I was wondering, why is it do you think that bathrooms tend to get a bit neglected? There quite often seems a disconnect between the amount of time and energy spent on sourcing fixtures and hardware and the time spent on the decorative stuff. Designing a bathroom is a matter of mixing function with the practical stuff, BUT not forgetting the style too.
My top tip would be to completely forget it’s a bathroom and decorate this room as you would say your living room or bedroom. A bathroom or shower room should blend in beautifully with the rest of your space – yes it will feel different but it should be a gentle transition if that makes any sense, not some cold sterile space that lacks personality.
One way to guarantee the decorative pleasures don’t get ignored is actually sticking the bathroom within the bedroom! What do you think? Controversial I know but we did it when designing Gem’s flat (the image at the top). Worked perfectly for her space and she really went for it.
It stops you limiting yourself by shopping exclusively at specialist bathroom stores. Ditch those and find decorative items at cool favourite stores instead. How about marble platters to display toiletries or a beautiful cabinet for your collection of bottles and handwashes? Baskets are fab for towels or rubbish bins as they add warmth and texture to what can be quite a sterile room. Also think about including actual furniture, chairs, stools, tables, benches, add art, flowers etcetc. Basically more STUFF as it will warm up the space no end.
Having said that, what do you think about bathtubs in the bedroom? I’m torn. I think all of these spaces here work because the owners (or interior designers – cough cough) have blended the bathroom beautifully into the scheme. By taking a hue through, adding great lighting to the space, echoing the palette – it’s that gentle transitional thing I was banging on about a second ago. But I’ll leave the final say up to you guys!