THERE is nothing quite like relaxing in the tub, with no other care in the world other than deciding whether to fill it with scented oils or lush bubbles. Given the new trends in bathrooms, that room off the bedroom is fast becoming the ideal retreat.
"The bathroom has gone from being an ugly necessity to where people put a great deal of focus and money now," says Fenwick Bonnell, a partner at Toronto's Powell & Bonnell Design who likens the new look to a cross between a health club and a Zen temple. "We've seen an enormous shift in the way people think about how they live and where they spend their personal time. They think that it's luxuriating in the bathroom."
Adds Graham Smith, a principal at Altius Design Studio in Toronto: "Our clients are looking at a much more natural environment. They're starting to see (the bathroom) much more as a living space than a statement."
On the Kohler Co. website, bathing products senior product manager Ann Roever says it's all about de-stressing, with the new home spa trend described as "a place to relax, refresh, rejuvenate and retreat." With a day at the spa costing more than $400, she adds, "you can instead invest this money in your home and benefit over the long haul."
Maybe it's the yoga and Pilates craze of the last few years that changed us, or the fact that even hair salons and corner manicure stores are now calling themselves spas. But Ken Metrick, president of Ginger's Bath in Toronto, has another take, explaining that the hospitality industry is the culprit. Travelling consumers are being spoiled by lavish hotel spas, he says, and they are getting "much better bathrooms than they've ever had before" so they want to duplicate the experience at home.
That said, magazines are touting big showers with all the heads and nozzles imaginable and benches to boot, steam showers and rain showers, traditional claw-foot freestanding tubs or deep Japanese soaker tubs, heated floors, mosaic tiles, one-piece toilets, ceramic vessel sinks with faucets coming out of the wall, and even crystal chandeliers positioned over the bath. Toilets are moving into rooms of their own, and sometimes the door leading from the bedroom to the bathroom is coming off altogether. Hues are white and cream to give off a more natural, restful look and feel, with bold colour coming from towels and mosaics.
"There are less rules than there have ever been," Metrick says. "People can really indulge themselves."
Gary Bensky, a principal of Wycliffe Homes that builds subdivisions across the greater Toronto area, says his company pays just as much attention to the bathroom these days as it does to the kitchen, which traditionally was the big draw. One Wycliffe model home in Aurora features "an oversized bathroom with a vessel sink on a slab of limestone, huge limestone shower with glass walls on two sides and a sauna with a glass door, with the nice wood and the benches and the headrests and all that."
The latest look starts right at the ensuite door, which may or may not exist. Smith has seen bathtubs right at the foot of a king-sized bed, while Mazyar Mortazavi, a partner at TAS Design/Build in Toronto that specializes in multimillion-dollar custom homes, recently created a doorless ensuite for a client that was fully integrated with the bedroom's walk-in closet. The mainly glass shower was 13-feet high and the hot tub was recessed into the floor so the bather could gaze out the window while lying down. The toilet and bidet were in a small room off to the side.
As for shower and tub, they, too, may or may not exist. While two-person whirlpool tubs were almost de rigueur in the 1980s, today's savvy homeowners are centring the bathroom on one person "rather than the bathroom as a community," Bonnell says.
Freestanding tubs are big, he says, be they traditional cast iron clawed-footed vintage tubs, porcelain tubs that retain heat, or even copper decorative tubs that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Jets that pummel are out and effervescence that bubbles is in, he adds.
"If people are sore and need their muscles to be worked on, they're hiring a massage therapist and not counting on the tub to do it for them," he laughs.
There are grand six-foot soaker tubs so people can lie down flat and be covered in water, or Japanese wooden tubs that bring the water up to the shoulders when its occupant is upright. There's a tub where the water overflows into a second tub and then reheats and goes back into the first, and there are chromatherapy tubs that use light to create a soothing colour in the water.
Those with little time to spare or who rarely take baths are forgoing the bathtub altogether and putting their energy into the shower, where the pummelling gets serious. There are massage heads, multi-headed showers, and heads that are mounted on the ceiling for a rain effect. Steam is big, though Smith warns that it could take 20 minutes to get the steam system all set up and "for most people life is a little too fast to do that." Mounting speakers into the shower's ceiling pipes music into the bathroom.
Sinks and faucets have also evolved, with faucets coming right out of the wall and water spilling into ceramic or etched glass bowls rather than the traditional porcelain sinks of old.
Mortazavi favours the Italian and German faucet manufacturers, particularly Dornbracht, Columbo and Zuchetti, while Smith goes for names like American Standard and its Porcher line, Moen and Grohe. Metrick of Ginger's Baths feels Danbury, Conn.-based Waterworks does a great job coordinating the entire bathroom look. "Living finishes" that develop a patina with age are proving popular, he adds, particularly oil-rubbed bronze, copper or polished nickel or silver.
Other trends include furniture (think wooden vanities) and linen closets in the ensuite for easy towel access. Wycliffe Homes is even raising the vanities three to six inches "because people are not as able to bend over as they used to be." And there are the obligatory gadgets, such as heated towel racks and heated floors.
And then there is the toilet. While the first rule of design school used to be to hide the toilet from first sight, says Bonnell, today's toilets are almost "sculptural" with their better shaped seats, tall pedestal bases, and tank that are integrated into the body that they have become almost features in their own right. Sometimes tanks are buried in the wall for an even sleeker look. Bensky pushes the elongated toilet for a more comfortable experience.
And for the person who has everything, there is the Washlet toilet from Georgia-based TOTO USA Inc. that uses a wand to spray your underside with aerated water and then dries you off. Apparently, all Washlet seats are made from antibacterial plastics and feature the TOTO SoftClose hinge "to eliminate annoying toilet seat slam."
--National Post
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