Bathroom Update: Wet Room
Luxurious Wet Room
The latest primary bath trend is nixing the large bathtub in the primary en suite and the exchange is an oversized shower, sometimes even a shower for two! For the percentage of population that loathes baths this is a win. However, amongst the general public are still the bath lovers. Those of us who look forward to the end of the day unwind in a deep soaker tub, book or glass of wine in hand… or both! The particular primary bathroom in this post is a smaller space therefore, there are limitations to the layout and it’s allowing a bathtub. This design really challenged me to think outside of the box, get creative and led to a deep research of wet rooms. This Wet Room inspiration is one of many that helped formulate this design. There are several executions of a wet room. A separate room within a room divided by glass, all encompassing shower within a bathroom and even recently a group of friends and I rented a VRBO that actually had a steamer option within the shower/bath wet room.
Here is what we were working with before…
THE BEFORE SHOWER
It is a substantial shower. Granted many would be happy with this shower. However, if you are a bath lover you could easily see this is frivolous shower space and it should be shared with a bathtub. Again the floor plan of this bath is slightly limited. Then the lightbulb went off. Let’s convert this shower stall to a wet room! The closet where it is contained is already partially waterproof. Leaving a glass partition would contain the water. A free standing soaker tub made for minimal construction aside from adding the tub filler. This required no breaking into the tile because the water line is accessible from the primary suite on the other side. Therefore it was a relatively easy installation of the free standing tub connecting a drain. The best part. If a future resident happens to loathe a bath or fails to see the beauty of this concept this soaker tub is easily removed. Here you can see the after.
AFTER SOAKER TUB IN WEB ROOM CONCEPT SPACE
Since construction was already under way and chrome was selected for the new finishes we opted to neutralize some of the modern elements such as the soap dish tile and the current gold/black metals. Also, we added some intentional design with picture trim in the vanity space and again more chrome opposed to the more modern round and gold mirrors.
BEFORE (ROUND MIRRORS AND MIXED GOLD/BLACK METALS)
AFTER (CLASSIC CHROME FINISHES AND PICTURE TRIM)
NEW SOAP DISH TILE (MORE NEUTRAL AND TRANSITIONAL IN DESIGN)
Since construction was already under way and chrome was selected for the new finishes we opted to neutralize some of the modern elements such as the soap dish tile and the current gold/black metals. Also, we added some intentional design with picture trim in the vanity space and again more chrome opposed to the more modern round and gold mirrors.