How to: Add a Splash of Colour to Your Bathroom

 Bathrooms may commonly be filled with lots of white sanitary ware, but the overall feel of your bathroom shouldn’t have to feel sanitised and cold. Bathroom brands and designers are including more and more colour in their designs with colourful vanity units, bold brassware and bright baths to bring a unique and fresh feel to that cold white bathroom scheme. Adding colour to your bathroom may seem scary and you’re probably unsure to add it because the colour might go off trend (just like the avocado bathroom suite craze), but adding colour to your bathroom doesn’t mean going overboard. Don’t think about bright and garish reds, neon greens and vibrant oranges, or complicated and overwhelming colour schemes. Think less is more and don't focus on trends, or colours of the year, unless you love them.Most of the time just a splash of colour combined with a few neutral colours will do the trick. Colour works wonders to bring your bathroom away from the cold feeling that sanitaryware gives and into that long awaited feeling of rejuvenation and warmth. Colour can be added to your bathroom in a variety of ways and it’s also the perfect way to stamp your bathroom with your own personal style.  

COLOUR THEORY

Colour is a key element in interior design. It offers spatial perception and can balance different elements of any room. If you want to make sure that you’re picking the right colours for your home, to enjoy for years to come, then take some time to collect and play with colour samples, or simply create a mood board on Pinterest for an easy way to gather colours options and interior design inspiration. Also, take a look at seasonal colour palettes and see which direction you want to go in setting a mood for your room. For example, does your bathroom often feel cold and uninviting because it’s so large? Or, does it feel dark and gloomy because there’s a lack of natural sunlight?Some colour palettes will always remain classical, and some will always be associated to certain symbols or feelings. Colour symbolism in art refers to the use of colour as a symbol in various cultures. For example, red is used to communicate danger on sign posts, but it’s used to communicate the language of love. Often the best colour palettes use timeless colours and normally involve one main colour and then a mixture, shades and tones.   

COLOUR PSYCHOLOGY

Colour is often used to create feelings of coziness or spaciousness within interior design, but it can also be used to influence our mood and even our hunger levels. Similar to how different rooms in the home can influence our moods, which will ultimately change our state-of-mind, colours and rooms are often paired together to enhance certain feelings or perceptions.  An extreme example of how rooms and colours, when paired together, can influence behaviour is how the colour pink (specifically Baker-Miller pink) is used in prisons to calm down aggressive inmates. Project ‘Cool Down Pink’, implemented in Swedish prisons, uses the same design implementation in an attempt to calm down their inmates.A fun example of how colour positively affects our mood is how the colour red can cause hunger levels to rise. It’s often used in restaurants to stir customer apetities. Orange can also activate hunger sensations, as well as yellow, which activates our happy endorphins such as dopamine; high levels of dopamine = an increase to eat more.  So which colours work best in a bathroom? Forget the prison Baker-Miller pink for now, unless you really like it...

• Lilac is soothing and can create a stress-free sanctuary, which is perfect if you enjoy winding down in a bubble bath.
• Blue is calming and soothing, it can open the mind to promote intellectual thought and can also make you feel protected. It’s great if you want ideas to flow when you’re taking a shower, or if you want to feel calm after a long and stressful day.
• Pink, though often avoided because it’s too ‘girlie’, is also a good choice because it can be used to promote feelings of peace, leaving you feeling rested and rejuvenated. It doesn’t need to be a hot pink or baby pink. Think muted pastel pink tiles, even the slightest hint of pink will do the trick.
• Yellow orange!, as mentioned above, activate our happy endorphins. Not the biggest morning person? Then yellow and orange could be the colours for you. They also look great in modern bathroom designs.

  

COLOUR IN THE BATHROOM

You may be leaning more to redecorating your walls with colorful tiles, paint, or wall panels, but there are other options if you don’t want to redecorate your entire room.Beautiful Bright Baths: Let your bath do the talkingWaters Baths of Ashbourne allow you to personalise your bath by customising the outer shell with any colour from the Farrow & Ball colour palette. Each bath is hand painted by their artisan craftsman ensuring a perfect finish and attention to detail for a charge of £295.00 Inc VAT which, if you think about it, isn’t a lot for you to have a personalised bath (that you will love!) which is perfect for your bathroom.   Bold Brassware Accents: Let the brassware do the talkingFor those of you with love for bold design, Crosswater’s Union range offers a striking red lever in the ranges exquisite knurled surface. This confident pop of colour complements all brassware finishes in the industrial looking collection and will add a touch of sophistication to any bathroom. The red lever is available with all of the Union collection so it’s entirely possible to match all your bathroom’s brassware with this confident pop of red!If you're looking for something more colourful check out Tres tapware for bathrooms where basin taps, shower heads, shower valves and shower handsets are available in the following Loft colour finishes: violet, amber, orange, red, fuchsia, green and black. Even their kitchen mixer taps are available in the same colours!  Colour Match: Let your whole bathroom do the talkingUtopia bathrooms have some amazing co-ordinating furniture, fitted, wall mounted and freestanding, in a variety of sophisticated, classic and on trend, colours and shades. The Lustre range offers wall mounted units in sea green, powder grey, indigo and copper. The Star Range offers dramatic bursts of colour highlights. The Opula range offers sweeping lines and straight curves in three colour finishes; grey, sea green and indigo. The Symmetry range offers more colour with beautiful vibrant teal. The Roseberry range offers a more traditional style with a peacock blue or London grey finish. The Halo range offers a more contemporary feel with a wide choice of co-ordinating colours, such a denim blue and concrete grey.Bisque have a passion for colour and exciting finishes. They believe that customers should have the optimum variety of choice when it comes to their choice of radiator. In addition to their colour range some Bisque radiators are also available to be painted in international colour ranges such as RAL or NCS colours. Fancy a pastel lilac radiator? Bisque can do that! Bisque also offer iridescence finishes for their iconic ranges, such as the classic radiator, the classic towel radiator and their hot spring radiator. The 5 striking iridescence colour finishes have a two-tone effect when viewed in different light or seen from different angles.Doccia shower trays are also available in colours from the RAL color chart! Some you could match your shower tray to your Bisque radiator!  Powderey Pinks & Pastels: Let pastels do the talkingIn modern homes and 2018 interior trends it’s becoming increasingly popular to see pastel colours. This visually calming, chromatic range balances the surrounding space to bring inner peace. The most popular pastel in 2018 is pink, a powdery pastel pink. It’s soft yet vibrant personality works really well in interior design as it can increase the light capacity in each space it’s used. It’s also highly versatile because it pairs well with various colours and finishes, such as black and gold, and even natural finishes to add a touch of warmth and emotional wellness.Bathroom Brands such as; Fiora, Villeroy & Boch, Dansani, Bisque, Vitra, Britton, Crosswater, GSI and catalano all feature pastels within their bathroom designs, some even offer furniture and sanitaryware in various pastel finishes. 

 Fun & Funky Tiles: Let your tiles do the talkingWhatever the style, tiles are a great way to add a creative and colourful touch to your bathroom, plus there are many different designs to suit all tastes. Tiles will speak for themselves, so if you want your new bathroom to be creatively colourful and you’ve found just the right tiles to do the job then your new bathroom may not need any additional colour. This is helpful when it comes to thinking about the other areas in your bathroom as you won’t need to think too much about an overly complicated matching colour scheme (unless you do!). Why not take a look at our tile page where there's plenty of colourful tiles to choose from?  Not as creative as you think? We don’t judge! There’s actually a lot to think about when you start to involve colour schemes in your home. Why not let us have a go for you? Visit an Island Bathrooms showroom when you're next free, or book a free 30 min consultation with one of our bathroom experts and let them know you want to add a splash of colour to your bathroom!  

How To Make Your Small Bathroom Feel Bigger

Most of us dream of having a big spacious bathroom, with a separate bath and shower, two sinks and maybe even a decadent chaise to relax on in-between soaks. However we are aware that this may not be realistic for the average person of today. So we want to help you make your bathroom live up to it's full potential by using different techniques to give it a larger look. From carefully selecting your colour palette and focusing on essential fixtures you can use our tips to make your bathroom appear twice the size.

Install A Larger Mirror.

Mirrors not only create the illusion of more space in the bathroom, they also reflect more light back into the room. Assuming your bathroom already has a mirror, why don't you think about sizing up.

Increase Natural Light.

Good lighting is important to making any space look big and open. But in bathrooms, which often don't have much natural light available, it is especially important. Plus it is important to have good lighting in your bathroom so you are easily able to shave and apply makeup effectively. In a small cloakroom or bathroom where you can't add new electrical points for more lights, try changing your current ceiling light to one with multiple bulbs, this will result in you having light going in several directions.

Use A Floating Vanity Unit.

In a cramped bathroom space, it can be tricky to balance the need for storage and also the desire for space to move. A Floating Vanity Unit is the perfect answer. It gives you lot's of storage for the daily essentials, but by seeing the floor underneath it makes the area feel slightly more open. In a very small space such as a cloakroom under the stairs, having more room to put your feet can make a real big difference. However people who aren't tight for space often go for a wall-mounted vanity unit, this means that although you are trying to save space they are a popular furniture piece in today's bathrooms.

Less Is More.

Decorative accessories like artwork, plants and small rugs are fun and can make a small bathroom feel warm and inviting. However they can also lead to serious clutter. And also a pain to keep dusting! So if you are a collector we suggest that you take a step back and consider cutting down. Removing clutter is quick, easy and immediately effective.

Use A Wet Room Panel.

Another great way to expand the look of your space is to ditch the shower curtains and switch them out for a wet room panel. Shower curtains tend to create a visual wall even when they are drawn open. The entire room will appear bigger instantly, especially when you're in the shower. If you like the privacy that a shower curtain gives you then you can opt for a frosted or tinted glass panel, which will still allow a lot of light to filter through which will result in your shower experience feeling less claustrophobic.

Create Long Lines.

Whether your bathroom is a typical rectangle or more oddly shaped, there is usually a wall or area longer than the others. You should really utilise this space and use it to your advantage. Adding a shelf, a band of tiles or even a stripe of paint can really help emphasise the longest line in your bathroom and draw the eye to the widest point.

Visually Push The Walls Apart.

Last but by no means least, if your bathroom is already long and tunnel like, rather than emphasizing the length even more, consider working against the length and visually stretching the width instead. You can do this by using the direction of long elegant floor tiles, as well as a band of accent tile in the shower, to visually stretch the room for a more balanced look and a less tunnel like atmosphere.

The Biggest Hoax in Bathtub History

On December 28^th 1917 an article called ‘A Neglected Anniversary’ was published in the New York Evening Mail. The ‘neglected anniversary’ the title mentioned was the introduction of the bathtub to the USA, seventy-five years prior.It’s author, journalist HL Mencken, had it go like this:Cincinnati grain trader Adam Thompson’s business often took him to England, where he “acquired the habit of bathing” during the 1830s.English bathtubs at the time were “confined to a small group of enthusiasts,” and “little more than glorified dishpans”.Adam Thompson came up with the idea of combining the bathtub with pipes instead of using a maid, as the English did.In 1842 Thompson set up the first American bathtub in his own home to put his theories into practice. Made by a local cabinet maker, “…mahogany lined with lead, seven feet long and fully four feet wide…” and weighing in at “about 1750 pounds”, it sounds more like a coffin than a bathtub.Later, showing it off to friends on Christmas day 1842, he convinced five of them to try the experience out for themselves, and as word spread, local newspapers “opened their columns to violent discussions of it.”Popular among the rich, many sceptics of this new invention saw it as “an obnoxious toy from England, designed to corrupt the democratic simplicity of the Republic.” There was also a lot of medical opposition to it, which eventually died down.When President Millard Fillmore took a bathe in Thompson’s original bathtub on a tour through Cincinnati, he liked it so much that he ordered one to be built in the White House. After a little controversy about what having a bathtub built said about the president’s aspirations, bathtubs began to become commonplace and by 1860 a bathtub could be found in every New York hotel, “…some having even two or three.”But it turned out that HL Mencken had made most of this up. The article, instead of immediately being ousted as a scandalous lie, was actually reprinted by other newspapers, excerpts of it eventually making their way into encyclopaedias and being taken as fact.Mencken, seeing his false information so proliferated, finally came forward eight years later to admit in the Chicago Tribune that the whole story was “…planned as a piece of spoofing to relieve the strain of war days” and that he was surprised when his “idle jocosities were taken with complete seriousness.”