The bathroom is where we start and end the day, so it’s crucial to get the design right. In this essential guide to bathroom design I’m going to walk you all you need to know for the room, followed by my some of favourite skincare products.
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DESIGNING THE ROOM
Start with my Failsafe Design Formula to get this right: Who, what, when, where, how and why?
These six questions are the key for starting any room scheme. Answer thoughtfully and you will be able to work out the right design that works for you and the people you live with.
WHO is this room for? A young family, a child-free couple, an elderly person? All of them have very different requirements, so answering this is going to help you plan for everyone.
WHAT are they doing there? Showering, bathing, shaving, putting on make-up, relaxing, or all of the above?
WHEN are they doing it? This is about getting the lighting right (see below) but also about planning traffic flow. A double-ended bath for toddlers. Two shower heads for efficiency and romance. Two basins for practicality.
WHERE will you shop? Understanding where you can afford to buy will help you make, and stick to a budget. You should spend on the moving parts - taps - and can save on the decorative parts - tiles - which means you might be able to splurge on something else - underfloor heating or a gorgeous vanity unit.
HOW do you want to feel? This is about your colour scheme and the materials you want to use in here.
WHY are you doing it? It’s as important to work out what you don’t like in the existing set-up so you can plan to correct it when you redo the room.
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GETTING THE LIGHT RIGHT
Good lighting is important in every room, but it’s crucial in the bathroom as it’s the one room where you are really looking at yourself. Get it wrong and that’s the whole day off from the start. Get it right and you’re leaving the house with a spring in your step.
Put wall lamps on either side of the mirror for the most flattering light - trust me, you do not want that harsh brightness shining down from above.
In a large bathroom you might find downlights are the most practical solution - put one over the shower and make sure you’re not creating a spotlit throne of your loo as well as avoiding directly over your head by the mirror. Generally speaking you want one spot for every square metre, but they don’t need to be arranged in a symmetrical grid.
In a smaller room you can get away with a flush-fitted central ceiling light - perhaps one with three bulbs that will will cast the light in different directions.
ADDING SOFT FURNISHINGS
By which I mean towels and shower curtains - both of which are a way to soften all those straight lines and hard edges and bring in some colour and pattern.
I have spoken about my love for Colours of Arley before when it comes to shower curtains, but Anthropologie has some great ones; for the US audience A Quiet Town is great, and for the UK you can find them here.
You can find great patterned towels at Anthropologie again while Marks & Spencer has lots of lovely stripes and checks - and don’t forget the classics from Christy.
CREATING STORAGE
Think about what you need and double it. Have you considered where the spare loo roll is going? The clean towels, the razor blades, shower gel and toothpaste?
Once you have used all the floor space then add shelves to the walls and keep the prettiest things for display on them. Putting shelves over the loo is often a good use of otherwise dead space.
Buy the biggest mirrored cabinet you can fit to go over the basin - it only needs to be one bottle deep, but you’ll be able to fit masses of stuff in it.
ADDING SOMETHING VINTAGE
Bathrooms are full of white furniture and tend to be modern by design. Adding something vintage - a stool, some shelves, a chest of drawers as a vanity unit - will bring some warmth and character to the space.
FUTURE PROOFING (this applies to skin as well as the room)
Will you always want to step over a bath to access the shower? Do you even like to bathe, or would a big shower be better use of the space? Is it worth investing in a flush shower tray so you don’t have to step up and over - worth thinking about for older users.
Bathrooms are expensive to redo, so try to project 10 years into the future and think about what might change in your current family set-up so you can design for that as well.
There are three places left on my Interior Design Retreat at my home in Italy this September. Join us for a weekend of workshops, expert speakers, house tours and vintage shopping. Full details here.
Now the room itself is done, let’s take a look at
MY SKINCARE ESSENTIALS
THE Ziip Halo
You will have seen everyone talking about this gadget - and the reason is that it works. To paraphrase Nora Ephron, I have been feeling bad about my neck but a few weeks of this and I feel much better. It really does lift it, as well as helping shrink pores and waking your face up. I use it most days - anything from a 10-minute collagen boost to a six-minute lymphatic drain, or just four minutes generally lifting and de-puffing. I can really tell if I don’t do it - which means that it’s easy to find the time to do a little every day which, as we know, is the key to any skincare routine.
Yes, it is quite expensive - but you know what? It’s a lot cheaper than Botox and filler and while some people do both, I’m in my (very) late 50s and I’m finding the Ziip Halo really helps, although I will add that I don’t eat refined sugar which probably helps as well.
You can buy a Ziip Halo here with a 10% discount if you use the code MADABOUT.
I’ve had many electric toothbrushes over the years but this is the only one I’ve stuck with. I’ll admit I was drawn in by the minimal design to begin with, but there are two things that give it the edge over other electric toothbrushes as far as I’m concerned.
Firstly you can set up a subscription for new heads and send back the old ones to be recycled. This is perfect for me as otherwise I forget how long I have been using them and it means I change them without having to think about it. The second thing is that the charge lasts for a month, which means I can travel with it and not have to worry about it running out.
Water flosser
God, the flossing. Who does it apart from the dentist? I’ve got the floss, I’ve got the interdental brushes. Never use ‘em. Unless it’s 24 hours before I go to the dentist (I’m aware he’s aware of this). But the water flosser? I use it everyday. Are you supposed to use it in conjunction with floss and brushes? Yes. Do I? No. But one out of three is better than none.
Also, last time I went to the hygienist I asked about black coffee staining my teeth and he said I didn’t have any stains and the reason was that stains stick to plaque and I didn't have any plaque. And that, my friends, is because of the water flosser. Which I also read as tacit permission to park the dental floss.
I bought one of these years ago (back in Covid when I made a conscious effort to use subscription models for as many products as possible) and I really liked it. I stopped using it in this house because the sticky thing didn’t work on our tiles. But it’s the best razor, so I’ve gone back to it.
I’ve tried various subscription deodorants. I like the one in the tube (AKT) but sometimes I don’t like having to apply by hand. I think Wild is very good at its job but for some reason I find it impossible to change the cartridge and have to ask my husband. So I have landed on Fussy. I like the case, the perfume and I can change it myself. Oh, and it works!
I just bought some refills and it gave me a discount code of 50%.
I’ve been a Beauty Pie member since it launched. I use the whole Youth Bomb series but if I could have only one it would be the concentrate serum although the peptide cream runs a close second.
Share your bathroom essentials in the comments -either furniture or face and let’s benefit from the hive mind.
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