Bathroom Design

In the luxe department, marble tiles now come in small designs to evoke European age (octagons, or small white squares with black diamonds in the corners). For smaller floor areas the small designs are quite interesting.

Also from Europe, glazed tile components can build columns with bases and capitals, pilasters, panels for walls and tub aprons, and benches built-into a roman-style bath. Great for pool- and spa-side facilities.

I still love baths dyed to match coloured marble. Manufacturers can exactly match our colour sample for a small up-charge when the tub is ordered. The effect is subtle but great - quiet integration.

Wallpaper gives interest to the long wall on the other side of the fixtures in the guest bathroom. Your friends aren't in there long, but they're alone and you don't want them b-o-r-e-d. Powder rooms are tailor-made for design extravangances.

On the other side of the line, clean modern style further develops with one-piece sleekness: stone slab countertops with sinks shaped transitionlessly into them. These combine well with silver metal, sanded glass and white stone. They aren't as splashy as the bowl style sink. Lower faucets and lower water pressure help. There are new sculptural toilets you almost want to feature.

The stainless steel innovations in countertops and cabinet doors can combine with bright colourful wallpaper or paint for family room wash-up areas.

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But beyond the dualities and the trends, I have a strong feeling for deeply personal bathroom environments of rock garden springs, grotto-like, mysteriously venus-inspired rocks and shells, ferns and water effects.

After gardens treated like indoor spaces, after refinements in indoor water effects, and when the need to nourish the inner life goes beyond placing things here and there, I want to enter a grotto. Part rococo rock and shell fantasy, part inner world of darkly private mystery, part beauty ritual/personal renewal.

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All far from the minimalisation of the straight line and numbering of things.