Postcards From ... Bathroom Beauties Around the World
From exotic Southeast Asia to wintery Canada's Northwest Territories, these divine bathrooms will make you want to remodel your own
Whether taking a cue from fashion or bringing the outdoors in, bathroom designers the world over look to cultural inspiration for new ideas. But if you don’t have plans to renovate your bathroom anytime soon, borrow some of these globe-trotting ideas to stand in good stead. Love Italian style? Paint black stripes on white walls. Want to be reminded of a summer holiday? Move in the tropical plants. Prefer bling in your bathroom? Hang an ornate mirror over a washbasin. There are many ways to show off an international style – just choose a country for inspiration.
Festive fun: SPAIN
You’ve got to hand it to the Spanish – only people with a love of fiestas and fanfare could inject this much vibrancy and energy into bathroom design. Surely you’d want to party and fiesta forever in this bathroom – or at least as much as washing and showering! The colour combo of aqua and tomato red makes for an exciting atmosphere, but perhaps only one that a Spanish designer could pull off with such flair.
More Mediterranean bathroom ideas
You’ve got to hand it to the Spanish – only people with a love of fiestas and fanfare could inject this much vibrancy and energy into bathroom design. Surely you’d want to party and fiesta forever in this bathroom – or at least as much as washing and showering! The colour combo of aqua and tomato red makes for an exciting atmosphere, but perhaps only one that a Spanish designer could pull off with such flair.
More Mediterranean bathroom ideas
Shed chic: AUSTRALIA
It’s bright and basic, but with views of the Australian countryside and surrounding bushland, this bathroom is in no need of additional details. Housed in a converted shed, the bathroom has new walls of corrugated iron and exposed stone, punctuated by red timber-framed windows. Together these honest materials bring a rustic feel to the space.
It’s bright and basic, but with views of the Australian countryside and surrounding bushland, this bathroom is in no need of additional details. Housed in a converted shed, the bathroom has new walls of corrugated iron and exposed stone, punctuated by red timber-framed windows. Together these honest materials bring a rustic feel to the space.
Tropical haven: INDONESIA
Bathing outdoors is usually something one might do when camping, but this indulgent bathroom is the norm for high-end Indonesian homes and hotels. Set up in an Indonesian backyard bath-house made from Javanese timbers, the room features an uplighted river rock bathtub in which bathers are assured of a luxurious experience. The bathroom is open-air but comes with the privacy of its own verandah, luscious garden and a stone figurine to keep watch.
More indoor-outdoor bathroom ideas
Bathing outdoors is usually something one might do when camping, but this indulgent bathroom is the norm for high-end Indonesian homes and hotels. Set up in an Indonesian backyard bath-house made from Javanese timbers, the room features an uplighted river rock bathtub in which bathers are assured of a luxurious experience. The bathroom is open-air but comes with the privacy of its own verandah, luscious garden and a stone figurine to keep watch.
More indoor-outdoor bathroom ideas
Optical illusion: GERMANY
When it comes to the bathroom, every square inch (or centimetre) counts, which is why this meticulous tiling job, featuring an optical-art pattern of great intricacy, looks so expensive. Featured in a shower cubicle in a bathroom in Berlin, it’s obviously designed by an exacting and conscientious German architect. You could say more is definitely more in this abstract, geometric design.
When it comes to the bathroom, every square inch (or centimetre) counts, which is why this meticulous tiling job, featuring an optical-art pattern of great intricacy, looks so expensive. Featured in a shower cubicle in a bathroom in Berlin, it’s obviously designed by an exacting and conscientious German architect. You could say more is definitely more in this abstract, geometric design.
Tree hugger: CANADA
Could this be part of the ultimate lumberjack lair? It’s certainly a bathroom that’s got a masculine swagger to it. Lined in timber panelling with flagged stone floor and a rustic metal-framed mirror and sconces, the only thing that makes this man-cave of a bathroom more outdoorsy than perhaps the men and women who wash in it is the chunky tree-trunk pedestal embedded with a small handbasin.
Could this be part of the ultimate lumberjack lair? It’s certainly a bathroom that’s got a masculine swagger to it. Lined in timber panelling with flagged stone floor and a rustic metal-framed mirror and sconces, the only thing that makes this man-cave of a bathroom more outdoorsy than perhaps the men and women who wash in it is the chunky tree-trunk pedestal embedded with a small handbasin.
Uptown jazz: USA
No prizes for guessing where this Art Deco beauty is located! With all those silver-gilt edged panels, crystal-handled mirrored cabinets and chevron-patterned marble walls and floors, this bathroom is easily located in one of the United States’ top towns –New York, of course.
No prizes for guessing where this Art Deco beauty is located! With all those silver-gilt edged panels, crystal-handled mirrored cabinets and chevron-patterned marble walls and floors, this bathroom is easily located in one of the United States’ top towns –New York, of course.
Barn beauty: UNITED KINGDOM
Heavens above! This bathroom looks like it’s been built in an old barn. Actually, that’s not far from the truth – it’s been built in a hay loft on the family-run property of Warborne Farm in South East England. The conversion is part of an award-winning farm stay development. Rustic and luxurious all at once.
More country bathrooms
Heavens above! This bathroom looks like it’s been built in an old barn. Actually, that’s not far from the truth – it’s been built in a hay loft on the family-run property of Warborne Farm in South East England. The conversion is part of an award-winning farm stay development. Rustic and luxurious all at once.
More country bathrooms
Serene soak: JAPAN
The sound of running water is always soothing but imagine listening to that while being immersed up to your neck in a tub of hot spring water? This is a Japanese soaking bath, and there is no other pleasure quite like it when it comes to bathing. With views out to the surrounding forest through the slats of a privacy screen, I imagine the lucky man or woman who bathes in this tub easily loses count of the hours.
More Asian-style bathrooms
The sound of running water is always soothing but imagine listening to that while being immersed up to your neck in a tub of hot spring water? This is a Japanese soaking bath, and there is no other pleasure quite like it when it comes to bathing. With views out to the surrounding forest through the slats of a privacy screen, I imagine the lucky man or woman who bathes in this tub easily loses count of the hours.
More Asian-style bathrooms
Baroque bombshell: RUSSIA
My, what a chic ensuite this is! With floor-to-ceiling, two-tone marble and featuring a hand-carved bas relief plaque, this is the sort of drop-dead gorgeous bathroom that’s more to be oggled at than used – I mean, check out the black mirror frame and golden scones! That’s seriously Baroque, nyet?
My, what a chic ensuite this is! With floor-to-ceiling, two-tone marble and featuring a hand-carved bas relief plaque, this is the sort of drop-dead gorgeous bathroom that’s more to be oggled at than used – I mean, check out the black mirror frame and golden scones! That’s seriously Baroque, nyet?
Jungle jive: BRAZIL
Ay, caramba! The jungle comes to life inside this equatorial-rainforest themed bathroom from Brazil. Indoor tropical greenery, including the leafy palm Licuala, adds a jade green glow to the space. There’s nothing like taking a bath in the rainforest – especially when the mosquitoes can’t get at you!
Ay, caramba! The jungle comes to life inside this equatorial-rainforest themed bathroom from Brazil. Indoor tropical greenery, including the leafy palm Licuala, adds a jade green glow to the space. There’s nothing like taking a bath in the rainforest – especially when the mosquitoes can’t get at you!
Sauna style: SWEDEN
Scandinavians know that there’s more to life than the daily grind, which is why they invented the sauna for relaxing in after a hard day’s work. This bathroom in Stockholm features one compact unit built into a corner, but has just enough room for two to enjoy its steamy vapours.
TELL US
Which of these bathrooms appeals to you? Tell us why in the Comments.
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Scandinavians know that there’s more to life than the daily grind, which is why they invented the sauna for relaxing in after a hard day’s work. This bathroom in Stockholm features one compact unit built into a corner, but has just enough room for two to enjoy its steamy vapours.
TELL US
Which of these bathrooms appeals to you? Tell us why in the Comments.
MORE
Room With a View: Jaw-Dropping Bathscapes Across the Globe
Bedrooms With a View: Wonderlands to Wake Up To
Northern Italians are renowned for their sharp sartorial style, which is often expressed by fine pin-striped suiting and shiny black leather accessories. Imagine then, a decorating scheme that adopts this swish tailored style in other areas of design. Take this Milano bathroom, which has had a suave makeover, for example. The walls are painted with black and white stripes, and these provide a graphic contrast to a white-tiled dado panel that surrounds the room. Other features are typical of the Italian preference for luxury and high-end finishes. Fashionable, indeed.