Personalizing Your Most Personal Space: The Bathroom

By Judith Nasatir

“Know yourself” may be an old adage, but it’s great advice when it comes to personalizing the space within your home. After all, design is about your own preferences and tastes. The more you know what you like and dislike, the better chance you’ll have of creating rooms that reflect your personality and work within your budget and space.

This is especially true in the bath, a room defined as much by aspiration as by function. No longer the most basic room in the house, today’s bathroom is where homeowners are expressing - and pampering - themselves with designs and styles that make them feel at home. Bathroom product manufacturers are also making it easier to personalize this room. Modular furnishings and fixtures, along with a variety of options for finishes and materials to delight the senses, help turn homeowners’ design dreams into a reality.

Going Modular

Every bathroom - and everyone’s personal tastes - aren’t created equal. That’s why today’s homeowners can find more choices to meet their style and space needs. Modular furniture and fittings provide welcome solutions whether you’re focused on new construction, major renovations, simple remodels, or just a decorative face-lift. The modular designs reflect the counter-trend toward personalization, especially given cookie-cutter homes in the suburbs and nondescript concrete jungles in the city.

For example, Porcher offers its Tetsu Collection of modular furniture, fixtures, accessories and tub surrounds that are flexible and functional for spaces great and small. You can mix and match pieces, including wall-hung cabinets and a full-length dressing mirror that can be mounted both away and flush to the wall. Some pieces in the Tetsu collection also feature built-in plumbing to avoid any tearing down or rebuilding of existing walls.

Finishing Touches

Beyond fixtures and furniture, you can also personalize your bathroom by mixing and matching different finishes and materials - everything from wood to glass and laminates to stone. You don’t have to be limited to one or several materials because they can all play well together. Porcher offers above-counter basins in glass, bronze and porcelain, which can be paired with pedestals or furniture in wood, stone, marble or other natural surfaces. Likewise, Porcher’s Tetsu Collection features a Mozambique natural wood veneer or classic bamboo finish to complement other materials. And the collection also has a seat and tub surround that can be customized with your own choice of fabric.

You can also accessorize with bathroom “jewelry,” which encompasses towel rods, faucets, door pulls and handles, among others. While chrome and polished brass are still standard finishes, manufacturers have branched beyond these two classics. Today you can find brushed pewter and nickel to gold-plate, by themselves or in combination with everything from glass and wood to semiprecious stones. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can usually find custom solutions from craftsmen or online resources.

Appeal To Your Senses

Personalizing the bath goes beyond surface treatments. Make your space appeal to your senses. For visual interest, you can emphasize the whites or add color and texture. Paint is always a wonderful way to impose a new visual personality on a room, while wallpaper, faux painting techniques and stenciling provide options for all budgets. Accentuating clean lines and minimizing clutter (through adequate storage space) also can add a visual lift.

For sounds, consider miniature, Asian-inspired fountains or pipe in your favorite music to set the relaxing mood. For smell, consider aromatic candles, bath oils and soaps placed throughout the room. Porcher makes it easy with its Tetsu wall-mounted Aromatherapy Box, which features a fold-down door that reveals an area where you can add your favorite oil scent. And when the box is lit, it creates the ambience of a fireplace in your bath. You might also add plants such as philodendrons or orchids that thrive in warm, humid environments. For touch, make simple changes that can heighten your bathroom’s individuality and freshen the space: luxurious throw rugs, plush towels, textured wall hangings.

Whichever route you choose to personalize your bathroom, follow your instincts and know yourself. When you do, your bathroom and your home become a comforting retreat, which is personal style at its best.

Courtesy of ARA Content