Luxurious residential bathrooms
When it comes to top-end design for today’s luxury bathrooms, tiling, superb finishes and personal touches is the name of the game.
Words by Kay Hill
Minimalism is over, long live the personal touch – that’s the message from bathroom companies and designers working at the top end of the market.
‘Bathroom design went through a very minimalist phase, but now things are warmer,’ says Angela Cheung, senior buyer at CP Hart. Jane Gilchriest, director of Alternative Bathrooms, agrees: ‘At the high-end a lot of people don’t want their bathrooms to feel empty. They want something more sympathetic.’
Ornella mosiac tiles, from Bisazza
Gianni Tanini, CEO of luxury Italian bathroom company Devon&Devon, has never been a fan of the starkly minimalist style: ‘We take our inspiration from the aesthetics of the past to create a bathroom that’s cosy and nurturing. For many years the minimalist style was very popular, but now people want a more decorated look.’
Beautiful rose-gold and handmade glass knobs by Daum make this Rose tap from THG a winner for top-end homes
Tiles are key
Despite manufacturers’ efforts periodically to persuade the public that black basins, rubber basins, brightly illuminated baths or strangely shaped loos will bring excitement to the bathroom, the high-end designer space remains fairly conservative, focusing on masterful tiling or stone cladding, luxurious finishes and gradients of colour being used as a counterpoint to classic white vitreous china sanitaryware.
Rugged industrial finishes such as concrete and black or raw metal taps are a favourite for top-end bathrooms. This is the Soho range from Jee-O
‘Every luxury bathroom has a big freestanding bath and a wetroom shower,’ says Jane Gilchriest. ‘So in a lot of bathrooms design comes through in the tiles.’ Angela Cheung agrees: ‘Patterned tiles are huge at the moment.
Rose-gold shower fittings, from Alternative Bathrooms
Designers are looking to tiles and surface finishes to create mood and interest.’ Tanini says tiles are being used to create patterns, particularly for flooring – people don’t want a dark plain porcelain tile floor any more. And while porcelain is hardwearing and practical, for the ultra luxury bathroom Carrara marble is the stone of choice, while Bisazza glass mosaic offers a jewel-like modern fabulousness.
Toto is best known for the Washlet smart loo, but the company also creates entire bathrooms
Rose-gold fittings
While wall-mounted chrome taps have been the mainstay of bathrooms for many years, Gilchriest says hardware is embracing colour – particularly taps: ‘Copper and rose gold is on the up, and I can’t believe the demand for raw, natural brass even though I always say to specifiers that it has to be polished regularly or it will develop a tarnish. Black taps are also popular.’
Teuco’s iBordi bath in Carrara marble is the ultimate centrepiece to a bathroom
‘There isn’t much new styling at the moment,’ notes Cheung, ‘it’s all about finishes. Basins are still square, oval or round but in matt finishes. For taps we’re seeing the rose-gold, brushed finishes and the more industrial look, such as Jee-o’s Soho range. With colours in general it’s all about grey, and in ceramics it’s matt white and white gloss that sells.’ But she believes high-end clients are getting braver in their decorative choices: ‘When people see different finishes in luxury hotels, and see that they work, they’re more inclined to be open to them at home. Design ideas are so much more accessible now.’
Keep it simple
Perhaps surprisingly, gadgets aren’t floating the boat of wealthier homeowners – they don’t seem to be interested in whirlpool baths or chromotherapy showers. ‘A bathroom is a private retreat,’ says designer Rachel Laxer of Rachel Laxer Interiors. ‘Keeping things simple achieves a calming atmosphere.’
A white freestanding bath is the centrepoint of this bathroom by American design company II by IV, while marble surfaces add extra luxury
Where technology can be unobtrusive, however, it is growing in popularity. ‘Digital showers are creeping in as the technology becomes more user-friendly,’ notes Gilchriest. Cheung too see that clients are opting to spend less on that freestanding bath and more on showering gadgets. And while it may seem vulgar to some, high-end bathrooms are having flat-screen televisions set into a wall – after all, the client’s pleasure in a long soak in the bath can be enhanced by immersion in an episode of their favourite box-set.
When it comes to toilets – surely the most essential piece of kit in any house – well, it’s not just about having them wall-hung. ‘People don’t want a wacky-looking loo,’says Gilchriest, ‘but they do like the bidet loos such as the Toto Washlet, and at the top end you’d expect at least one bathroom having one.’
Ultimately, it’s often the little things that make the difference – at the top end bespoke wooden vanities or a £300 Geberit Soft Touch flush plate are considered money well spent. ‘A lot of the money is being spent on finishes,’says Gilchriest. ‘It’s the little details that make a bathroom special.’
