Although trends in the decorative plumbing and hardware industry are slow moving, they first show up in bathroom faucet fixtures. Faucets are the focal point in the room and the faucet sets the tone for everything else around it. There are thousands of faucets available and selecting the right faucet that reflects the personality of the owner and goals for the room can be a time consuming task.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Bathroom Faucet Trends
Although trends in the decorative plumbing and hardware industry are slow moving, they first show up in bathroom faucet fixtures. Faucets are the focal point in the room and the faucet sets the tone for everything else around it. There are thousands of faucets available and selecting the right faucet that reflects the personality of the owner and goals for the room can be a time consuming task.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Shower Design and Controls
The more room you have to work with, the more fun we can have with the overall design. However, that doesn't mean that you can't have a fabulous customized bathroom if you don't have a huge amount of space. It just means that we will have to be a little more creative with our use of space, and we will have to prioritize the number of outlets (shower heads, body sprays and hand showers) we place in that space. It's best not to overdo the number of outlets in a small space.
After determining the general space and layout of your shower area, we can now consider how to add to the enjoyment of your shower experience with multiple outlets. Lets go in order of importance:
- A wall mounted shower head, not a hand shower acting as one, is the first and most important outlet. The ability to keep your body warm with water coming out in a wide spray, at an angle, should be your top priority. Any other outlets should be in addition to, but not instead of a good wall mounted shower head.
- A hand shower comes next. If you have a bench it becomes more important, and if you build a steam shower, it becomes a must. If you have a bench, the hand shower should be placed where you can sit and use the hand shower. I have seen some poorly designed showers that have a bench far from any water outlet. If a bench is too far from a water outlet, the user becomes too cold to enjoy sitting and relaxing on the bench. The bench is therefore of limited use and ends up as little more than a foot rest. If a hand shower is placed by the bench, the bench becomes useful as an alternative to a standing shower when you are tired, have an injured ankle or leg, or if you cannot stand for long periods of time. The hand shower is also a must with a steam shower to greatly enhance the experience by cooling you off during your steam time. A hand shower is also very helpful to clean the shower after it has been used.
- Body sprays are great for increasing your enjoyment because they increase the water coming at you. They are also great for concentrating the water on a specific body part such as a sore back or a pulled muscle; and they are nice alternative to an unsightly shower cap if you want to shower without getting your hair wet. If you have the space, I generally recommend installing at least 4 body sprays. Left and right for the upper body and left and right for the lower body. Body sprays should be placed 15-18” to the left and right of the center; angled in toward center.
- An overhead shower, sometimes called a rain shower, can do a great job to increase the water coming at you, and thereby increase your overall enjoyment. A lot of people will be unhappy that I put this as the last option. Rain showers look great and project an image of a relaxing deluge of water. The reason the over head shower comes in last for me is simply the direction the water is flowing; straight down. Standing up straight, staying warm, breathing. Pick any two of these three when you use an over head shower.
- A Waterfall type of shower head is also available. This type gives the user a deluge of water. Some people like it over there bench just on the wall to give the user a fresh fealing of standing in a waterfall.
Thermostatic controls are the valve of choice when using multiple outlets. They are designed to allow multiple outlets. They also have a much greater water flow rate needed for multiple outlets. Unlike the pressure balance valve, the thermostatic valve looks at the outlet temperature not pressure to maintain the set temperature giving it the greater ability to maintain the proper temperature.
I can not stress how important a knowledgeable sales person can be in correctly configuring the controls and calculating what is needed based upon the desired outlets. Nothing is more disappointing that having a large car wash type shower and not having enough pressure to run it after the tile is up. I'm not going to get into the technical side of making the dream shower work,
Shower Drain:
This is a battle I always seem to loose. The more storage, shelves, baskets that are put up, the more that ends up in the shower. That being said, by far, the most popular storage and continued upward trend, is corner basket shelves. They are convenient, out of the way, have many sizes and relatively easy to clean. You can put them in more than one corner and it even looks good to stack a smaller corner over a larger corner shelf.
Another combo solution that works well is if your long wall is an outside wall and you want a hand shower by the bench but you typically can't run a line in an outside wall, you build a half high wall along that exterior wall to run your pipe and create a very long shelf the is convenient for lots and lots of shower products.
I have just scratched the surface on this subject. The goal of this guide is to help you to examine the possibilities to enhance the enjoyment of your shower. To focus on design and desires, rather than on the technical aspects. Remember, your master bathroom can be a private sanctuary in your own home. It should provide you with the restorative powers of a day at the spa and the relaxation of a day on the beach. And it doesn't have to cost a lot. Poor shower design consists of a shower space that doesn't properly fill your needs.
Monday, March 22, 2010
It's not about trends alone.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
What is good design. (What makes a beautiful woman beautiful)
I was walking though Home Depot a few years ago and wondered why I thought that every towel bar seemed so ugly. Was there something wrong with me or am I simply a snob?