You probably remember it well.
It was the room down the hall. Strictly utilitarian. You just went in, did whatever you had to do, maybe read for a few minutes, and got out again as soon as possible. Bathtub (on claw feet, if you`re of a certain vintage;
remember how hard it was to clean underneath?), toilet and a sink that was usually cluttered because there wasn`t much counter space; that was it.
The bathroom was not a room we paid much attention to, other than banging on the door when someone was spending too long in there or threatening the kids with dire consequences if they left the tub in that awful condition one more time.
Times have changed.
In the `50s and `60s, we devoted our designing talents to the family room. Then we turned our attention to our kitchens and indulged in center islands and cozy breakfast nooks.
But now it`s the era of The Luxury Bathroom.
Sumptuous bathrooms. Sensual bathrooms. Bathrooms walled with mirrors and topped with skylights; bathrooms for indulging, luxuriating and playing. Marble and onyx have moved into the bathroom, along with hand-painted porcelain, faucets made of rock crystal and sinks (mundane word that it is) of gold plate.
”It has become the status room of the `80s,” said New York designer Florence Perchuk during the recent International Bath and Kitchen Seminar in Chicago. ”In fact, I think the bathroom needs a new name.”
Like most trends, this one has several roots.
Most important, perhaps, is increased awareness of our bodies. We`re exercising more; we like it when our bodies feel good, and it does feel good
–mentally as well as physically–to step into a beautiful sunken whirlpool swirling with champagne-like bubbles. Some new ultra bathrooms resemble spas, with steam rooms, saunas and exercise equipment taking their place alongside the sinks and toilets.
It`s an indulgence made increasingly possible by two-paycheck families. The plumbing can be maintained, with money to spare for the touch of luxury.
And it`s a room geared for both togetherness and privacy. The sumptuous bathroom is big enough for you and yours and can boast a tub for two; but unlike that bathroom ”down the hall,” it`s a place to get away from the kids.
When Jules and Sue Gits of Glen Ellyn were married 35 years ago, they didn`t think much about the bathroom.
”It just wasn`t very important,” Sue Gits says. ”The kitchen and den were important. But when we got ready to build our new house (in 1985), the bathroom was very important.
”We went to showrooms and sat in all the tubs. We wanted double sinks, a Jacuzzi, an open shower, all of it. The Jacuzzi . . . let`s face it, when you get to be our age, you have aches and pains. It`s wonderful to sit in a hot Jacuzzi.”
Up on the North Shore, Lorraine Greenberg wanted ”a feeling of spaciousness . . . a mood-setter” in the master bathroom when she and her husband, Ira, built their home. ”It`s like a fantasy come true,” she says.
”Even the chair . . . I said to Dan (designer Daniel DuBay), `Why do I need a chair in the bathroom?` But it`s funny, when my husband is shaving, I`ll sit in here and we`ll talk.”
In their quest for luxury, Americans invested $13 billion on their bathrooms in 1986 and are expected to spend a similiar amount this year, according to a survey taken by Kitchen and Bath Business magazine.
”The world is an impersonal place; so we cherish our personal space, and that`s certainly the most personal space in the house,” says Ed Pell, Kitchen and Bath Business managing editor. ”It`s the place to unwind, to relax.”
Sexual freedom also played a part in setting the trend. We no longer turn out all the lights and lock the door when we take off our clothes. Socializing in hot tubs, whirlpools and saunas has become, for many, an acceptable and enjoyable part of life.
”When we grew up, you always went into the bathroom by yourself and locked the door. You certainly never let anyone see you without any clothes on. That`s changed a lot; we have a big bathroom with an open shower, and it`s no big deal for my husband and me to be in there at the same time. I think people are a lot more comfortable about their bodies,” says one Bloomingdale woman, who doesn`t feel quite comfortable enough to want her name used.
The abundance of mirrors and openness of many of these new bathrooms do, however, take a bit of getting used to. There`s no hiding from that little roll of fat around the middle.
”When you stand in the (unenclosed) shower, you can really see yourself in the mirrors,” Sue Gits says. ”The first few times Jules took a shower, he said, `We`ve got to put a screen up or something.` But then we got used to it. I stand in the shower, and I`m right there in that big mirror and I`m completely unaware.”
When we talk sumptuous bathroom, we are usually talking whirlpool as a focal point. Kohler Co., for example, makes 11 different models of whirlpools, ranging from $650 to $6,000. The 10 by 12 foot beige and coral bathroom in Donald and Karen Wickman`s St. Charles home features a $3,500 Kohler whirlpool tub that can easily accommodate more than one person.
Even the names of some of these whirlpools conjure up images of an almost decadent luxuriousness.
Bathwomb is Water Jet`s $13,000 whirlpool tub. It comes with a built-in stereo, speaker phone, facial air mist, pillow massage and a digital time and temperature readout. ”After you`ve had a hard day and want to relax, it`s like going to the health spa,” says polo player/developer Regis Kopac, who has a Bathwomb in one of the seven bathrooms in his Graue Mill townhome in Hinsdale.
If that`s not quite enough, there`s the Sensorium by American Standard. Big enough for two, with underwater lighting that the company claims ”lends a sensual air that makes bathing an unforgettable experience,” the Sensorium can be combined with a microprocessor called Ambiance that allows you to operate the stereo, dim the lights, heat the towels and even unlock the front door while you`re sitting in those frothy bubbles.
”You can even get off the plane at O`Hare and call home (from the car phone, of course) and have your bath ready and waiting for you,” says American Standard`s Robert Holmes. Price tag: $25,500.
Although she doesn`t have a Bathwomb or a Sensorium, commodities broker Kay Kimberly Segal has just about everything else in her Michigan Avenue condo.
”I just wanted something absolutely glamorous and marvelous. I mean, I wanted sensational,” she says.
Sensational, Segal style, means an onyx toilet in her husband`s bathroom and a marble toilet and bidet in hers. Both toilets have telephones right next to them. The marble cost more (approximately $6,600, compared to $4,700 for the onyx), but the onyx toilet weighs in more (400 pounds, compared to 225 pounds for the marble). You`d think twice about moving either one of them.
Most of Segal`s bathroom fixtures, which also include a gold-plated sink, rock crystal faucet handles and an onyx tissue box, come from Sherle Wagner in New York.
”I got exactly what I wanted,” Segal says. ”Every time I go in there
(the bathroom), I get my money`s worth.”
For companies like Sherle Wagner, considered the pioneer of sumptuous bathroom items since its founding in 1945, the current luxury bathroom boom has to be akin to manna from heaven.
”We`re the creme de la creme of baths,” says Wagner spokeswoman Eleanor Cohen. ”What we have is really like jewelry for the bath . . . and there`s no question that upscale is really selling.”
Dante and Nicholas Arciero, 6 and almost 4, probably don`t think about upscale bathing when they take their tub toys into the whirlpool. But their mother, Kathleen, is more than pleased.
”My husband and I compromised,” she says. ”He likes a lot of wood, and I like a lot of brightness. So he got (the wood) in his office, the boys` room and the family room, and I got this (brightness) in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. I`m happy to be in those three rooms.”
The dark blue of the tub, tile and double sinks is in sharp contrast to white cabinets and countertop. That, plus all the mirrors and a skylight, gives the Arciero bathroom the sharp brightness Arciero was after.
It`s the Room of the `80s. And, in the opinion of many, it`s about time.
”You know, the Romans introduced bathing as social with overtones of sensuality,” says Mario Paone, president of Hastings Tile & Il Bagno in New York. ”But something happened after that, and the bathroom became dull and functional.
”Now health, beauty, fitness and tubs for two have come into the bathroom. The bathroom has finally metamorphosed into an important and dramatic room.”
THE PRICES WE PAY
A luxurious bathroom is increasingly on the wish list of what Americans want in their homes, but the price tag of a truly sumptuous room is out of reach for most.
But that`s not stopping people from dressing up their bathrooms to whatever extent their wallets will allow.
Fifty-four percent of all bathroom remodeling work done in 1986 cost less than $1,000, according to a survey by Kitchen and Bath Business magazine. Another 25 percent of remodeling jobs cost between $1,000 and $3,000. Sixteen percent had a price tag between $3,000 and $5,000, and 3 percent cost between $5,000 and $8,000.
Moving into the really lavish remodeling jobs, 1 percent cost $8,000 to $11,000 and the final 1 percent $11,000 and up.
That last two percent, however, accounts for 11 percent of the approximately $13 million spent on bathrooms (new and remodeled) last year, according to the survey.
Another publication, Kitchen and Bath Concepts, says a new, custom-designed bathroom (involving the services of an interior designer) averages $11,000, compared to a $3,750 cost for a ”regular” bathroom put in a new house.
And although many may crave a whirlpool tub, they are still far from a household standard.
Only 3 percent of last year`s remodeled bathrooms received a tub with bubbling water, according to the Kitchen and Bath Business survey. ”But if you take people who spent more than $8,000, about 24 percent bought whirlpools,” says Kitchen and Bath Business managing editor Ed Pell.
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HAZARDS SUBMERGED
Wonderful bathrooms are wonderful–but what about safety?
That was one of the first questions asked at a seminar on ”The Luxury Bath: Making a Splash in Middle America” at the Merchandise Mart.
The questioner commented first on the beauty of the different sunken whirlpool tubs just seen during a slide presentation. But, she went on to ask, how does one get safely in and out of these deep, sunken tubs? Most people with the wherewithal to invest big dollars in their bathrooms probably aren`t youngsters anymore, she added.
”And it looks like a lot of these designs are for the under-40s, athletic type,” she said.
The answer was somewhat simple: Don`t just step into the whirlpool tub. Sit down on the side and swing your legs around and then lower yourself in.
Getting in and out of a whirlpool, however, is just one of many safety considerations when designing a bathroom.
About 25 percent of all household accidents occur in the bathroom, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Two of the most common hazards are falling in the shower and getting hit with a blast of steaming or freezing water when someone runs the water elsewhere in the house.
Following are some safety precautions for the bathroom:
— Grab bars are good for just that–grabbing onto. If you start to take a tumble, a towel rack or shower curtain is apt to come down with you. Showers and tubs should have grab bars.
— Now on the market are temperature balance mechanisms that will keep the flow of shower or tub water at a consistent temperature, even if the dishwasher is started while you`re in the shower.
— Also available are faucets that tell you the temperature of the water passing through the faucet.
— Marble and tile floors are beautiful. And slippery under wet feet. Although you might be reluctant to cover up any part of a beautiful floor with a rug, you`re a lot safer stepping out of the shower onto fabric. One Hinsdale woman combines safety with beauty by having an Oriental rug by her tub.
— Obviously, don`t leave the bar of soap at the bottom of the tub or shower. Tacky to look at–and very unsafe.
