Bathrooms, unlike trends, don’t change that often. We stick by our bathrooms, grouting and regrouting tiles month after month, doing this for years after we should have just put down the spatula and gone tile shopping. Up until recent times, the bathrooms that were available on the high street and even in designer showrooms offered more or less the same, formulaic designs: the rounded sink, rectangular vanity, and matching colours for units. And neither is it hard to see why – when renovating a space, the path of least resistance is often to follow the status quo. Doing something the way it’s always been done, ensures you will have lots of styles to choose from and anyone installing your bathroom will be heavily schooled in how to go about it. Why reinvent the wheel, or the bathroom vanity, for that matter?
But doing something different always reaps great rewards. If you want a bathroom that doesn’t just make the most of the space, but looks unique to everyone else’s and is made custom for your home, some outside-of-the-box thinking might be required. Luckily, bathroom trends have been shifting and changing more than ever in the past few years and as always, the high-end couture and conceptual designs have trickled their way down into the high street. Now, with more options than ever, achieving a bathroom design with a kick has never been more straightforward. Keep in mind the key trends for bathroom interiors this year when planning your new space.
Get inspired by nature
This is a relevant trend to bear in mind when designing the interiors of your whole home, as well as your bathroom. Designers are embracing natural materials such as timber, ceramic, different types of rock, and banishing any products that are not ‘of the Earth’. Forget plastic. This trend also feeds into the surge in organic, nature-inspired forms which have been particularly prevalent in ceramics and textiles thus far. Tying into the new popularity of colour, green is a refreshing tone which cleanses the palette and is expected to continue soaring in 2019 and 2020. Green is a strong colour which can liven up spaces quite uniquely – it can also play a more central or background role depending on the shade.
Think outside the box
Begin by searching for premade designs outside of the norm, before you commission a custom design. Other shapes of vanity do exist, so keep an open mind and escape the obligation to install a rectangular structure. It could be circular, triangular, or a custom shape to seamlessly fit into your space. Many companies are offering more variety nowadays, with cylindrical and even teardrop-shaped vanities very easy to come by.
Refined luxe looks
This year, there is a new appreciation for excess, and less and less attention paid to minimalism. Being bright, bold, and proud of it, is what’s fashionable at the moment. This transcends into bathrooms, which have often needed to be whitewashed to be considered modern. Lusters and pearlescents are not rare anymore, with lots of people opting for chromatic vanity units and iridescent tiling, as well as bright colours (such as green, see above) and combinations of patterns for tiles, textiles and more. In terms of staying colourful but on trend, deep and dark jewel tones are big for 2019. Pastels are out (ish) and richer colours are getting more interest. Bathrooms are also the most ideal space in the house to play with colour and paint, especially if you find a paint that can withstand the splashes and the steam. Other than green (see above), great colours for a washroom are a serene blue-grey and a soft minty green to set a tranquil tone. Naturally, aqua blue and any ocean hues instantly generate a spa-like experience and space.
A space for reflection
And ideally giant-sized. If it’s got angles, it’s got to go. This relates to the current popularity of organic, rounded, nature-inspired designs, where a 90-degree angle is unheard of. Everything in this shape palette works well with each other but it is also easy on the eye – round on round can be a lot easier to process than an item with sudden edges and corners. Biophilic design continues to find its way into our living and working spaces each day, and bathrooms are no different. Studies show that nature-influenced design can reduce stress while increasing positivity, so any exposure to nature and the natural world is a positive one.
Experimenting with materials and texture
It is not uncommon for homeowners to opt for kitchen-style stone surfaces for their bathrooms. Why not choose marble, granite or timber, rather than the standard plastic or other generic material. And with this trend, the thicker the material, the better. Other, more lightweight, ways to implement contrasting materials into your space is to bring in stand-alone storage units. How about an etagere with glass shelves? Or a wooden ladder to hang towels and textiles?
