Bathtime - News, resources and inspiration for bathroom lovers

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Issue #02
January 2009

• Christmas
  Trading Hours
• Tips and Advice
  Bathroom beauty on a budget
• Trends
  Wet Rooms are hot
• Eco Inspirations
  Save water this summer
• Product Highlight
  Showers go Pink
• Getting Started
  Let us guide you
• Bathroom Fashion
  Create a sanctuary with Mizu

Trends

Wet rooms are hot

In a recent Reece survey on Australian living trends, 56% of respondents selected the shower as the key product in their bathroom. Reflecting its position in the bathroom, the shower is at the centre of one of the hottest trends emerging in Australian bathrooms - the wet room.

In its simplest form, a wet room is a bathroom with a shower but without a traditional shower screen or base. It is usually an open space with a gently sloping floor and central drain. We are seeing this simple principle applied in a huge range of bathroom designs from small-space, streamlined wonders to larger, spa like havens.

Uncluttered glamour
Wet rooms do away with the usual shower screens within a bathroom to open up the free flow of space and water. A wet room can make a small bathroom appear big and a big bathroom look luxurious. But achieving that look of effortless space requires quite a bit of effort in design and planning.

Choose products carefully. Wet rooms need to look open and sleek so install a wall hung toilet and basin to free up the floor. Consider recessed or cavity cabinets and flat paneled cupboards to make storage disappear. You could even build in low walls or benches as part of the floor plan for seating or to double as storage.

Material options
A wet room not only opens up the bathroom space but also opens up a range of options for finishes and materials you might not usually consider in a more conventional bathroom format. Clearly, with a wet room, 'water proofing' is a major consideration and traditionally wet rooms were fully tiled enclosures. But we are now seeing natural stone, treated concrete, treated woods and even Corian used. These are all good non-slip options that help keep the water out and you on your feet.

The hero shower
Originally, the wet room was a shower room. And while we've seen wet rooms develop in to much more than that, the shower remains a central component. The shower area can be open, usually at one end of the room, or partially sectioned off with a wall or screen. Double showers are a popular feature of wet rooms.

Wet rooms also open up a bigger choice of shower outlets because you are not restricted to the usual confines of a traditional shower space or cubicle. Consider a luxurious outlet fixed in the ceiling to provide a rain like cascade of water or multi directional showers fixed to a wall - or a combination of both!

So when you come to plan your new bathroom, think beyond the classic shower cubicle we all grew up with and open your mind (and bathroom) to a world of options.