Irene Turner "Little Bits of Beauty™"

I’ve picked up a new project here on our beautiful Sonoma Coast.  The house is a bit like Sonoma Barn meets the ocean.  Vaulted ceilings, beautiful redwood paneling and views of our rugged coastline make up the bones of this house.

The main motive for this renovation is to open up the living space to take advantage  of the views while updating the kitchen and bathrooms.  But, by opening up the floor plan we will severely limit the space for the master bathroom…and…one of the most important returns on any investment in todays home renovation market are bathrooms.  Not necessarily size, but definitely the luxuriousness of the appointments.  One of my favorite looks has always been the wet room, and this is the look I want to create!

The Long Barn Studio, designed by Nicholas Tye Architects

Technically a wet room is a shower within a bathroom with a barrier-free floor, level with its surroundings. Originally, the wet room was only a shower room. And while we’ve seen wet rooms develop into much more than that, the shower remains a central component. The shower area is open, usually at one end of the room, or partially sectioned off with a wall or screen. Double showers are a popular feature of wet rooms.

One reason a house owner may consider a wet room is to save space. In a small room the shower tray and walls can restrict the usable space in the bath. By removing the shower walls there is more space in the room and when used as a shower the bathing space is also increased.  By not having an enclosed shower you open up the smallest of bathrooms, allowing for a feeling of more space.

While wet rooms or wet baths have been popular in Europe for ever it is fast becoming the latest trends here in the States.

I’ve been researching how to design a fabulous wet room for my clients and I came across these great tips from  Homes & Lifestyle Magazine in the UK

1. Consult a designer to ensure you create an effective wet room. The design is key.
2. Employ experienced tradesmen to create your wet room to avoid problems down the road.
3. Make sure that the water flow-waste is designed to be as far away from the door as possible.
4. It is essential that the room is properly tanked…in many European countries this is just a standard way to build.
5. Wet rooms are best fitted with wall hung sanitary ware and furniture – perfect to streamlined wet areas and they also make cleaning easier.
6. Choose non-porous bathroom tiles such as ceramic or porcelain because porous tiles, such as slate, marble and limestone need sealing every few months to prevent water damage.
7. You can install under-floor heating in the wet room as it will help dry the room faster.
8. Install a shower wand or hand-held shower if you are having a fixed shower head to make cleaning down the room easier.
9. Keep your heated towel rail as far away from the actual shower area as possible to avoid your towels getting wet.

To visit some of the best wet rooms out there check out the video below…and let me know what you think by leaving a comment!

Have a beautiful day…