8 knockout bathroom trends in Calgary

Posted by on Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 at 3:48pm.

Kitchens may be where the resale money is but bathrooms are tired of running a close second. Straight from the pages of Home and Garden are this year’s top trends in bathroom design and renovation. 

Basin Tubs

Free-standing bathtubs are the luxurious offspring of the old claw foot tubs.  We love us some deep dish bathtubs without the weird feet.  Today’s free-standing basin tubs remind us of being in a Roman spa.  They are classically designed with an inviting shape and have a thick rim.  If you have a claw foot tub and are in no hurry to get rid of it, you could build a skirt around it for modern appeal.

Tub and Shower Combination

You may be thinking, what?  What’s new about that?  The difference is that the shower head is beside the tub, not above it as it has been.  Because today’s designers are keeping it simple, they’re taking out the wall between the two of them.  So you have your basin tub and next to it on the elegantly tiled wall, your shower heads.  Many of them, totally exposed.  Gone are the days that a shower curtain keeps that spray contained.  Today’s bathrooms are big enough that the shower is set deep enough that the water doesn't spray uncontrollably everywhere.  Walls are so unnecessary in today’s knockout bathrooms.

Under mount Tub

Like hot water in a household full of teenagers, money isn’t always in unlimited supply. So perhaps that luxurious deep freestanding tub isn’t in your budget.  That means a built-in tub will remain in your future.  Consider an under mount tub, just like your beautiful new kitchen sink under that shimmering quartz countertop.  With an under mount tub you can extend the shelf around your tub – a refined architectural feature.  The material you choose to surround your tub should be solid stone and hopefully just one piece with an appropriate sized hole for your tub.  If you need to shave a few dollars off the price, then your stone can be in two or three pieces.   If you’re thinking of tile to match the backsplash behind your bathroom sink, it’s a matter of personal preference but might give your super modern under mount a dated look.

Glass partitions

If you must have a divider between your tub and your shower, a glass partition is the way to go.  Very unfussy, very simple and a way of providing spray protection without putting a glass cubicle with lots of hardware around your pretty new shower.   Extend it from the floor to the ceiling.  And buy lots of Windex.

Pipe Shower

Bathroom designers are taking the plumbing pipes out from behind the wall and running them up the front of the wall.  A solid steel pipe shower tower offers more water volume and is a design feature that works in very specific places.  Loft condos come to mind.  They’re very simple, very functional and very popular.

Marvelous Marble

Expensive, luxurious and well worth it.  But it can’t just be any marble.  Carrera marble is straight from Mother Earth, carved out of the mountain and sliced up like a loaf of bread. Ageless and classic and the ultimate material when you’re creating a spa-like bathroom.  It requires care unless you like the etched look of centuries old marble evident in Europe’s most ancient of homes and hotels.

Wood paneling

An unexpected and refreshing material around bathtubs is good old wood, and not just traditional cedar.  Wood is warm and enhances the spa experience because it adds a bit of coziness.  Think saunas with a modern twist.  You might also do an under mount tub with a wood surround.  Or a wood floor.

Wall-to-wall mirrors

No frames, no creative shapes – just a mirror above the sink that covers the entire wall.  It seems that it’s the lack of elements and materials that boost a bathroom’s design.  If you do nothing else in your bathroom, replace the mirror and tone down a dated look.

Leave a Comment