I was delighted to contribute my thoughts on the trend for ‘Luxury Loos’ to The Sunday Times yesterday. In this great article, The Times’ Interiors editor Katrina Burroughs pulled together the latest innovations and current thinking around the interior design of these spaces.
There’s no doubt that the loo is an important place, so it’s probably no surprise that I believe its interior design should be taken seriously. Let’s not deny how much time we end up spending here, or that it can sometimes be the only place of calm in a hectic day.
I don’t treat these as just functional spaces. I believe they’re an important part of my clients’ homes – a distinction which produces very different results. Think textured wallcoverings and soft lighting, natural materials and beautiful accents of polished nickel or bronze. This was the approach in the design of the cloakroom in our recent interior design project in Goring / Streatley in South Oxfordshire, shown below.
It’s about elegance and atmosphere. They’re often internal spaces, so like in this project, I might go deep with the design scheme to reduce glare. The walls become recessive and the result is a calm, relaxed space, without claustrophobia.
A base palette of beautiful, rich finishes is adorned with a sparkling mosaic of marble, mother of pearl and glass. The countertop is an Italian sintered stone – very beautiful, and also impervious to use and abuse from guests: it won’t mark with makeup or cosmetics, spilt champagne or wine doesn’t stain it. The face-level lighting is sleek, contemporary nickel fittings from Vienna.
One of the big trends we’ve seen with fittings is the embracing of washing toilets (or shower/bidet toilets or washlets). It used to be only our international clients that demanded these, but now around two-thirds of our projects include these modern smart loos.
These smart toilets are more expensive than a ‘bog standard’ of course, and yesterday’s feature is quite appropriately titled ‘You have to be flush to afford these loos.’ But sometimes it’s the little things that can make all of the difference, and they don’t have to cost a fortune.
My tip in The Times is this wonderful toilet roll holder from Hansgrohe, with a shelf on top for your mobile phone. There’s no point denying what happens in there these days, and nobody believes that your movements take that long:
The ‘Addstoris’ toilet roll holder with shelf is available in a range of six different finishes, and priced around £50-80 depending on the finish. More info is available on this Hansgrohe product page.
The full article is a great read, and it’s on our press page here – The Sunday Times – You have to be flush to afford these loos – and also as a pdf download here.
