Modern Bathroom: Floating Vanities, Floating Toilets and Wetrooms
Floating toilets? If you’ve ever stayed in an apartment in Europe, you know they are short on space, but they have managed to fit a shower, vanity, toilet and bidet in the same room. Over on this side of the pond, space considerations are important as well, especially designing bathrooms for older homes. Sometimes, 8 ½ – 10”, which is the typical depth of a toilet tank, can make all the difference.
Considering that code requires 21” of clear space in front of a toilet, and 30” being optimal, eliminating the toilet tank can free up space and offer more design options. In the case of this modern bathroom, it allowed for the design of a wet room containing a large freestanding soaking tub and curbless shower. Back in Europe, wall hung toilets seem to be as ubiquitous as red busses in Piccadilly Circus, but here in the States, they haven’t caught on quite yet. However, Duravit has an array of wall hung solutions available here in the states.
Another design trend has really taken hold here, and that is the drive towards simplicity. Clients want easy to clean surfaces, which means dumping fancy and intricate moldings for simple lines and flat panels and easy to wipe down surfaces. This is one reason shaker has taken over in recent years. Shaker is easy to clean and has a lack of ornamentation where dust and grime could settle. Furthermore, if you’ve noticed, there are quite a few toilets on the market now with flat sides, so there are no nooks and crannies to have to get down and clean. The most annoying place to clean in the entire house is not the toilet bowl but the white plastic caps covering the bolts holding the toilet in place. But back to the beautiful simplicity of the wall hung toilet. There are no nooks and crannies, just a round bowl to wipe down. One concern customers have is that since the tank is in the wall, what happens if it “breaks?” Well, all of the mechanicals or moving parts are actually behind the rectangular actuator panel, which can be removed and serviced. The tank is nothing more than a polypropylene tank with the connection behind the wall hung bowl, which can be remove and serviced.
The other recent design trends include wet rooms and wall hung vanities. Paring a wall hung vanity with a wall hung toilet can make cleaning the floor a breeze. Using our vacuum and Bissell Spin Mop beneath the toilet and vanity floor cleaning is simple.
The CDC reports that 1 in 4 US adults has a disability of some sort – that’s 61 million Americans, many of whom have a mobility issue. Chronic knee and hip problems can making getting in and out of the bathtub or shower on a daily basis a challenge. The last design trend includes the curbless shower and/or wet room. A curbless shower might be self explanatory – a shower without obstacle or impediment to entry. A wet room on the other hand is typically a barrier free OR glass enclosed room containing a shower and tub with a floor drain serving the shower. In a wet room, everything can get wet without worry. Again, we’ve borrowed from our European friends here. A floor drain in a European bathroom is not uncommon. Not only we do use our Bissell Spin Mop in the bathroom, but we use it to clean the shower floor, too!
