When it comes to colour, the room in the house that has suffered the most neglect is the bathroom. For too long dental white set-ups equalled cleanliness, but there is a pivot in play.
It begins in the guest WC, a small and closed-off space where homeowners have started to express their true colours.
This trend has moved into the family bathroom and workhorse shower rooms. “It’s about customising a space and making it personal,” explains Ita O’Brien, head of interiors at Navan-based Versatile Bathrooms.
A growing willingness to experiment with design has made people more adventurous with their spaces, adds Emma Scott, director of client design at London-based bathroom designers CP Hart. “Platforms like Pinterest and Instagram play a significant role in increasing awareness of what’s possible and how to recreate similar looks,” she explains. “Designers’ knowledge of what colours and finishes work best together, working with actual samples alongside mood boards and images, also helps better visualise the final result, making it easier for clients to trust in their vision.”
Ray of sunshine shower rooms
For Ciara Murray, director at Newmark Architects, it’s about inclusivity, so that the room reflects the overall look and feel of the house, as much as the kitchen and livingroom do.
She’s a fan of colour blocking, blasting the space in an impactful shade – in the project pictured in Glasnevin in Dublin, it’s a pineapple yellow – and adding bespoke storage through built-in joinery. The drama is in the basin choice, bringing in one other element to do much of the talking.
“When a bathroom really works, it is down to looking at all materials as a design piece, not just individual items,” she explains. “The choice of colour-blocked tiles needs to work with a basin, a custom vanity and well-suited taps, which also are extremely important.”
The other element in the Glasnevin bathroom was a bespoke sink, Murray says. The terracotta-coloured concrete design is by Glyde, a company based in Co Galway, where something similar will cost about €1,500.
Custom sink drama
What architects and interior designers are looking for are colours and textures to match tiles to, says Eoin Kelly of Glyde, of the colour-blocking approach. The all-colour bathroom suite may appear popular on platforms like Instagram, but in real life, Irish homemakers are not as adventurous when it comes to their bath, toilets and other sanitary ware choices, he says.
“The focus is on a custom basin. We make designs in plain colours featuring flat or exposed aggregate that bring a luxurious polish to a plain square tile.”
While Scott says there has definitely been an increase in the use of colour, in recent years, many people remain cautious about committing fully to colour blocking in bathrooms. Based on the briefs she receives, she estimates that only about 10 to 15 per cent of clients opt for full colour blocking. “It is not as easy to change once installed, so some homeowners prefer to incorporate colour in more subtle ways,” she says.
“Basins are the most popular statement piece, as they work well in a variety of bathroom styles and pair easily with different design schemes.” And pastel shades are the ones garnering much of the attention.
Tiles that fizz with personality
Strong-coloured tiles are difficult to source, says Murray who uses Richardson Ceramics, in Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin, where their plain 10cm squares come in about 30 different colours. They range in price from about €8 per square metre up to €20, depending on the depth of colour and take two weeks to have orders delivered.
Creating a slick-looking bathroom does require some forward planning. By boxing in the toilet cistern and around the sink, you create some space within the shower stall to create a recessed shelving niche.
While Murray loves the curved edge look of art deco bathrooms, an era that has returned to popularity, it is expensive, as it requires more labour and a good tiler. She suggests opting for a chamfered edge rather than steel or plastic trims.
Some budgets can only afford to tile to a certain height. To create a cohesive finish the rest of the wall is painted in a matching RAL colour, she counsels. The boxed-in joinery is spray-painted, and the mirror runs the full height and full width.
An upright LED strip light frames the mirror around a warm light, while the Sonas hardware is in matt black.
Maintenance
Coloured bathrooms do come with a caveat, O’Brien says. When cleaning, she recommends using warm water and soap or a clear malt type vinegar and water mix. “Avoid harsh chemicals,” she counsels. The key is keeping the hardware and the basin, bath or toilet dry.
“There’s a lot of lime in the water in Ireland and it can stain the ceramic and hardware finishes if not dried down after washing.”
Pastels for every part of the home
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