Bathroom Design Trends
According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s (NKBA) 2015 Kitchen & Bath Design Trends report, contemporary designs top the list. Top designers also note that nearly all bathroom amenities are also on the rise. This includes features like steam showers, frameless shower enclosures, sound systems, unique tiles, low flow toilets/fixtures and electric heated floors. When it comes to color, white still tops the list but, grey is making strides while beige is becoming passé.
Walk in Showers / Enclosures:
The largest and more dramatic component of a bathroom is the shower and we’re not talking about the tub shower combos we all grew up with, that’s old news. Now, walk-in showers are the rave, but not at the expense of a tub. Freestanding tubs, especially jetted tubs, are still finding a place in the bathroom.
The tile, hardware and fixtures are where most people start and tend to spend the majority of their thought process and budget. However, the shower door and enclosure provide that subtle luxury that showcases those elements of personal style and interior design and, really should be considered much earlier in the planning and budget process.
Frameless heavy glass enclosures are a huge design trend because they give the bathroom that spacious, luxury spa-like feeling that homeowners want.
Since frameless enclosures are custom designed to fit the space they tend to be more expensive. One of the more affordable alternatives is semi-custom enclosures that still offer the designer look but, allow for minor adjustments for out of plumb conditions.
Basco Shower Doors is now offering two new products in their RODA collection that bring together the best two worlds with their Vinesse and Cantour shower enclosures. They offer the perfect balance of beauty, function and affordable luxury that fits most standard opening sizes while delivering high design features such as rolling doors, clean lines and high-end finish options.
Ceramic / Porcelain Tiles / Heated Floors:
Ceramic/porcelain tiles are far and away the most popular choice for bathroom floors as they are durable and easy to clean but, they are cold, at least here in the Northeast! One company offers a number of solutions to help keep the space as comfortable as possible.
Heated floors are the fourth most popular bathroom trend, next to floating vanities and open shelving, according to NKBA’s report. WarmlyYours’ TempZone heated floors are its most popular product line for bathrooms. They are available in five different formats — Flex Rolls, Easy Mats, Custom Mats, Cable and Shower Mats — to suit various room layouts and price points.
They are a great choice for bathroom remodels because they offer the highest watt density allowed by the National Electric Code (15 watts), which means they heat up faster and hotter than lower-watt alternatives. Plus, they are designed for use under tile, stone and hardwood floors.
WarmlyYours Radiant Heating has a wide array of products designed to increase comfort and functionality of the bathroom. The company has seen marked interest in their ClearlyYou mirror defoggers and the company also notes that its TempZone Shower Mats and Bench Mats were its fastest-growing floor-heating products last year. The Shower Mats are specially designed for standard-size shower floors and feature a hole in the middle to accommodate the drain, whereas the Bench Mats were easily adapt to heat standard-size shower benches.
WarmlyYours also offers a wide variety of towel warmers, which can add value to a bathroom, not to mention towels that feel good!
Bathroom Fixtures:
Today people have certain expectations and a desire to control all aspects of their surrounding environment. This certainly has found its way into the bathroom and companies are responding with a number of products to make life easier and more enjoyable.
Too cold, too hot or just right? Delta’s Temp2O is available as a shower head or a tub valve option has a LED display that shows the exact water temperature and changes colors from blue to magenta to red representing the range of cold, warm and hot. Kinda makes me feel like I’m warming a cup of coffee in a microwave or showering on the space shuttle!
Music in the Bathroom:
Sounds from the Brazilian rain forest or Beethoven’s Fifth or the latest hip-hop single, music helps set the mood and now, there are a number of affordable options to make the bathroom alive with the sounds of music. Personally I prefer country!
Mr. Steam has recently introduced their water-resistant AudioWizard 2.0 Music System, a streaming Bluetooth™ sound system that can be used in any shower, with or without a Mr. Steam shower system.
This sleek, newly-designed unit can be mounted on the wall or set on a shelf. The stainless steel enclosure is smaller than a shoebox but, delivers a lot of options so homeowners can design a sound system to meet their needs.
The system plays digital music files or internet radio wirelessly, from smartphones or other audio devices. Just remember NOT to bring your phone in the shower is your streaming music from it!
With simple plug-and-play connections and built-in amplifier the AudioWizard 2.0 can also function as a whole-house music system, when the unit is within Bluetooth range of speakers and the music library.
For more control, it also seamlessly connects to a dedicated in-shower remote or the Mr. Steam’s iSteam Touch to control play/pause, last track, next track, mute and volume. Pretty cool huh?
Wood textured / 3d tiles:
More than 500 exhibitors displayed their latest wares at the industry’s marquee event, the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS).
While E.L. James asserted that there are 50 shades of grey, it was Walker Zanger who made the biggest impact at KBIS with their new bold tile designs with warmer grey tones of wood textured porcelain paired with white marble in a variety of patterns. More and more people are going toward these textured tiles lately.
Their new Sterling Row collection won 1st place in the Best of KBIS/Bath category. The Oxford and Charcoal patterns give the impression of 3D tiles while the Chesterfield and Wingtip offer a more traditional look and feel.
Everything but the kitchen sink, or in our case “the toilet:”
The old saying is that cleanliness is next to godliness and, if that is the case, then the American Standard Optum VorMax toilet is heavenly. They started from scratch and developed a new flushing technology that eliminates the traditional rim holes around the bowl that deliver water during a flush. Instead, the VorMax flush delivers one powerful jet of water that scrubs the entire bowl clean.
The innovative VorMax flushing system has been independently verified to clean the bowl two times better than conventional toilets.
The toilet’s flushing action allows water to powerfully scour every square inch of the bowl, even the hard-to-reach spots under the rim. Mr. Clean would be proud!
The CleanCurve Rim replaces the traditional rim cavity and holes inside the bowl where dirt and buildup can get trapped and hide and when paired with EverClean, the unique permanent finish, the result is a toilet that inhibits the growth of stain and odor-causing bacteria, mold and mildew on the surface.
If that isn’t enough, it’s also a high efficiency toilet, using a water-saving 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) and has earned Water Sense-certification from the U.S. EPA for providing high performance while using 20 percent less water than traditional 1.6 gpf toilets. Just think a cleaner toilet while saving money – go figure.
Bathroom ROI:
The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) reports that bathroom remodels offer one of the better returns on investment for a home. While remodeling costs vary, depending on whether the original footprint of the bathroom is maintained and whether plumbing and electrical lines need to be moved, most bathrooms these days are starting around 30k and up. Experts estimate that homeowners get approximately 64 percent back in terms of investment when they remodel a bathroom, NARI states.