Bathrooms

In my previous post I mentioned the joys of having a great view from your bathroom and being able to bring the outside in, so to speak. At the same time taking your bathroom outside is a wonderful concept – these pictures speak for themselves.

In South Africa we are blessed to have a moderate climate during most of the year, so outside showers and living areas which open directly to your garden are plausible as well as architecturally appealing.

We went to the Seychelles for our honeymoon, and I was struck by this stunning restroom in one of the restaurants:

It was so refreshing just to feel the breeze on your face and hear the bamboo trees swaying in the wind while washing your hands. I couldn’t wait to grab my camera from our table and take some pictures, as I have yet to see a public space like this in SA!

I love to get ideas for my bathroom from the different places we have visited. I specifically like to bring something unconventional into the bathroom to give it the ambience of a room in its own right and not just a place of necessity.

A few years ago we stayed at a guest house in Bloubergstrand in Cape Town (called Mt Bijoux) and each bathroom had a beautiful Persian carpet in front of the bath. I loved this idea so much that I incorporated it into my own bathroom:

I must add though that I didn’t think it practical to spend thousands of Rand on a real Persian… I would have felt too bad to trample on it with my wet feet… so I opted for a fake one for a few hundred Rand, and according to me it works just as well. It’s also a difficult space to decorate, because a traditional bath mat is too small for the area and looked odd, thus the larger carpet worked perfectly for the space.

You will notice in all the pictures from lovely bathrooms in lodges and hotels I have stayed at, one of the defining factors is definitely the view you can take in while lying in the tub and thus the position of the bath is key in each case. If you are able to bring nature into your bathroom with the view, you don’t need much more in terms of decorative items.

Another great architectural feature is the shutters built into the wall so you are able to incorporate some privacy but at the same time you can have the concept of your bathroom being part of the bedroom: