Why is your bathroom so depressing?

The temperatures are soaring, the beaches are open and in the heat of August the beads of sweat are definitely noticeable. The bathroom has always been one of the sacred spaces in the house and for good reason: It is the place to clean, wash away the troubles of the day and open another chapter, calm, refreshing and fragrant.

Since the dawn of history, water has been a healing and purifying force; In the physical, religious and cultural aspect. After all, we all know that the solution to a hard and exhausting day at work or school is a good shower: You will always come out of it as good as new... In the equation between a refreshing bath and a comforting carbohydrate, the first option takes the lead; This is the ultimate way to release stress and equip yourself with pleasant vibes that will help you get through the day. 

Following these insights, it is requested that our bathrooms be inviting, enveloping and caressing, but what actually happens? In too many cases they look like Italian restaurants or if you like, like the tomb of Tut Ankh Amon - dark, crowded and gloomy. For some reason we have a stupid tendency to cover the entire room with tiles from floor to ceiling, to choose a huge bathtub that blocks the space (even though we hardly ever take a bath) and worst of all, to not pay attention to the really important things like a proper place to lay out the wet towels just before they start to smell like scumbags All of these have fantastic solutions if we only know how to design bathrooms that really meet the physical and emotional needs.

So where do we start?

A bathroom with a large window is always a good idea and if it is not there, you can also ventilate the space wonderfully with the help of a quality blower. Correct lighting is also critical and I strongly recommend that you stop thinking that one ceiling-mounted lamp in the center of the ceiling does the job, it's time to think of the bathroom as a room for everything and yes, a standing, sexy and bright lamp on the bathroom cabinet is definitely a great idea.

A fun bench in the shower is a hit and a specially built shelf for soaps and shampoo will make the not very large space tidy and cozy. It is important to create a place for dry and fresh towels and a place to hang large wet towels and no, a hook on the door is not a solution because in an area that is not naturally ventilated, it will take time for them to dry and in the meantime the bacteria will celebrate. 

A CUSTOM MADE bath cabinet is a piece of investment, but it is also the key to storing the perfume efficiently so that the space is left clean and airy. Proper planning will allow the upper surface to be kept clean and the toothbrushes can also be placed after using the extractor as long as we made sure to plan ventilation holes in them.

Regarding the dimensions, a 90 cm wide closet is fantastic and if there is not enough space, you can compromise on an 80 cm wide closet as well. Floating closets are a BIG NO NO for me; I want to see the one that crawls on all fours once a week with a tiny toothbrush to clean the gaps. The recommendation is to design a cabinet right from the floor up to a height of 90 cm or at the very least to produce a cabinet with legs high enough so that a mop or broom can be inserted in the space without bending over and/or breaking the back. 

So what to plan, a bath or a shower?

The answer is a shower, unequivocally. Let's put the fantasies aside for a moment - in Israel we hardly indulge in a bath, so why do we insist on occupying the entire space (which is not big anyway) with an element that we will use, at best, once every few months? A large shower (minimum 90 cm x 1.00 meters) is a pleasant place to sit and there is no greater fun than letting the stream of water wash the whole body while sitting on a bench that allows us to relax our muscles. Moreover, a large enough shower will allow us not only to shower comfortably but also to dry off in it; you can also plan a place to hang the towel and put the clothes. 

Dosages are the name of the game

Color is a very personal matter, and yet, let me dwell on the subject for a moment: Even though we have come a long way, Israelis are still conservative, scared of color and especially of themselves, what makes them always go on the safe side so that God forbid they don't say something bad about the choices they made for themselves .

When I explain this to my clients, they look at me with hollow eyes, the fear of what they will say paralyzes them. The choice of monochromatic-monotonous colors is legitimate as long as it is done in the right doses. White for example is a great color, I have no argument about it: It conveys something sterile, germ-free, hospital style. It is definitely a relaxing shade but what about green, pink or blue, are they not relaxing colors in themselves? As with everything in bathroom design, balance is the name of the game. 

The law of "not putting two spoons of salt in the soup because otherwise it will be impossible to serve it to the table" applies here as well. The only color I recommend not to use in wet rooms is black, if we are dealing with tiles and sanitary ware. The scale that accumulates on them is visible, so they always look dirty.

You don't have to pour money to turn the heavenly bathroom into an impressive spa, and there is no reason for the bathroom to necessarily fit or be a continuous continuation of the rest of the spaces in the house, so this is the place to go wild.. 

You can create a fantastic space also by simply changing accessories such as a mirror frame (perhaps round instead of rectangular) different handles that will look like jewelry and replacing the generic set of towels with a new and colorful one. Changing the accessories on the counter will also do the trick, a new and fresh toilet seat, from experience, also works wonders. The final result can be stunning - it will create a feeling of freshness and cleanliness without spending tens of thousands of shekels. Bottom line, a bathroom should feel and look like a spa, a space that as soon as you step into it you will immediately receive a frequency of calmness and peace, a meditative space for everything.