a bath and a steam cabinet adjoining the master bedroom.A wooden floor has been used in this project but the client will need to be careful to keep the bed linen as well as the bedroom itself well-aired in an environment that is likely to be above average humidity. Part F of the Building Regs (2000) is of course, the standard point of reference for ventilation for architects and designers. Installing an extractor fan is a basic requirement, particularly if the bathroom has no external ventilation (window, skylight, etc.). It pays to buy an extractor with a back draught shutter (so air from the bathroom blows out but wind from outside doesn’t blow in), and that should the bathroom not have windows the extractor should have a 15 minute run-on timer. Fans can be installed to come on automatically when the light is turned on but they can also have separate controls. Models with humidity sensors might be good for families with small children who cannot be relied upon to be damp conscious.