If you’re thinking of updating your master bathroom, here’s some friendly advice: Don’t think pretty, comfortable and functional. Think all-out, over-the-top, spa-like luxuriousness.
That’s right: Once among the home’s most utilitarian spaces, today’s master bathrooms are unabashedly extravagant. With high-tech equipment and gorgeous décor, they offer homeowners the first-class pampering of a spa or health club, without the need to undress in front of strangers.
“People are wanting (their bathrooms) to be more like an oasis, a spa or getaway almost,” says Tom Law, builder sales manager for wholesale distributor
Ever on the lookout to keep you in the know, we’ve made a search for what’s new in the loo.
Used to be, when people sought entertainment during their private time, they’d turn to books filled with corny jokes or useless trivia. Today, bathroom books are being replaced by high-tech entertainment centers. Flat-screened TVs are showing up on bathroom walls, complete with surround-sound speakers and DVD players.
And if you don’t want a television on your wall, how about one in your tub? Sounds shocking, we know, but that’s just what Jacuzzi offers with its La Scala, a jetted tub featuring a 43-inch high-definition TV, CD/FM/AM stereo, surround sound speakers, underwater lighting and a floating remote control.
Also popular are air baths, which many manufacturers offer these days. They shoot air into the tub through tiny holes, creating a whole new type of bubble bath. Also cool and new: automatic tubs that allow you to turn them on and walk away, to return to a tub filled with the level and temperature of water you choose.
If you’re one for a good, long soak, check out the relatively low-tech design of overflow tubs. Measuring 23-25 inches deep instead of the 14-16 inches of standard tubs, they let you soak up to your shoulders without the risk of a flooded floor. They work something like an infinity pool, spilling over into a second tub that captures and re-circulates the water. But some of these still incorporate technology in their design, such as Kohler’s Sok tub, which offers underwater mood lighting, or “chromatherapy.”
Though the deep soaking baths mimic those used in for centuries, the Japanese are hardly stuck in the past when it comes to bathrooms. They’ve used high-tech toilets for years, one of which is the Washlet, made by TOTO.
Actually a toilet and bidet combination, it features a seat and lid that automatically lift and lower as needed, an automatic air deodorizer, a heated seat and a remote-controlled cleanser and dryer.
If you can’t quite envision how it would all work, watch the entertaining and slightly unsettling video at washlet.com/jasmin.asp. Giving a whole new meaning to toilet humor, it offers more details than you probably want to know … except how to flush the darned thing.
This might be a good time to discuss taking a shower. Showers, it seems, aren’t just to help you wake up or clean off anymore. Many of the new ones have electronic displays that let you operate multiple shower heads and body sprays, all with adjustable strengths. But the coolest showers these days also double as a steam room, allowing homeowners a muscle-melting experience without worrying about who sat there last.
Not surprisingly, all this luxury doesn’t come cheap. With so many high-end features available, the bathroom can easily surpass the kitchen in being your home’s costliest room.
But Law says the expense makes sense.
“People are spending more and more on their bathrooms, because they realize they’re spending so much money on things for other rooms, where they really don’t spend that much time,” he says. “This is just shifting it more to the areas they actually use.”
