From their spa-like ambiance to their effortless minimalism, luxury bathrooms evoke a certain feeling. Still, it can be hard to put your finger on exactly what it takes to create a luxury space. To inspire your next project, here’s a look at some of the best luxury design ideas on the market today.
Spacious, Light-Filled Rooms
Master bathrooms are imbued with luxurious vibes because they tend to be bright and spacious. However, luxury bathrooms of all sizes can evoke this feeling with space-enhancing features.
Badeloft USA explains that open showers are a particularly important aspect of this trend. Transparent glass walls in the open shower also add a sense of space. And because they don’t make a bathroom feel smaller like traditional shower curtains and opaque shower doors often do, they provide some wiggle room for making the shower itself a bit bigger.
A sense of space can also be enhanced with tall, broad windows that bathe a room in natural light. Jane Pople at luxury lifestyle retailer, Amara.com, points to the wraparound windows at the The Darling hotel in Sydney, that overlook the city and harbor, a view which can enjoyed from a penthouse room’s freestanding bathtub. With city lights pouring in at night and sun streaming in during the day, this bathroom is always well-lit and inviting.
Using one material across the floor and walls is another way that luxury designers are creating roomy spaces in the bathroom. Marble can be used to achieve this look, Rebecca Bates and Jenni Zellner at Architectural Digest write. They give one example that uses marble in the tub surround and floors in addition to the cabinetry, wainscoting and even a stool.
In a bathroom designed by French architect and designer Phiiippe Starck, this same all-marble technique is interspersed with multiple windows and mirrors. White marble with bold, dark streaks is splashed across the floor, the bathtub surround, walls and vanities. The result? An elegant, spacious bathroom where the light seems to continue on for days.
Upscale Patterns
Luxury bathrooms today are taking patterns to new heights. Geometric tiles, hexagonal patterns, and colorful contrasting shapes are especially common in luxury bathrooms, the team at Luxury Lifestyle Magazine writes. Plus, tiles can make a bathroom feel more personalized and unique, because they can be arranged in an infinite number of ways.
Aside from tiles, luxury bathrooms are often decorated using neutral wallpaper instead of paint. McGarvey Custom Homes takes this approach in many of their designs, often pairing patterned wallpaper with simple cabinetry and flooring. They frequently add a touch of class to these neutral wallpaper designs through gilded mirrors and drawer pulls, which are always in style.
In the same vein as patterns, monograms are a classic, yet timeless element in luxury bathroom designs. Interior design expert Julia Millay Walsh says monograms don’t have to be limited to bath and hand towels: tissue boxes and chair backs can be great places to feature them, too. And since these aren’t traditional places for monograms, they’ll add extra personality to the upscale space.
Unique Custom Vanities
Custom designed vanities and washbasins are at the forefront of modern luxury design. One idea comes from exclusive bathroom designer Boca do Lobo, who created a cutting edge washbasin inspired by music.
This basin is comprised of tube-like elements that remind of ancient bells and vintage church organs. Its two-toned color scheme in gold and black evokes a vintage luxury feel that never goes out of style. Dwelling Decor agrees that gold and other shiny color schemes are a great addition to modern luxury bathrooms. Whether a metallic finish on a vanity countertop or bronze fixtures, there are many ways to add glitz and glamour to a vanity.
For a more laid-back approach to luxury vanities, consider a celebrity home by architect Sarah Zames, who designs from her Brooklyn studio, General Assembly. The master bath vanity has an ultra-modern, geometric shape with midnight blue steel legs, sleek dark wood and a white marble top. This dark blue color matches the elegant clawfoot tub in the room, which was refurbished to fit the relaxing, yet upscale country vibe of the overall home.
White has always been a fresh, classic favorite in the bathroom, but recent luxury styles are incorporating more pops of color into this tradition. In the home of Jimmy Choo designer Tamara Mellon, for example, mosaic grey tiles add character to a large, all white walk-in shower, fashion editor and author of My Paris Dream, Kate Betts writes.
Durable Materials
Who says that luxury materials have to also sacrifice function? Many luxury designs are seeking to create bathroom spaces that are both elegant and durable.
Houston property designer Surge Homes created a luxury apartment building equipped with a variety of finishes, colors and textures. In every bathroom, the company implemented durable materials. These breakthrough elements are able to withstand humidity, temperature and abrasions so that they last longer.
HotelDesigns editor Hamish Kilburn agrees with the importance of durable, high-quality fixtures in the bathroom. Restricting fixtures to just the essentials, like shower heads and handles, frees up room to focus on quality over quantity. Plus, it declutters a space and makes it more like a relaxing escape than an ordinary bathroom.
Another way to think about this comes from Skift.com luxury correspondent, Laura Powell. She says that in hotels and apartment buildings, the materials and products in a bathroom reflect the organization’s brand. In the same way that cheap soaps and toiletries reflect poorly on a hotel brand, cheap bathroom materials might say something about a homeowner. Conversely, high-quality craftsmanship in bathroom materials and elements reflect the exacting standards of the homeowner.
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