Being on Twitter can throw up some interesting challenges.  It’s all part of the modern world of social media. When I saw a tweet with the request from Rob Hubbard at Walker Fox (@walkerfox) for a blog about bathrooms, well that’s a whole universe right there in one word, a massive subject.  I could write a book.

What was it Rob was looking for, I wondered.  Perhaps examples of opulence:   twin Japanese baths with champagne table taps, a basement spa glistening with LED lighting in striking colours, set in to an Antolini marble slab lovingly hand-selected from a quarry, or was he thinking more in terms of a modest townhouse bathroom with a contract steel bath, wall mounted basin and WC with a soft-close seat, sensible mid-range taps with a touch of the designer about them, perhaps matching a handset on an adjustable slide rail?

Was it a story on the history of bathrooms Rob was thinking about, or perhaps a property developer/estate agent’s view?  There are many aspects of perfect bathroom design and functionality to consider.

Of course, as bathrooms come in a myriad of shapes and sizes, being asked to pen a piece on them I find myself reflecting on that very fact more than once. In fact, with Rob laying a blank sheet in front of me with the word “bathrooms” atop of it, I am reflecting upon it for much longer than the average duration of a soak in a Jacuzzi while waiting for inspiration to flow like hot water from a Megaflo system! (Megaflo’s are a blog for another day!)

My chain of thought was interrupted by a call from Andrew Dunning – a good friend and an exceptional interior designer (APD Interiors) (@andrewdunning) – brilliant timing, Andrew!.. Inspired at last to hit the keyboard!  “Hi Tony, I have a project in Central London with two bathrooms in the house. Can you have a look at the drawings and come up with some specifications?” Andrew was, as usual, working on a complete home here, designing the living area, kitchen, hallway, the whole nine yards.  And the back yard too!

Bathroom with sunken tub

What type of bathroom do we expect someone to want in a London town house?  I asked Andrew what kind of lifestyle do his clients have, what are they like?  The answer was that they were busy professional people who were looking for design and style, but equally important to them was that the design must be functional, uncomplicated and easy to live with.  Okay, what style are they interested in?  These days bathroom style can mean modern, contemporary, very minimalist or traditional. In the mix somewhere are the weird and wacky ones for the more adventurous and creative clients with larger budgets. We were recently asked by a well-known comedian for a “Goth bathroom” with black semi-sunken bath, sanitary ware and black slate tiled walls and floors.

Instead of a glass screen, the client wanted a bespoke black glass beaded shower curtain threaded and interwoven with silver chains! For the shower and taps he chose Grohe Ondus Brassware in … black.  Job done. He was happy and we were happy.

The reply from Andrew was, ”I’m going for a modern contemporary appearance with this project, so don’t go over the top, but make it classy”.

Staying focussed on our town house bathrooms then, the style determined and products carefully chosen, these two mid-range bathrooms, with Andrew’s twist of design and his creative magic, will be turned into something special.

One bathroom had an existing bath we would remove, as it was smaller than the space available. These days, 1800mm baths are preferred in homes where space permits. An average bath size is 1700mm, with two tap holes at the end where the waste and plug are.  Bath designs have changed over the last few years – the no-tap hole bath is finding favour, with water being supplied from a combined bath filler and overflow system.  Taps are not required, making a much simplified, styled and less cluttered bath, with the added perk of being easier to clean. So now we have a larger bath we can install with more elbow room – 100mm wider than the old one, adding comfort.  And as London’s water is notorious for lime scale, having no bath taps is one less place for the nasty stuff to build up.

Laufen "Form"

 

Basins and WC’s in bathrooms have also changed and evolved.  Water saving and green issues are important factors to consider.  There are plans to charge individually for water in the near future, by the compulsory fitting of water meters in your home, if you don’t already have one. It is said an average person uses 130 litres of water per day, so with a rising population thinking green makes good sense for everyone.

When planning a modern bathroom, I will look carefully at the water saving products available to me when specifying.  I know my client will always appreciate future cost savings on water and energy bills. Having supplied and worked with Laufen Bathrooms for a long time, I also see the technology developing in other areas: a quiet flush WC, for example, is not the first thing that a client normally thinks of, but makes perfect sense – toilets are often up against the other side of a bedroom wall, so a noisy flushing WC in the middle of the night can shake the house.

Storage has become important in bathrooms, as we all seem to be overrun with bottles, jars, make-up, etc. and creating extra space to keep things tidy can be difficult.  Gaining extra space by utilising the area underneath the basin for less-used products or cleaning supplies is worth looking at.  I like the look of wall mounted basins such as a Laufen “Form” with a minimalist square or round chrome bottle trap, only resorting to a pedestal basin when a client asks for one.  Space underneath the basin is then available for a cabinet, either standing on legs or on the floor.  A vanity unit wall mounted with a free-standing basin, or perhaps an in-set basin, are interesting alternatives.   Schneider manufactures beautiful bathroom cabinets for above the basin or other wall spaces, fitted with an electrical shaver/toothbrush supply socket and clever lighting.  Laufen Case furniture is extremely well-made and many of Laufen’s basins are designed with optional cabinets.  Arlex and Madero are bathroom furniture manufacturers with very attractive and desirable storage ideas, which we have used on many of our projects.

Looking at our two townhouse bathroom WC’s, we can wall-hang one of them as the wall allows for a cavity to construct the concealed cistern.  This will look very stylish and keeps everything off the tiled floor.  The cistern concealed in the frame will support the weight of the pan.  We have used Grohe Rapid frames or Geberit frames, and both are easy to install.  A shelf or stone feature top which lifts to give access is a nice touch.  We will be using two versions of a WC pan in this project.  The second bathroom will have a close coupled WC.  The close coupled pan is being used as we don’t have enough wall space available behind the pan to create a cavity for a cistern.  A close coupled WC is what most of us know as a china cistern and pan with a push button, as the cistern is coupled to the pan.  We often use Laufen, NoCode and Catalano, all European manufacturers with fabulous ranges.  Both toilets will be fitted with soft closing seats. Soft close seats have been around a long time but only recently have clients started to realise they are worth the extra money.  The jarring sound of a dropped seat can be confined to history.

Shower with concealed controls

With projects involving modern bathrooms, a choice of brassware and valves has to be decided. Where possible, specifying controls for a shower which can be concealed in the wall are my preference. Concealed valves and controls such as these afford the client the opportunity to locate them exactly where easiest to use.  An exposed valve is the alternative.  All the working parts are fitted to the wall, less work is involved to install it and it is often cylindrical in appearance.   Personally, I dislike any shower that has a control positioned in such a way that I have no choice but to be drenched in hot or cold water before being able to set the temperature correctly. With smaller shower cubicles of course, there is often no choice unless the control is outside the cubicle, which is rarely practical.  Remote controls are hardly new to the market, but there are more around now than there once were.  They can prove very useful in setting the temperature without even being in the bathroom, let alone having to endure being blasted with cold water.

In the second bathroom, we are specifying a shower only as space is at a premium – only 800mm square – so even a walk-in shower is not viable.  Using a minimalist white stone resin tray with an 8mm thick glass-side panel and pivot door opening out, we save space by pivoting, rather than hinging on to the frame.  For brassware in our mid-range bathroom projects, Vado, Hansgrohe, Grohe and Waterfront are a good bet. If you are blessed with a higher budget then Gessi are a fabulous manufacturer with wonderful design ranges. Most of our work though is definitely mid-range with perhaps 20% at the very high-end.

If I had to summarise what the average bathroom requirements are in 2011, I would say functional, well-planned, stylish and affordable.  Clients want attractive, easy-to-use, easy-to-clean products that fashion will not render obsolete by the end of the year.  Such is the by-product of the national belt-tightening for many of us.  A client who is a guitarist living in St Johns Wood, mentioned to me while we planned yet another bathroom for his house  (with rain bars, body jets and waterfall overhead shower), “I like going ’round my mum’s council flat.  Her bathroom is so simple, it’s less hassle! And who was I to argue? As we planned his walk-in wet-room, he passed me his 1957 Gibson Les Paul picked from a row of guitars to have a look at.  When he told me what he paid for it, I gently replaced it on its stand. Like bathrooms, it’s all about what you like, what you can afford and the compromises you are willing to make along the way.