Interior Design London – Bathroom Design Explained – Kid-Approved Design
Professional bathroom designers are expert at combining purpose and aesthetics to craft astonishing designs. In this four-part collection of articles, “Bathroom Design Explained,” I rely on my know-how gleaned from collaborating with London’s finest bathroom designers to explore this dynamic profession. This article explores how to design for households with children.
Being a tiny child is quite a unique experience! Do you recall how it felt? It can be seriously difficult to create bathroom designs that are 100% kid-approved. But with London’s constantly increasing population, my clients are now requesting kid-approved design alternatives more than ever. The first question that I always ask myself is: how to envision a bathroom design that can grow as the kids get older? I’m sure you can appreciate how a design that is perfect for a 6-year-old at a London pre-prep may well seem inappropriate when the child turns 8 and enters prep school.
Children from every culture and on every continent are fascinated by the world of colours. However, London’s finest bathroom designers realise that sometimes we have to put the brakes on! One fabulous approach is to preserve a neutral envelope by selecting ecru, snowflake or ivory for the walls and floortiles. Hints of colour should be included by choosing appropriate bathmats, taps and stylish extras. Certain well-known London Bathroom Designers will routinely choose cucumber, daffodil or ultramarine for a child’s washtub … critically, these hues are not as overwhelming as (say) raspberry or ebony.
In terms of kid-approved bathroom design specifics, smaller children must always have enough room to explore and move. This is non-trivial in the case of some of the more space-constrained London flats. I have seen some designers incorporate a step-up/step-down pedestal support that allows younger children to reach the lavatory. Importantly, this can easily be pushed out of the way when its use is no longer required. "Electronic eye" tap systems minimise the extent to which little arms have to reach forward for handwashing, and bathroom design experts can even lock the temperature control in advance to make sure kids will never get scalded.
Last but by no means least, one fabulous approach involves giving the bathroom design a sense of character by gathering the resident kids’ paintings or crayon sketches and tacking them onto cupboards or mouldings. I have personally visited London residences where the kids have themselves coloured one tile in the bottom corner of the shower cubicle as a fun project. Alternatively, the bathroom designer can give them permission to add glitter and varnish to a mirror frame. This definitely makes the kids feel like the bathroom is all their own … and who knows, it may inspire some to become bathroom designers themselves in the future!
The next and final article in this collection called “Bathroom Design Explained” turns to specialist designs for retirees and for people of limited movement and dexterity.
Lily Candice is regular article writer for Interior Design London – Global Interior Design Consultancy Company in London, UK for interior design services.
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