Personal style is probably more varied today than at any time in history, much of it due to the internet and the access to information not possible as recently as even ten years ago. Having home décor information at your fingertips, like appliances for any room or sample color palates, in a matter of clicks is a pretty nifty feature for those interested in the way their home looks. Although you and your friends may enjoy the same kinds of music, authors, movies, and clothes, no two people will be exactly the same in their preferences. This also extends to home décor, including the bathroom.

Access to nearly limitless styles means that you don’t need to feel bound to whatever is popular today, and your personal choices may change as you evolve throughout the years. Why shouldn’t your personality be reflected by your interest in antique or classical home décor?

Many people purchase bungalows or homes built at the beginning of the 20th century with the intention of restoring them to what they may have looked like at that time. The difference being today’s products can have an antique appearance, but be made with quality materials that add comfort to our 21st century way of living. Those whose interest lies in 18th or 19th century design can almost have the best of both worlds.

Old World aficionados can find ageless aesthetic in bathroom vanities, bathtubs, and mirrors. Antique and classical faucets and interior doors are details not to be overlooked. However, before you decide on this style for your bathroom, you should ask yourself if this is the right idea for your home and your tastes.

 Interest in vintage home décor is not a sudden trend. Every age has its groups of people more excited about what styles have passed than what the current trends look like. Is it the simplicity or the ornate features of lines and curves? Maybe you’re tired of a modern look and want the comfort of this tried, but true, aesthetic throughout your home. Modern functionality and quality are a given when you get a sink with a classic look. No worries about plumbing or rust, or awkward temperatures need be part of your daily ritual even if your faucet isn’t “modern” in appearance.

Once you have decided you want to look at designs that match your interest in 18th century French décor, you need to decide if this is something you want throughout your home, or just in some areas. While you may shop antique stores looking for the perfect table for your dining room, your bathroom needs to be practical in its functionality, especially since it will be used nearly every day.

As with other rooms in the house, your bathroom may have a central focal point. If that focal point is your mirror, do you want the mirror to literally frame and reflect your personal take on this look every time you look into it? Do you want your vanity to have some of the ostentation and flair that is notable in many antique pieces, or do you want it to be more subtle?

Cost concerns may be what you’re consistently coming up against, but there are many mirrors, vanities, sinks, and faucets that are well within most homeowners’ budget. There are just as many people who decide on antique styling piecemeal as there are those who buy everything at once. You should feel comfortable with your choices, no matter what you decide.

Along with creating an antique décor in the bathroom, is the rest of your home decorated this way? Will it be styled this way in the future? Focusing on one room to complete, like the bathroom, may be easier to avoid an unfinished appearance. Since the bathroom is usually a confined space, it may not take much to completely focus on fitting every appliance with an antique theme.

Extending or drawing out this theme directly outside the bathroom can act as a precursor or even transitional accent between rooms with different themes. If you, or your family, aren’t as in love with the idea of antique décor throughout the rest of your home, much can be done to alleviate sudden changes. This may be as simple as patina picture frames or vintage art work placed where changes in décor are coming.

Bathrooms with antique décor are for people who want all pieces to be noticed. While this style isn’t for everyone, it can give a sense of nostalgia and comfort to homeowners who want the pastoral theme that Old World, or old American, elegance lends itself to. There are many different ideas that can come from playing around with details of bathroom décor. The rediscovered newness of age-old styles may be why antique or classical themes stay with every generation, and why every generation finds a different way to express this idea.

Labels: antique bathroom decor, Antique Bathroom Vanities, Antique Bathrooms, antique decor

Many people will be entertaining friends and family during the holiday season. Juggling Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, and home entertainment lies on the foundation of what your physical space is, and can be. Where are your guests most likely to spend their time? Chances are most people will overlook the bathroom when it comes to thinking of where guests spend time in their house. However, the bathroom, like the kitchen, is one of the most visited places in your home. If your guests are staying overnight or over the Thanksgiving weekend, it is one room they’ll come to know intimately.

When designing, updating, or simply decorating your bathroom, you are focusing on your own needs, both practically and aesthetically. Yet, most of us still want to wow our guests in every room, including the bathroom. Beyond color schemes that work well, no matter what time of year, the vanity, shower, and toilet design do much to add to the personality of your house or apartment.

Different Features, Different Looks

There is a wide selection of classical vanities and modern vanities available. While each bathroom is its own enclosed area, it is also an extension of what your other rooms look like. Some people find that a classical look, complete with antique vanities, mirrors, and more, suits their style. Others find the minimalism of modern bathrooms working well with a contemporary feel. Of course, as many bathroom ideas as there are, your style doesn’t have to match the theme of the rest of your house at all.
Your bathroom is one of the most functional rooms in the house, as nearly every major appliance in it has a central purpose. No matter your style preference, it is absolutely worth the investment to get showers, baths, toilets, sinks, and vanities that fit your needs. However, they should still speak to your style and aesthetic. You can accessorize and decorate throughout the year to celebrate different holidays, like Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day, but it all comes back to the basics of the sink, toilet, and bath as the base for your style.

Size Does Matter with Bathrooms

Space is the most important aspect when considering your bathroom. The size of your bathroom will dictate what works best, both for you and your guests. It’s possible for a half-bath to standout as much as a full-sized bathroom will. Utilizing smaller or narrower items, such as stand-alone or corner sinks, elongated toilets, or even linen side cabinets can create “big” space for you and your guests.
Larger, full bathrooms have showers, bathtubs, and even whirlpool bathtubs that allow overnight guests a luxury they may not have in their own homes. So, while guests come for the company and food, knowing they can use a steam shower is an added benefit.

Think about some of the bathrooms you thought were more than simply rooms in a home you visited as a guest. What did you like about the space and the functionality? Think about how you might use what you saw and recreate it in your own space. A bathroom that is pieced together with the right shower or sink can make a statement that is as inviting to your guests as it is to you. What is it that makes a bathroom a comfortable place to visit as a guest? Your goal is to make them feel at home in every single room.

Questions to Ask Yourself when Preparing Your Bathroom for Guests

Some things to keep in mind when thinking about your bathroom as an extension of your overall home, and an inviting space for guests include:

• What are the needs of your guests?
• What sorts of accents or accessories don’t your guests have in their own homes that you can treat them to while visiting?
• Can you temporarily create space for your guests in the shower, linen cabinets, medicine cabinets, and any place else they might use?
• What does the overall presentation of your bathroom say about you as a resident and as the host or hostess? What do you want it to say?

The holidays are a time to reflect on things like family, friends, and the future, but it is also a time you can reassess your own living space. We spend time in the bathroom every day. As this room needs to comfortably address our everyday needs, it should be a room we want to spend time in as much as we do the other rooms. The bathroom is as important as any other space when our “house” becomes our “home.” 

Labels: Bathroom, Guest Bathroom

The Western toilet hasn't changed much over the past 100 years or so, but with smart toilets and water conserving designs becoming all the rage, there are an increasing number of researchers looking to reexamine the overall setup of the standard commode. According to Nature World News, Peter Codling, a recent graduate from London's Royal College of Art, has created a new toilet dubbed the Penseur. The device turns bathroom convention on its head and situates the body in a squatting position, which may actually make it healthier in the process.

"You have a muscle that's connected to your pelvis that in a sitting position cinches closed your colon and stops you from going completely and quickly, as you should do," Codling told the news source. "In the squatting position this muscle is relaxed and you can go and your colon is straightened."

In addition to the altered seating position, Codling's commode employs many modern technologies found on smart toilets, such as a bidet and massage function as well as a touch screen remote to control water pressure. While his idea hasn't been picked up by manufacturers just yet, it could be a window into the future of toilet technology.

Competing squatting toilet methods

While Codling's idea is the first to blend the design of Western and Eastern toilets into one dynamic package, there are other inventors in the U.S. who have put their own spin on the idea. According to The Huffington Post, American Robert Edwards created the Squatty Potty in late 2012. Featuring a small platform that fits over an existing toilet, this can help users achieve the squatting position. The inexpensive product can already be found at a number of bathroom and body stores and is one of many new devices on the market that advocate for the new position.

While squatting may seem like a more awkward way of doing one's business, there is a growing contingent of researchers that believe that it could have a number of viable health benefits. Squatting could eliminate strain that is one of the main causes of hemorrhoids, as well as delivering an experience that is far more comfortable than conventional toilets. Clearly, there is a wealth of interest in these new toilet designs and they could become fixtures in washrooms in the future.

Labels: Toilets and Bidets

A Minn. man has been caught who had been allegedly stealing pipes from area restaurants to sell for scrap. Police theorize that the man stole pipes from several McDonald's restaurants, as well as several others, and sold the metal for the bronze they contained.

Arrest

Mikael J. Carlson, the 32-year-old alleged thief, had visited several restaurant bathrooms in the past month, and the managers of the restaurants began to notice the pattern. After several pipes went missing from a McDonald's toilet, the manager reported the theft to authorities. A white SUV was spotted in the surveillance footage of the restaurant's parking lot, leaving around 1 p.m. A man later identified as Carlson was seen getting into the vehicle.

The area manager of the McDonald's restaurants reported that there had been similar incidents at other nearby locations, and the police were informed. Using surveillance footage and information from area managers, police were able to ascertain the suspect's license plate number.,

After another complaint was registered with the authorities, Eagen, Minn. police began to follow Carlson as he drove from place to place, visiting at least three establishments on July 5. At each location, pipe was missing from the bathroom after Carlson left, according to the local CBS affiliate.

Before the suspect could make another attempt, police intervened and arrested him. After searching the vehicle, they found pipes, screwdrivers and a wrench. Carlson admitted that he had stolen the pipes from the three restaurants at that time and was taken into custody. He was linked to other, similar thefts in nearby counties as well.

If convicted, Carlson could serve up to five years in jail and face a $10,000 fine for felony theft.

Pipes

Carlson stole the pipes so that he could sell them for scrap metal. They contain yellow bronze, which sells for over two dollars a pound. In total, Carlson was charged with stealing over $1,700 worth of material.

Police also reported that Carlson always left a few of the toilets in the establishments he visited working, allowing customers to continue using the bathroom. He also shut the water off before removing the essential parts, which prevented leaks and water damage.

Labels: Bathroom Accessories

An 35-year-old man in Israel was bitten by a snake while sitting on the toilet. Luckily, the snake was not poisonous, and the man is expected to survive the encounter, though understandably rattled. The man was taken to the hospital. 

After running from the bathroom in shock and horror, the man was taken to the Rambam Medical Center. He had been visiting his parents in Galilee at the time of the incident. While the bite was enough to attract the attention of the press, the man will be fine, showing only scars for his traumatic experience, according to the Huffington Post.

"This is the first time I've seen a snake bite like this. Luckily, all tests seem fine and the man is feeling well," said on the paramedics who treated the man.

While there will "undoubtedly be bite marks in the area," according to a hospital representative, the man should make a full recovery and be discharged as soon as tests are completed. While it sounds strange, this is not the first time that such an injury as occurred. A Taiwanese man was bitten by a snake in 2009 while on the toilet, though he considered it to be the animal's call for help, as it was stuck in the septic system.

Labels: Bathroom Accessories

New research has shown that smartphones, tablets and other portable electronic devices have encouraged Americans to take phone calls, work and shop in more places, often including while using the toilet.

Work

Research from integrated marketing agency integrated marketing agency 11mark found that many U.S. workers won't go into the bathroom without their cell phones, and that most have used their phones at one point, in the bathroom according to Business News Daily. In total, three out of four of the 1,000 Americans surveyed said that they used their phones in the bathroom, while 30 percent of men and 20 percent of women claimed that they never went to the toilet without their phones.

A little over half of those surveyed said they had answered a call while using the toilet, and slightly fewer claimed to have made calls from the bathroom. Of the men surveyed, 20 percent, compared to 13 percent of women, said that some of the calls they took or made in the bathroom were work-related.

Generations played a role in the usage of cell phones, with people from Generation Y using them the most. The rates fell as the generations grew older, although more than half of Baby Boomers reported using their phones in the bathroom, and just under half of the Silent Generation did as well.

Shopping

With the ability to shop anywhere in the house, many Americans have turned to browsing online wares while on the toilet, detailed by research from SeeWhy originally published in Wired.

In total, ten percent of respondents claimed to have made purchases while actually using the toilet. Other spots included the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen, while some preferred to do their online shopping while sitting outside.

While some of the shopping occurred on smartphones, much of it was more focused on tablets. Those who used tablets like iPads were three times more likely to actually make a purchase instead of browsing. The numbers also revealed that people had different shopping habits on mobile devices than desktop computers.

Charles Nicholls, chief security officer of SeeWhy, said "You find that you've got this evening pattern of recreational shopping that doesn't happen on desktops in the same way."

Labels: Bathroom Accessories

The water-saving design of a sink and urinal or a sink and a full toilet has been growing in popularity in recent years. The design of the device makes it cheaper to both install and produce, is more environmentally friendly, and even encourages users to wash their hands.

The design

Though combination inks and toilets have been around in Japan for nearly 60 years, one new design has recently begun to be installed in several European countries. The new model was created by Latvian designer Kaspars Jursons​, who insists that the model is not a "fancy piece of art," but rather a utilitarian tool, according to NPR.

"The idea is about function and consumption. You are washing your hands in the sink on top of the urinal, and the same water that's running is also used to flush," he explained. "You don't have to use water twice, like when you use the urinal and wash your hands in separate sink."

The basic design of his device and others like it is that the toilet is used first, then the sink. Afterward, the gray water produced from washing hands is what actually flushes the toilet, thus saving water, according to Geekologie.com.

Called The Stand, the new sink-urinal sells for just under $600, and has been distributed in Germany, Poland and the designer's home country of Latvia, among other places. By his own estimation, the device has already saved significant amounts of water and and encouraged more hand washing, because the sink is directly above the urinal. His next project is to create a unisex design.

Japanese models

Similar designs to Jursons' have been used in Japan since 1956. Often, they are utilized in densely-populated areas where there is not adequate space or water for both a sink and a toilet. In the Japanese models, the sink is located on the cistern, the tank on the back of the toilet, and the water helps refill the toilet after it's been flushed.

Though the new idea has been popular in Europe, NPR suggested that Americans may be more interested in the full sink-toilet rather than the urinal-toilet.

Labels: Bathroom Accessories