We asked Robin Levien, award-winning designer and the man behind many of Ideal Standard’s beautiful bathroom collections, to give us his thoughts on the big bathroom trends for 2020.
Our kitchens have changed dramatically over recent years, they have become part of our living rooms.
Now, it’s the turn of our bathrooms to change from the place we escape to as a haven of peace and relaxation, to a place where life carries on as normal. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but, for sure, the bathroom is becoming a “living room”.
Walls are coming down, quite literally in some hotels where the bath, shower and bed are in the same space. This is influencing our homes and where space is available, freestanding baths are popping up in bedrooms.
Of course, we don’t all have bedrooms the size of ballrooms, so these breaking down of barriers are done in different ways.
Breaking free with freestanding baths
Talking of baths, there has been a massive swing away from rectangular baths fitted against the wall to freestanding baths. Once free of walls, these are essentially pieces of furniture as sofas are in our living rooms.
Entertaining ourselves
Technology is another driver of change. We use our phones and tablets for entertainment and, according to a recent bathroom survey, around 10% of us are doing that in the bathroom, where we are catching up on TV shows or watching a movie. 1 in 5 of us will have a glass of wine on the go in the bathroom too!
Over 40% of us are reading books, magazines or Kindles in the bathroom. These are all activities that commonly happen in living rooms. We are even checking our emails and bank accounts while in the bathroom, suggesting that the bathroom is becoming the office too; there really is no escape!!
A splash of colour
We are seeing colour and decoration coming into the bathroom, not necessarily through ceramics but the fabrics, walls and floors. More interestingly, people are combining washbasins with furniture usually found in the living room, often vintage pieces.
Storage needs
It is a staggering statistic that nearly 20% of us don’t have any storage in the bathroom at all. For those of us who do, it is usually just a cabinet over the washbasin. I can see the curiously named vanity unit increasing in popularity—about 20% of us have one in the bathroom now. They make so much sense considering that the alternative under the washbasin is a ceramic pedestal, simply serving to conceal pipework.
A place for relaxation
Of course, with a lock on the door, our bathrooms can still be a place to relax but, for sure, they are becoming living rooms.
There is one thing about the bathroom that isn’t about the change though and that is the fact that the bathroom is the only room in our homes that we always feel better when we are leaving than when we went in.
Shop Ideal Standard
No matter what the future may bring, Ideal Standard have been creating beautiful bathrooms for over 120 years. You can be assured of a quality bathroom that’s big on style, with cutting-edge technology like the multi-award-winning Aquablade® flush system.
