Southern Breeze 2007 Summer Issue - (Page 29) OASIS at home LEFT IMAGE BY CHIPPER HATTER, RIGHT COURTESY OF KOHLER story by MARK A NEWMAN IT’S EASIER THAN EVER TO TURN YOUR BATHROOM INTO A LUXURIOUS SELF-INDULGENT SPA. ust imagine: As you are enveloped in clouds of soothing steam, tension immediately leaves your body. You step into an oversized shower lined with natural stone already warm to the touch. Your cares are caressed away by a hot downpour from above. This is luxury. But you’re not at an expensive four-star resort; this is your bathroom with only a few minor adjustments. Why make the trip to a day spa when you can simply make the trip down the hall? Taking a cue from high-end resorts and hotels, more home owners are starting to turn their showers into mini spas where they can get away from it all and wash the stress of the day away. Say goodbye to your fiberglass shower stall and mildew-laden Garfield shower curtain, and hello to luxury! The most decadent of these innovations is a wet room which is exactly what it sounds like—it’s a portion of the bathroom that is specifically built to be the shower space. It differs from traditional showers in that many wet rooms lack doors; the area is constructed so that the water’s spray and splashback are all far enough away not to affect the rest of the room and the floor slopes throughout to allow for proper drainage. However, if space does not permit a wet room, there are still plenty of cheaper options that can create a similarly scintillating showering experience, many of which involve one specific piece of equipment—the showerhead. “The trends are toward more showerheads, which can be controversial, as each showerhead is federally regulated in terms of how many gallons of water per minute it can produce,” says Kevin Harris of Kevin Harris Architects in Baton Rouge. “One way around it is to have multiple showerheads, so that instead of one really forceful shower, you can have ‘a car wash.’” Another popular item is the rain showerhead. There are inexpensive attachments that can be purchased at your local Target or Wal-Mart and installed on your existing shower pipe with little or no fuss. Or there are more high-end versions that are recommended if you plan to do a total renovation. What really J Kevin Harris of Kevin Harris Architects says one bathroom trend is to get away from single showerheads and “to have multiple showerheads, so instead of one really forceful shower, you can have ‘a car wash’ effect,” as shown in this wetroom by Kohler. Summer 2007 29
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