A bathroom, says Kelly Hoppen, is a sanctuary – but it’s also a room where it’s particularly important to “achieve perfect harmony between reality and fantasy, practicality and aspiration.” Recent years have seen an embracing of the type of traditional country house bathroom originally espoused by Nancy Lancaster, complete with wallpaper, carpeting, paintings and proper furniture, a look that is undeniably stylish and inviting – but not necessarily universally suitable. Indeed, in certain instances, applying this look would definitely be to disregard reality and practicality. “Sometimes in a small room in a terraced house you can’t shoehorn in all that sanitary ware and furniture,” points out Olivia Outred. Then there are splashy children (and teenagers), anyone with mobility issues, and the alleged 57% of the population who prefer a shower to a bath – though not if it’s in a slightly too small cubicle where you have to turn off the shower to shampoo your hair.
And so perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the most reported bathroom trends of the past year or so is the increase in the installation of wet rooms – a solution to all the above situations that simultaneously future proofs a home. And yet the words ‘wet room’ have the potential to send shivers down the spine of anyone who encountered early iterations of the genre, many of which came complete with consistently damp loo paper, towels, and floors, and often seemed to leak despite feeling somewhat sterile.
The good news is that wet room design has been finessed in the intervening period, and there’s much to learn from excellent examples that are not only exquisitely beautiful, but entirely damp-free. Today’s wet rooms might also be a combination bathroom-steam room (sometimes called a spa bathroom), or even, says Olivia, “a hybrid wet room-country house bathroom.”
Defining a wet room
A wet room is a bathroom where the shower’s floor area is integral to and flush with the rest of the flooring, i.e. there is no step up or down. A spa bathroom is one that has been inspired by spa-design, might have a steam room element, and thus they too are often wet rooms.
A wet room may or may not also have a bath in it, as well as a basin and a loo (in Japan, where wet rooms are the norm, the basin and loo are in a different room.) The whole floor will be waterproofed, and very slightly inclined towards a drain. If it’s a small room, all the walls will be waterproofed too, potentially up to a certain level; in the trade, this type of waterproofing – creating a completely impermeable waterproof barrier – is referred to as ‘tanking’, and it needs to be installed by somebody who knows what they are doing. (A wet room is not the ideal project for a first-time DIY enthusiast – see the earlier mention of wet rooms that leak.) Traditionally, a wet room would not have had any sort of shower screen, “but I think it’s nice to have one to limit the splashing,” says Olivia.
Why a wet room?
“It’s a clean look, and can be peaceful – or slick,” says Olivia – and Yousef Mansuri, Director of Design at C.P. Hart confirms that clients are choosing wet rooms on “both functional and aesthetic grounds.” To return to small rooms, “bathrooms feel more spacious without breaks in the floor,” Yousef explains, “and wet rooms make the most of the available area while being easy to maintain.” If you’re squidging a bathroom into the eaves of a house, where headroom might be at a premium, doing away with the shower tray saves valuable inches. Then, the flush flooring “eliminates the risk of tripping, which is advantageous when designing for family bathrooms or those with reduced mobility,” says Yousef. It’s that aspect, incidentally, which explains why you might want to create a wet room area even in a larger bathroom.
A quick disclaimer: installing a wet room might not be the cheapest option, and you should think about the actual floor underneath. “Timber”, says Youssef, “is straightforward – there are voids between joists for the drainage system. But a concrete floor is more labour-intensive, as pipes and drainage will have to be chased in.”
Layout
Firstly, regular bathroom layout practice is still pertinent: ideally, you don’t want to see the loo if the bathroom door is open, you want the mirror over the basin to be well lit (so next to a window if there is one), and if you have got a bath in the room, you possibly want it to be the star of the show. Secondly, a ceiling-fixed showerhead will direct water down, while a wall-mounted shower head directs water down and out, thus creating a larger wet area. Thirdly, know that you don’t want the window to be within the wet area, as water will collect on the sill. Fourthly, think about natural traffic flow – nobody will enjoy padding through a not-quite-dry-yet wet area to get the loo or the basin. Of course, it may be that you’re working with a room so small that it’s only possible to get a shower in if you accept that literally everything is going to get wet, and we have seen what could be described as an occasional wet room made from a downstairs loo, specifically to be able to wash off dogs. But fifthly, and so long as that is not the case, Olivia reiterates her point about a shower screen, as that prevents what is behind it (which might include loopaper) from getting wet.
The screen might equally be protecting a painting that is hanging on the wall, as in Polly Ashman’s bathroom in her house in London – an excellent example of a bathroom that is at once a wet room and has elements of the traditional country house bathroom. Regarding which, the next thing to think about when it comes to shower placement is the direction of the incline of the floor. Any real furniture that sits on the floor and shouldn’t get wet needs to be uphill from the shower. Know that you can, if you want to minimise splashing – or are installing a shower with a steam element – enclose the shower completely, though it is lovelier “to have an open space,” observes Polly. She shares her general rule of thumb, which is “if you have 1000mm from your water source to the end of your shower you don’t need a door.”
Incidentally, regarding the drain, “the most seamless-looking wet rooms will have a discreet drain or grille camouflaged with the same tile or floor stone,” says Yousef. “Depending on the size and water output of the showerhead, you can choose to use one, two, or three drains, significantly improving water drainage without compromising aesthetics.”
Materials, and ephemera
Which brings us onto materials – tiles are the obvious, and came recommended by Edith Wharton in the first decorating book ever to mention bathrooms (she was a strong advocate for waterproofing, going so far as to suggest high tiled wainscotting even in a room that only contained a bath, basin and loo). Crucial is to ensure that any laid on the floor of your wet room are non-slip. There’s also marble, stone, and slate. Olivia has employed tadelakt for the walls of a couple of wet rooms that she has designed, the waterproof and water-repellant plaster surface that used in Moroccan architecture. “It can be tinted the colour you want it, I tend to go for a lovely warm ivory or honey,” she says. (A word of warning: do not use bleach to clean it, it destroys the waterproofing.)
If the wet room is also hosting deliberate steam, you want to avoid any fabrics, but if it’s part of a larger bathroom and away from the splash zone you can probably get away with curtains or blinds, perhaps some wallpaper, and maybe even a skirted sink if you hem the fabric slightly short of hitting the floor. Similarly, remember that real furniture can be included if it is wall-mounted and, again, out of the splash zone; Olivia has included mirror-fronted walnut cabinets in a wet room she designed.
Then, underfloor heating “is essential,” says Olivia. “Not only because it will help the floor dry out faster, but also because it’s lovely to walk on with bare feet.” Finally, make sure that you’ve sorted out excellent ventilation.
