■ Cleansing body and soul Many modern bathrooms are designed as sanctuaries for relaxation By Marcy Stamper
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here is no shortage of euphemisms for the humble bathroom — “water closet,” “little girl’s room,” “necessary room” — but today’s bathroom is literally becoming a restroom. The modern bathroom is increasingly designed to be a sanctuary, a quiet,
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Methow Home
low-maintenance place to relax and cleanse your body — not only from dirt and grime, but also from the stresses of the day. Spa-like aesthetics are commonplace, with calming, neutral colors and clean lines. “There’s a lot of blue-gray or cream — the colors of rocks,” said Mary Johnston, a partner in Johnston Architects, a firm based in Seattle that has designed many houses in the Methow Valley. The one place where people may still be a bit more daring is the powder room. “People may paint the room in a really dark color, just because it’s a little bit dramatic,” said Johnston. Overall, people seem to favor spare, minimalist bath-
rooms — not clinical or institutional, but designed to showcase beautiful forms and materials. “That’s also the sanctuary idea — it’s a minimalist approach to cleaning,” said Johnston. Equipped with saunas, steam showers, or showers with spray jets, bathrooms are also taking on the functional attributes of spas. “We put a lot of saunas in bathrooms,” said Molly Patterson, who co-owns The Patterson Company Design Build with her husband, Jeff. In fact, saunas and soaking tubs are increasingly supplanting jetted tubs, said Patterson. This, too, is part of a desire to create a peaceful space that doesn’t require extra upkeep. “We try to talk people out of jetted tubs because the jets can be really hard to clean,” said Patterson. “It goes along with the sanctuary quality,” said Johnston. “Jetted tubs can be kind of loud — that’s the main
objection.” Johnston sees people opting instead for free-standing tubs, sort of a modern interpretation of the clawfoot tub. Shaped like an egg or a rectangle with gently rounded corners, these vessels — strategically placed in the middle of the room — become a sculptural element. While some are porcelain, many of these tubs are made from resins that mimic stone, but they are lighter and easier to maintain, she said. In vacation homes, many people dispense with the bathtub altogether and instead indulge in spray jets for the shower, said Margo PetersonAspholm, an architect at Balance Associates in Winthrop. Another trend — both for aesthetics and practicality — is a curbless (or bumpless) shower, which has no lip to step over. People appreciate the clean lines — the showers often have a gently sloping floor and a linear drain along the wall — but