Bathroom design gets spa-like turn

The bathroom is fast evolving from a strictly utilitarian space into a haven for relaxation and restoration. We speak to experts about the sea changes.

Memento Premium. Courtesy of Villeroy & Boch

"We believe that people can transform their lives through how they engage with water," says Ken Roberts, the vice president of international business at Delta Faucet Company.

A lofty sentiment – but one that is reflective of changing attitudes towards what is probably one of the most under-designed rooms in your home: the bathroom.

When it comes to decorating, if you think that your bathroom is any less deserving of your attention than the other rooms in your house, you’re sorely mistaken. Recent years have seen this humble room evolve into a spa-like haven of relaxation and restoration – an area for bathing, beautifying and unwinding after a long day. It’s no longer a strictly utilitarian space filled with cold, sterile, purely functional features, but rather a personal retreat that should be treated as an important extension of the rest of your interior.

“With the fast-paced lifestyle here in the UAE, people want a sanctuary; they want somewhere that they can go and unwind and de-stress, and the bathroom is a prime area to do that. So you need products that offer innovation and reliability, because that’s the one place where you get a bit of ‘me’ time,” notes Ross Jackson, DFC’s general manager for the GCC and North Africa. The company creates shower systems and taps for the kitchen and bathroom under its Delta and Brizo brands, and recently expanded its UAE reach with the launch of a dedicated space in the Mac Al Gurg showroom on Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Street.

Increasingly, people want bathrooms that are as reflective of their lifestyles, tastes and design proclivities as their living rooms or bedrooms. Which, at its core, means a move away from your standard chrome faucets, white ceramics and tiled floors.

“The bathroom is a prime area where we can express ourselves in the home, so people want different colour finishes. For example, we have a product that has a large Swarovski crystal on it, which adds a whole new level of glamour in the bathroom area. We talk about Brizo being a little bit like jewellery for the bathroom and kitchen; it’s not just functionality anymore – people are demanding something that looks fantastic as well.”

There is a greater appetite for experimentation with colour and materials; from gold-plated hardware to quartz countertops and black tiles, anything goes. Grey is being touted as one of the key trends in bathroom design for 2015, so why not paint an accent wall (perhaps above your bathtub) in this shade? Feature floors are another hot trend, so make a move away from traditional white tiles and have some fun with multicoloured slate, smaller mosaic tiles in unexpected patterns or iridescent pearly shades that will give your bathroom an inviting sheen. Natural materials and plant life are another new feature in the bathroom, creating a warmer, more organic feel in a space that has long been defined by its ­sterility.

It’s a mark of the growing profile of the bathroom that the fashion designer Jason Wu has collaborated with DFC on a number of products for its luxury Brizo brand. The Jason Wu line, which includes taps for the shower, tub, bidet and lavatory, is defined by its stark, simple lines and comes in a number of colourways, including matte black and a combination of matte black and brushed nickel.

While minimalism has long reigned supreme in the bathroom, Roberts is seeing a gradual move away from this aesthetic, he says. “We are starting to see a resurgence of styles that are less minimalistic and more traditional, what I would call soft – so they are still very clean but maybe have more curves to them or shapes that have a little bit more of that traditional feel.”

Speaking of a resurgence, free-standing bathtubs are also making a comeback. Recent years have seen the tub fall out of favour – viewed as something of an indulgence in a world where both water and space are at a premium. But if your bathroom is going to be your private sanctuary, and you do have the space and the means, then a free-standing tub is the way to go this year. The bath in Villeroy & Boch’s My Nature collection – a curvaceous, sculptural tub perched on a base of natural wood – is one of our current ­favourites.

There’s a fundamental paradox at the heart of bathroom design, one that any manufacturer of taps, sinks, showers, baths and toilets is being forced to address with increasingly innovative products. Consumers are becoming more demanding when it comes to their bathrooms. It’s no longer enough to have a quick wash; you now need a technologically enhanced showering experience that remembers your preferred temperature and water pressure settings, has iPod integration, so that you can listen to some tunes while you’re in there, and, ideally, some inbuilt ambient lighting to round off the whole experience.

Yet at the same time, water scarcity is becoming a significant global concern and the onus is on all responsible consumers to reduce water wastage.

“There is a growing need for products that conserve water,” says Roberts. “However, what we’ve found through our research is that while everybody wants to help conserve water, nobody wants to compromise on the quality of their experience. So that’s why we’ve engaged in some really deep research to find out how people really use their products. Out of that research have come technologies such as H2Okinetics.”

DFC’s H2Okinetic technology, which is built into a variety of shower heads, essentially controls the water flow’s shape, velocity and thermal dynamics, creating larger water droplets that retain their heat for longer. This denser spray pattern and enveloping, massage-like effect means that 1.5 gallons of water feels like 2.5 gallons.

In a similar vein, the German sanitaryware company ­Hansgrohe offers its EcoSmart technology, which promises to reduce water consumption by up to 60 per cent through a special flow-limitation system that simultaneously adds air to the water stream, creating a “full, bubbling water jet”.

Technology is key when it comes to water-saving efforts, and is also playing a role in enhancing the “spa-like bathroom experience”. From Hansgrohe’s Savings Calculator, which allows you to measure and compare the amount of water you could potentially save by installing Hansgrohe products, to the touch-free taps that are pretty much ubiquitous in the UAE’s public spaces and ensure that a tap is never left running if it’s not in use, there are countless ways for you to save water in your home. But, at the same time, you can make sure that your bathroom is as beautiful and comfortable as the rest of your home.