Beauty in economy

This LinkedIn post from Civil Engineering Discoveries is the image of beauty in economy. This bathroom's restraint of space, finishes and fixtures radiates the cleanliness one gets from a good shower, shampoo and shave without hogging space from other rooms or dressing up in needless knickknacks.

The cantilevered sink, shelf and mirror are mounted on the shower's side, consolidating all cleansing stations and simplifying the plumbing. Similarly, the commode is right beside the shower, and the shower's off-the-floor step-in design has no threshold to trip on. This turns all daily necessities into one-stop shopping, hastening your toilet to help you get going in the morning.

Which is complemented—and expressed—by simplicity of design and décor. The glass door's black border exemplifies the clean lines of Mondrian modernism. The lighting around the simple square mirror nicely contrasts the black with white while complementing the white sink. The woodgrain of the vanity and shelf offset the shower door's industrial geometry with organic rustic richness, while the black metal faucet complements the door-frame. The shower's textured tilework suggests a showerhead's waterfall cascade in a way that isn't sculpturally pretentious but is still soothing.

This is living proof that you don't need a bathroom like a palace to have something luxurious to step into, steam up in and stride out of for your daily routine...unless, of course, you seek a soak in a tub. 

But, aside from hating baths as a kid, I frankly find tub-bathing unnecessary and time-consuming, especially when it makes you not want to leave the warmth of the water, the caress of the jets, the scent of the soap, the balm of the bath oil, the sudsy softness of the Mr. Bubble, and whatever other luxuries surround you. For that is how the tub usurps your valuable time as much as the square footage it requires robs the rest of your home of valuable space—and ups your renovation, installation, plumbing and water-and-sewer expenses in the process. 

So a douche from a shower (that is, a tightly vertical one-person one kept to the spatial limits of one showerhead, not a multi-headed haven with the elbow-room of a walk-in closet, like this stall here) does the trick for personal sanitation, spatial salvation, and time management in the morning. That should make the first image you saw in this post a model for economical yet elegant bath design.

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