How Do You Design A Luxurious Bathroom?

Do you crave that high-end hotel bathroom feeling at home in your own private sanctuary? Do you dream of having a spa-like experience in your very own bathroom, everyday? 

As our lifestyles become increasingly fast-paced and demanding it is important to take time for ourselves to relax and de-stress. Having a luxurious bathroom at home can help us do just that, whether it’s with a refreshing shower to kickstart the day or a soak in the tub to rest and rejuvenate at the end of a hard day’s work.

When thinking about luxury bathroom design the images that are most commonly conjured up are of a freestanding bathtub overlooking a magnificent view, a large walk-in shower with rain head fittings, beautiful lighting, marble and gold fixtures and an overall feeling of opulence and indulgence.

However, what may be luxurious for one person may not be luxurious for another. It’s important to define what luxury means to you so you can create the perfect luxury bathroom design to suit you and your home.

A comfortable and luxurious bathroom will not only add value to your lifestyle and wellbeing, it will also add value to your property. It is also important to note that it is very hard to design a luxurious bathroom in a very small space – this almost becomes a contradiction in terms.

So that being the case, let’s take a look at some creative ways you can make a bathroom luxurious, regardless of its size and by utilising some of the latest design trends and technologies.

Shower

Having a well-designed shower area with ample space will really help to define a sense of luxury in your bathroom and make your day-to-day experience much more enjoyable.

A walk-in shower is the most practical style of shower. With a walk-in shower there is no ‘step’ into the shower, the floor tiles of the room continue into the shower, creating a seamless transition.

When paired with a frameless, fixed-panel shower screen, rather than a swinging or sliding door, you have a truly walk-in style shower that bathroom dreams are made of.

A walk-in shower with frameless glass will not only make your space feel bigger and more luxurious but it also reduces the risk of slips and falls and will make life easier when it comes to cleaning because a lot of the nooks and crannies have been eliminated.

This type of set up is often accompanied by multiple shower heads in which you have a large rain head that comes from the ceiling and is complimented by a handheld spray mounted one on the wall.

For even more added luxury there are spray jet and steam options that can be incorporated into your shower for a true spa experience.

Another luxury addition you can make to your shower space, which is often overlooked, is a seat.  Having somewhere to sit and bathe, wash your feet and toes or to prop your leg onto to shave provides a real benefit. When paired with steam jets in your shower you can create your own personal sauna.

Freestanding Bathtub

If the space allows, a freestanding bath has become the epitome of luxury these days. While not necessarily utilised every day, a soaking tub can offer you that spa experience when it’s really needed.

Available in many shapes and sizes to suit all design styles a freestanding bathtub offers unrivalled elegance in the bathing space. Whether it is a Victorian clawfoot tub or a contemporary organic vessel there’s nothing better than being immersed and pampered by soothing warm water.

A freestanding bath looks best if it’s the main visual focus in the room, however, you do need a fair bit of space to achieve this. Not only do you need room for the bath itself, but you also need plenty of room around the bath to actually clean and maintain it properly.

If you need to “squeeze” a freestanding bath into your bathroom, you really need to question whether or not it’s best to have one in the first place.

If you don’t have room for a fully freestanding bath there are back-to-wall options available that still give the freestanding look but with the space-saving and practical advantages of a back-to-wall design.

Increase The Size Of The Floor Plan

One item that is universally considered luxurious is space. If your bathroom doesn’t have much space, then you may need to think outside the box and find a way to create more of it. So, how can you do this?

Quite often houses tend to have a separate bathroom and toilet. If the bathroom and toilet happen to be right next to each other, which in most cases they are, one of the options to create more space in the bathroom might be to knock the adjoining wall down between the two smaller rooms to create one large room. This will usually work best if there are 2 toilets in the house anyway.

Could there be a linen closet or wardrobe backing onto the bathroom from where some space could be borrowed? Think about which rooms or amenities are located on the other side of each wall of your bathroom and whether some structural bathroom renovations could really improve the layout.

This is where an experienced Interior Designer can really help you achieve the luxury bathroom you have always desired. A good designer will not just look at the bathroom in isolation, they will also survey the adjoining spaces and consider your house as a whole.

Good Interior Design looks at how adjoining spaces interact and is about improving the functional layout of your complete home.

Lighting

Good lighting, in both natural and artificial forms, is an important consideration in any space however there are some tricks to use it to your advantage when creating a luxurious bathroom.

Natural Light – bringing sufficient natural light into your bathroom is going to help it feel more luxurious and comfortable. Whether it’s through large windows or a skylight, having natural light in your bathroom will help it feel larger and connect it to nature and the outdoors.

If there is an opportunity to create a nice, private view onto the garden or outdoor space this will also add to the spa-like feeling. We humans feel much more at peace and relaxed when we can connect with nature.

Artificial Light – artificial forms of light are necessary for night time use and task lighting. Wall sconces or feature pendants make a real wow statement around the vanity mirror while also creating good task lighting for shaving or applying makeup.

Adjustable lighting with a dimming function is a great feature and will allow you to have more subtle, mood lighting when relaxing or bathing. The addition of a motion sensor to your lighting is a practical and luxurious feature so that when you stumble into the bathroom in the middle of the night you don’t have to search for the light switch.

Heating

There is nothing worse than taking an early morning shower during the winter months and having to step onto cold floor tiles. One of the solutions to this is underfloor heating.

Electric underfloor heating can easily be incorporated into your bathroom renovation at a relatively low cost and it will offer you an inviting, warm tiled floor to walk onto each morning.

Further to this, drying yourself on a cold winter’s morning with a damp towel doesn’t really create a feeling of luxury, so why not consider heated towel rails? Not only do these help to dry your towels out after each use, but they offer you a nice, warm towel every time you hop out of the shower or bath.

Heater lights are another heating element you can easily and cheaply incorporate into your bathroom space to add a luxurious feel. IXL is one brand that offers exhaust fan units that come with inbuilt heating lamps, so you’ve ticked off two important bathroom inclusions, ventilation and heating, with the one appliance.

Toilet

You might think a toilet is just a toilet but if you are looking for the ultimate in luxury, you should consider a smart toilet. These days toilets are being designed with smart features and are technology enabled for extra comfort and ease of cleaning.

These smart toilets come with features such as heated seats, a bidet function and automatic open and close lids. They can even detect if you are male or female. This means for example, if you are a female, you can program the toilet seat to lower itself as you approach it and the bidet function will adjust to suit.

At this point in time, smart toilets are quite expensive but the price will no doubt come down as the popularity and demand increases.

Then you also have the rimless toilet. As the name suggests, these toilets don’t actually have the usual lip or rim that helps to circulate the water around the top of the bowl upon flushing.

Surprisingly, even without the rim, the water doesn’t spill out over the edge like you think it might and it offers a hygienic and easy to clean bowl.

Whatever toilet you choose to go with, wherever possible, you should opt for an in-wall cistern style. This will help to decrease the footprint of the toilet, increase the floor space, and make the room feel a little bit bigger and add to the luxurious feel.

High Quality Fittings

If you have committed to building a luxury bathroom, then it’s really important that you choose high quality tapware and fixtures to add that extra touch of elegance.

As we all know, there are cheap fittings you can buy and there are very good fittings you can buy. The difference is quite evident in both their appearance and also the way they’re manufactured.

The saying “buy cheap, buy twice” also springs to mind here. Investing in quality now will mean less costs in the future as things will last and not need replacing prematurely.

When it comes to showers, as mentioned earlier, multiple shower heads including handheld and rain head fixtures are becoming very popular and certainly create a more luxurious feel in your bathroom.

Brands such as Grohe, Brodware, Kohler, Gessi, Hansgrohe and Zuchetti, to name a few, offer some lovely fixtures that have a high-end luxury feel and quality to match, without breaking the bank.

I think it’s safe to say that standard chrome fittings are no longer the norm and a luxury bathroom will often have an alternate metal finish such a black, brass or gold.

So, make sure you choose the highest quality tapware and fixtures possible if you are serious about creating a genuine luxury feel for your bathroom.

Tiling

We have all been to luxury 5-star hotels and most of us really enjoy the bathroom when staying in a nice hotel. One of the main reasons for this is that hotel bathrooms are tiled on all walls from floor to ceiling.

Floor to ceiling tiling can give the home bathroom that high-end, luxury hotel feel. It will cost a little more in the quantity of tiles required and the tiler’s labour to lay them but it will be well worth the small added investment to achieve the luxury look you desire.

Tiling from the floor to ceiling works well for all rooms with a ceiling height of up to 2.7 metres.  If you have taller than 2.7 metre ceilings you should tile up to about 2.4 metres and leave the walls above painted to avoid creating a cavernous feeling bathroom. This can be adjusted slightly, depending on your tile heights.

Another tiling trick to add a luxurious feel is to use very large tiles on the floor and large tiles or full porcelain panels on the walls. It seems counterintuitive but if you use small tiles, particularly on the floor, you will actually make the room feel smaller.  If you use big tiles say 60cm x 60cm or larger you will make the floor space feel larger and more open. 

A caveat to this is that you can add a feature wall of smaller tiles, for instance in the shower cavity or around the vanity, to create some depth and interest to the room.

Final Thoughts

As we can see from the above, there are a number of different ways to create a luxurious bathroom, not all of them requiring a significant financial investment over a standard bathroom renovation.

If you get creative and plan things carefully, you can turn an ordinary bathroom into a luxurious one which will offer you a real sanctuary to enjoy each day.

We hope that these tips and ideas have given you some inspiration when it comes to designing and planning your ultimate luxury bathroom.

Let’s Talk Kitchens & Interiors have been designing and building bespoke bathrooms in Melbourne and greater Victoria since 1972. Over those 48 years, we’ve made every mistake known to man, so why not take advantage of our hard-won, learning experiences and call us today!

If you would like further help designing your luxury bathroom call Let’s Talk Kitchens & Interiors today on (03) 9888 5100 to speak with one of our qualified Interior Designers or book a consultation.