Life is en suite as avocado grows ripe for return to UK's bathrooms | Money

Read article : Life is en suite as avocado grows ripe for return to UK's bathrooms | Money

Everything has its day - and just when you think it's had its day, it has its day again. So it is with bathrooms. Just when we've all succumbed to ubiquitous white porcelain, the coloured bathroom suite makes a comeback. And about time. Soon we will rue the day we consigned the avocado sink, bath and toilet to the skip.

Lefroy Brooks, purveyors of 'glamorous' period-style sanitaryware and fittings, is launching the fabulous Bel Air range in January. Its American retro-style curvy suites are complemented by rocket-shaped taps redolent of 1950s sci-fi comics.

'We've all had enough of so-called property experts telling us we have to keep our homes bland and uninspiring on the premise that plain will resell,' says designer Christo Lefroy Brooks.

Here at last is the pink bathroom suite I've been dreaming of for years. Bel Air chinaware also comes in cream, green or blue. It will cost £450 for a sink (£630 with a chrome stand) and £360 for the taps. I'd better start saving.

Our new taste for excess would appear to extend to the number of bathrooms we have, as increasing numbers of people carve up their homes to create en-suite bathrooms. But, however many we have, our reluctance to espouse the bidet means we are still considered filthy barbarians by our continental friends.

Susan Murphy lives in a rented two-bedroom flat in Maidstone, with an en-suite as well as a main bathroom. 'I hate it,' she says. 'It's such a waste of space. We're looking to buy a flat, but all the new-builds we've looked at have two bathrooms. Why would a couple need two bathrooms?'

But estate agent Christine Penny of Hamptons in Bath says: 'Providing you have enough space, an en-suite dedicated to the main bedroom will make your home more saleable. A two-bedroom flat without an en-suite is really a one-bedroom flat.'

That's certainly what the developers seem to think. Maybe they are catering more for divorced dads or buy-to-let investors than for young couples.

Although extra bathrooms could add to the value of your home, it may not work if this gives you tiny bedrooms. Rather than dividing up a large airy bedroom and ruining the lovely cornices, you could put a bathtub in the corner.

If you are really rebellious (and have a fat wallet) you could escape from ceramics altogether. Boldly shaped bathtubs and basins from Finnish company Durat are made of partly recycled polyester and come in a choice of 60 colours. A bath will set you back £2,200 to£3,740.

Bathing innovation will soon bring us a shower cubicle you can put in your bedroom without ending up with puddles on the floor. Graham Thomson is patenting a design for a shower cubicle based on the principals of powder-coating - the method used for spray-painting cars. On entering the Recharge Shower, you step on a mat that gives you an electrical charge. A mist-like spray of water is then attracted to your body. No mess, no wastage of water.

But for those sick of having their pampering toiletries filched, and determined to create their own little walled-off retreat, the new trend is for space-saving wall-hung chinaware. The sophisticated concealed plumbing required may be worth it for the space freed up below to house shelves, racks or cabinets.

Laufen does a good range of wall-hung asymmetrical and corner washbasins, including a countertop model that can be cut to fit awkward corners. But they do not come cheap. A Loft washbasin including a 'base station' (cabinet with drawer) will cost you £1,300. Laufen also produces Il bagno Alessi bathroom porcelain in innovative bulbous shapes with Wondergliss coating to prevent limescale (washbasin from £530). Unfortunately, it only comes in traditional white.

Ventilation is a key consideration when creating a new bathroom, especially if there is no window. To prevent mould and other damp-related problems, it is vital to install sufficiently powerful extractor fans.

Vent-Axia has a good technical advice line. Its top-of-the-range ventilation device is the ingenious Air Minder heat recovery system (from about £1,000), which extracts old air and pumps in fresh. The ducts cross so that heat being sucked out is blown back in again, thus saving on heating bills.

A bath can be luxury on the cheap

Read article : A bath can be luxury on the cheap

Any dedicated bath taker knows that bathing is not about getting clean. It’s the spa experience, the opportunity to relax, the cocktail at the end of the day. While a shower seems essential, a bath is a luxury too few of us indulge in.

You wonder why. It’s not as if bathing has changed over the centuries. If we weren’t swimming in the creek to get the grime off our body, we needed some sort of bucket to plunge into instead. Bathtubs are nearly the same as they’ve been since ancient times.

It’s just that bathing has been in, then out of fashion depending on who was in charge. The Romans and Greeks were all about bathing in public houses built above or near hot springs.

But barbarians destroyed their plumbing systems, and then the Christians came along and discouraged cleanliness altogether. Bathing was associated with wine, women and song, and was considered immoral in most circles. Because, you know, you had to get naked to do it.

But that was Europe for a thousand years. Hindus, Islamic cultures and most of Asia were avid bathers and thought that Europeans were filthy. And they were, as were most early Americans.

Regular bathing didn’t go mainstream in America until the 1900s, and even then a bath was a weekly practice whether you needed one or not. And that was in a copper or zinc bucket set in the kitchen next to the stove.

Bathtubs didn’t turn into a plumbed-in-place fixture until after World War I.

The first large tubs were mahogany troughs lined with lead. Solid porcelain tubs in a slipper style, with or without feet, caught on in England in the Victorian period, but were impractical to ship and out of reach of most incomes.

The Alexander Manufacturing Co. in Detroit introduced the cast-iron tub, using a process that bonded porcelain over cast iron, in 1912. Kohler ran with the technology and made the built-in bathtub a household must-have by 1939.

In the beginning, bathing was a tough sell. Kohler needed a rigorous advertising campaign to convince Americans to bathe regularly. And soap companies like Ivory and Colgate joined in to teach the population that cleaner was better socially, and ultimately healthier, too.

The Depression cinched the deal when the main source of entertainment was radio shows supported by soap and toothpaste companies and their constant barrage of reasons why hygiene was important.

Baths may be a bit out of fashion again, in favor of showers, but you can’t beat the experience. The Romans had the right idea all along.  

A luxurious bath requires warm water, some fragrant oil or bubbles – but most of all the right tub. There are plenty of styles – freestanding, claw foot, pedestal, to name a few – but if you’re in the market for a new bath tub, look for one that will allow you to comfortably stretch your limbs so the soothing water can totally surround you. Here are some tips on what to consider.

Contact the writer: cmcnatt@ocregister.com