Bathroom envy

The room that received the most attention and, to date, the most cash has been the bathroom. 

I think I previously recited this story, but it is worth repeating because it establishes the intention. When The Shadow and I were in Germany a few years ago we stayed for a few nights in the Black Forest in Schiltach. Schiltach is the home of the Hans Grohe company, who, we discovered, are the manufacturers of bathroom products. In their factory they have a bathroom museum. It is structured as a chronological journey through the history of the bathroom, which is actually a lot more interesting than it sounds. Through it they espoused their philosophy to bathroom design, which is not just functional, but that the bathroom should be luxurious, relaxing, etc. Some of that is just marketing guff, but like the kitchen, the bathroom receives a lot of our time, and we wanted something like Hans Grohe described. Something that we experienced in many, many bathrooms in Europe, and very few in Australia.

For years we, like so many of you, have suffered through terrible bathrooms, small and cramped, lazy hotwater, showers that either sting you or sludge over you and refuse to take the shampoo with them, poor or missing bathtubs. We swore that when we had the chance we would do it how we wanted it.

So, how is it?

Totally amazing.

The physical size of the bathroom is not large, and the ceilings are quite high. The Master's advised on dropping the ceiling down to a standard height lest it feel odd. We did not hearken to that advice, but ploughed ahead, both The Shadow and I loving the high ceilings too much. Instead, we pushed the shower back a little and ate up some space in the walk-in-robe behind it. This reduced the square-ness of the room, and enlarged it a little. Also, we added large mirrors, one for the basin/vanity and one across the entire width of the wall behind the bath. The non-square room and the mirrors and the lighting all work together to make it look bigger than it probably is. Those that have visited the Palace of Versaille or Catherine's Palace in St Petersburg will know that the monarchs of old (at least their architects) well understood the value of mirrors and light in enhancing space. To our eyes the room does not look or feel squashed, but feels right. There is not the space that a bathroom might command in a 40sq home, but it feels better than any house we have lived in, and most display homes we visited in the last 2 years. (Display home people if you're reading, I'm available for design ideas.)

The obvious choice for a modern showerhead is the rainshower - it is huge and luxurious. But with dreadlocks, not convenient - I can't have water running over my head and hair everyday. So we needed an every-day, dread-friendly showerhead. But why should The Shadow miss out, and why should I miss out on hair-washing days? So we put both in, an everyday shower head on a rail and an overhead rain shower. And we had them plumbed separately so they could both be on at the same time. 

The everyday shower head has three settings: pressure, soft massage, ultra-massage. The rainshower has just one setting: bliss. 

Totally amazing.

The showers present everything we tried to achieve: space, luxury, pleasure. 

The bath: we wanted it to be a feature as well as functional and we are well pleased with both aspects. The waterfall bath spout is also as we wanted. From a functional point of view, we are impressed with its overflow thingy. If the water level gets too high it just catches it and dumps it. I'm sure this is not a new feature, I know basins have had overflows for a while, but it was new to us. We were used to the overflow catch being the floor and a couple of towels. I am happy those days are behind us.

Heated tiles in the floor. I don't know who loves them more, The Shadow or our two cats who are frequently found sleeping on them. I haven't found The Shadow sleeping on them yet, so I assume the cats love them more. But Winter is coming...

The basin and tap are quite functional and we find them quite attractive. The cabinet, too, is extremely functional with deep, soft-close drawers and a power point hidden behind the top drawer. This means the hairdryer can stay plugged in, in the drawer, and doesn't take up bench space.

The design of the bathroom matches our current tastes, and the quality and longevity of the products is a little difficult to judge after just 10 days. What the design and the products both create is an experience. So far, the experience is totally amazing, and what we wanted when we set out. 

None of this happened by accident, it was planned exhaustively by The Shadow and I and we spent many hours thinking and talking about what we wanted, planning how to achieve it, shopping for the products we wanted, and thinking and talking about how those products might work, or might suck. The bathroom and the kitchen are important rooms in the modern house, their design and implementation will contribute to the measure of relaxation, enjoyment and function that can be obtained. 

The hardest part of it all is the tiling. With a product like a tap you can look at it in its totality and imagine it in its place. You can draw it to scale with the basin to make sure the height is ok (yes, I did that). But with tiles you have a small square of colour that you need to extrapolate over entire room. Very difficult. I wish I had had 3-D rendering software so I could have taken my minds-eye and turned it into something tangible. I'm reasonably happy with the tiles we selected, but not ecstatic. The walls are 90% white so at least it is not obnoxious, but I am left wondering whether a different tile may have been better. They floors are dark grey and I am quite happy with them. Especially the warm one.