Bathrooms: Creative Planning for Beautiful Bathrooms

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Bathrooms: Creative Planning for Beautiful Bathrooms

By Vinny Lee

Ryland, Peters & Small, New York, NY

Vinny Lee's bright, beautiful Bathrooms is an idea book for designers that comprehensively examines each aspect of bath

design and how each element comes together to work for a personalized look. Lee lays down the principles of planning, design and installation, before tackling more in-depth, style-based topics such as designing for small rooms, selecting the right lighting, complementary fixtures, furniture and fittings, and the pros and cons of various materials for flooring, countertops, wall coverings and more.

With eye-popping photography by Chris Everard, Lee's colorful and artfully designed tome is set apart from similar design books by the attention paid to niche designs and micro-details like the potential of a hastily-selected, mismatched fixture to change the way the entire room flows and is interpreted by the user. Lee gives excellent tips for creating an atmospheric bathroom personalized for the client. For instance, he suggests that a survey of the client's favorite images, colors and themes might work better than asking the client to select a color from a color wheel. The array of answers gives the designer a clue into the client's tastes which will allow for the selection of complementary colors and themes.

The author has a solid sense of the typical bath and its more-often-than-not diminuitive dimensions and lays out her ideas in such a way as to be realistic for any bath size.

On the nuts-and-bolts side of things, Lee lays out all of the current trends, from elaborate thermostatic shower control systems, to radiant underfloor heating, next generation, nearly-silent ventilation fans for the bath, and luxury items growing in popularity such as heated towel rods and fog-free mirrors.

Lee encourages bath design that incorporates not just bath products and accessories, but any product that fits the theme of the space, like specialty mirrors, cabinets and furniture. If clients have the space and know that in their powder room, someone might be sitting to wait for them, why not trot out a selection of chaises for lounging?

Lee uses a combination of the current, quirky and personal to inspire truly creative bath design.