Hottest Bathroom Designs Trends Leading into 2018

December 22, 2017 by Suzanne Lasky

Are you contemplating a bathroom remodel in 2018? Below is a guest post article that will help you think through some of your design decisions. Of course S Interior Design is here to assist you in person in the Scottsdale/ Phoenix Arizona area !

Below is a picture of a tile we are incorporating into one of our clients’ bath designs to be started in 2018. This tile will be used with an almost solid concrete look porcelain large format tile.
It will be stunning!

Also shown are the sink and faucet that will be used. Another trend is the use of single hole faucets versus wide spread two handled faucets. This is a good option to consider when the vanity space is not too large.

New year, new bathroom! As we say our final farewells to 2017, so too do we look forward to 2018 and the design trends that are sure to define it. This past year had us adorning our bathrooms with unique light fixtures, gold accents and standalone vanities. What’s in store for the coming year? Read on and find out!

Monochrome Paint Schemes

If the word “monochrome” makes you think of generic and impersonal bathrooms, you’re not alone, but it’s time to reset your notions for the new year! Supplementing your standard white bathroom with just one bold accent color lets you maintain a cohesive theme while still allowing ample room for creativity.

Try a striking black accent wall or a daring cobalt blue mirror frame – both colors will be huge in 2018.

Relaxing Standalone Bathtubs

Fancy bathtubs aren’t just for celebrities anymore! 2018 will be a big year for freestanding and island bathtubs.

With the recent proliferation of bathing products such as bath bombs and aromatherapy oils, it’s only natural that the standalone tub is about to enter the spotlight. Relaxing and luxurious, a new bathtub can provide both creature comfort and aesthetic appeal. It’s time to say goodbye to the ubiquitous shower-tub combo and usher in the new era of statement-making bathtubs.

Marble Finishes

Marble has long been a staple material of luxury bathrooms, but historically it has been too expensive for use in the average renovation. But recent years have seen more affordable marble tiles come on the market, and thanks to this the material will see a huge boom in popularity in 2018.

Rip out that old floor and replace it with large marble tiles for an instant dose of class that can make even the smallest bathroom feel vast. You can also keep it more low-key with a marble shower backsplash or marble slab countertop.

And don’t discount decor as an opportunity to hop on this trend! Soap dispensers, trays and vases are easy ways to add a little pop of marble to your bathroom.

Patterned Tiles

With monochrome color schemes being so popular, it’s no wonder that another big trend for 2018 bathroom design is the use of patterned tiles. Simple colors effortlessly complement bold, eye-grabbing patterns.

Classic dots and stripes are always in style, but this year will see some daring new patterns take center stage. Angled forms are in, so keep an eye out for triangular tessellations and geometric getups.

If you’re not ready to commit to such a drastic change, try using patterned tiles on a shower floor or on an accent wall instead for a less intense but still on-trend look.

Technology in the Bathroom

As we progress through the digital age, it’s getting harder and harder to resist the allure of the smart house. And there’s sure to be a spike in the prevalence of tech-filled bathrooms in 2018.

Smart mirrors look at first glance like regular mirrors, but one tap reveals a touchscreen integrated into the glass, allowing you to do things like read news headlines and view your daily schedule as you get ready in the morning. There’s also Bluetooth-enabled showerheads that use voice commands to control water pressure and stream music right to your shower.

Toilets are also getting the high-tech treatment. Seat warmers add an invisible element of comfort to any bathroom, while automatic deodorizers bring us one step closer to the ultimate dream: the self-cleaning toilet.

For a quick and simple bathroom tech upgrade, try giving your light fixtures a new lease on life with smart bulbs that allow you to adjust color and intensity from a phone or tablet app. Having such control over the ambiance can turn an ordinary bathroom into a relaxing escape that will leave you feeling not just clean but comfortable too.

In Conclusion

Modern bathrooms are getting smarter and sleeker, but they’re also experiencing a youthful surge in creativity and comfort. This perfectly balanced combination of form and function means that 2018 is the perfect year to design a bathroom that’s both fun and practical. What trends are you most excited for this year?

Mastering the Guest Bath: Creating a Stylish Space

March 4, 2016 by Suzanne Lasky

Below is a guest post on the subject of designing and out fitting a guest bathroom. Any guest would be thrilled to be able to use any of these fabulous bathrooms while staying at your home.

S Interior Design thinks these design ideas and inspirations are very worthy of consideration for a MASTER BATHROOM too!

Mastering the Guest Bath: Creating a Splashy and Stylish Space

While most homeowners are prepared for the design demands of outfitting their bedrooms and en-suites, few give much thought to designing a spare bathroom for visitors. No matter if you’ve got a small space for a guest bath or a large and luxurious loo, there are plenty of design strategies for creating comfort and coziness for weary travelers.

If you’re looking to design or makeover an existing bathroom, here are some design ideas to incorporate:

Clean and Serene

A sparkling and clutter-free guest bath will give visitors permission to feel at ease. Muted and neutral colors work well in a guest bathroom. Pick from a palette of beige, gray or white to set a tranquil tone. Tan or lightly speckled floor tiles are a wise choice to add sophistication and style.Vintage cabinetry, marble counter tops and recessed lighting create a spa-like atmosphere.

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Style Swagger

Guests will relish a bathroom that is both polished and trendy. Adding design elements like lucite hardware or chrome drawer pulls, a vessel sink and a waterfall faucet help to create more excitement in an ordinary bathroom. To score maximum points with guests, upgrade the bathroom space with a towel warmer, dimmer lighting and heated floors. And to give visiting company an extra bliss hit, try adding luxurious décor like a crystal chandelier or clawfoot tub.

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Divine Dip

In addition to a claw foot tub that guests can use for soaking away travel tension, a chic shower provides out-of-towners with a way to expunge stress. Designed with marble tile and glass, a walk-in shower is ideal for a guest bathroom. A rain shower head, bench seating and shower niche allow guests to slip into vacation mode.

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Soap Opera

Preparing a home for guests often requires organization, creativity and a little elbow grease. Visiting guests may require toiletries, towels and other miscellaneous necessities that they forgot or left at home. One way to ensure that guests are comfortable is to design the guest bath with the adequate storage and cabinetry for bathroom supplies. A vanity with numerous drawers and a glass linen tower will house all necessary bath essentials.Adding a basket or apothecary jars is a great idea for adorning counter tops and creating storage. Spare toothpaste, shampoo and razors should be stockpiled ahead of time and displayed for guests.Wall shelving or hidden hampers can also be installed for extra storage options.

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Odds and Ends

Candles, lotions and trays of washcloths are a must have in a guest bath. Decorating with fresh flowers and novelty soaps is also a stellar way to accessorize a guest bath. Need another way to turn a guest bath into a warm and inviting space? Fill the walls with artwork, shelves for additional bathroom bits or add a display of a prized collection like antique perfume bottles. Resist the urge to go overboard with a theme or add excessive knick-knacks; the guest bathroom should feel clean, airy and spacious.

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Don’t be afraid to play with textures, prints and colors in the guest bath. Fresh fluffy white towels often look beautiful when perched near cold marble, while funky patterned wallpaper looks chic when balanced with crisp white counter tops. Designing a bathroom with contrasting elements will give it more character and make it feel distinct and elegant.

Enjoy the process of decorating and designing a guest bath, as it will be the place for friends and family to unwind. A guest bath should be a sanctuary for visitors and homeowners alike.

Guest post author: LuxeDecor
Guest Post by Amy Spagnola for LuxeDecor

Inspiring Offices – 5 Creative Green Workspaces

April 22, 2014 by Suzanne Lasky

Great guest post that speaks to the benefits of Green Design in the work space. Many of these principles and practices are scalable to the residential environment too.

S Interior Design encourages eco-friendly design elements where ever feasible for their projects residential and commercial.

Inspiring Offices – 5 Creative Green Workspaces

Protecting the environment has become a vital issue for many people. As the need for environmentally conscious ways of living increases, businesses are now doing their part to introduce green initiatives into their workspaces.
Listed here are 5 examples of the most interesting and creative green work environments that have been developed by companies in recent years. Each example goes out to prove the various tactics that industry leaders are tackling in order to accomplish, essentially, their most important job: preserving the environment!

Seattle’s Bullitt Center
Considered the greenest business building in the world, the Bullitt Center in Seattle has over 50,000 square feet of space and uses a small percentage of the energy normally required for commercial buildings. It has been designed to create its own energy source by using solar panel technology. But because Seattle has relatively little sunshine throughout the year, the Bullitt Center also utilizes the grid when needed. The building contains showers on each of its floors and has no automobile parking on its premises. It does provide covered parking for bicycles, encouraging occupants to use bikes in place of cars.

Skanska’s Green Building
Skanska’s office building is located on a former farm in Sweeden. It’s the nation’s first Deep Green building and has a net-zero energy consumption level. No hazardous materials were used for its construction, and none of the waste produced during the process ended up in landfills.

Similar to the Bullitt Center, Skanska’s green workspace uses a solar power system for its energy. The building uses heat recovery units that help reuse a large percentage of heat that would otherwise be lost in outgoing air. The building cost $5 million and used locally sourced materials in its construction.

The Jones Lang LaSalle building prioritized non-hazardous materials in its construction and recycled approximately 75 percent of the waste produced. The building uses sensors to monitor daylight and occupancy as a means of controlling its energy requirements. This creative green workspace was able to reduce its water use by 40 percent along with an overall energy reduction of 13 percent. But perhaps more significant was the result it had on the building’s occupants. When looking at the number of sick days of its employees, the company discovered that absenteeism was lowered by over 30 percent. The green technology led to fewer sick days among workers, pushing the notion that going green isn’t just beneficial for the environment, but for the people as well!
Lohre and Associates
Cincinnati saw the green workplace revolution appear in the workspace of Lohre and Associates. It saved considerable costs both in its construction and in its operation. Scraps from carpet and wood were recycled and composted in the building process, while old window blinds were reused. The building features creative green bathroom technology that uses hand-washing adapters that funnel sink water into toilets, which in turn, reduces massive amounts of water usage.

Energy Systems Design

Energy Systems Design utilized environmentally-friendly energy controls, plumbing and lighting systems within their green workspace. Although limited in their ability to renovate the existing structure, they found creative ways to design a greener workspace. Throughout the building, recycled materials such as used glass and wood were utilized in a remarkable act of turning junk into something new. Also, rubber cork tiles were used for the building’s flooring, which helped to further the project’s resourcefulness and aesthetic appeal. The result of is a set of high-efficiency units that save energy and reduce costs.
The possibilities are endless…

Plenty of other companies now, too, are joining the green workspace revolution, by initializing smarter design tactics that consist of recycled and eco-friendly materials. To some it may mean resorting to more heavily involved projects such as harvesting solar power and implementing smart water systems to cut down wasteful consumption, but to others, it may be something as simple as installing glass balustrades, such as those offered by Aqua Vista Glass. A solution like this allows for the use of more natural light to indoor spaces and less dependency on timber resources. This saves energy and costs for business owners, while creating a more naturally lit open space that promotes a smarter, eco-friendly standard.

As more people become conscious of the need to reduce waste and energy consumption, eco-friendly workspaces will become the norm. Employees will reap the benefits of a greener work environment, and will have the satisfaction of knowing that they are part of the solution, and not the problem.

Image credit: wikipedia.org and www. group.skanska.com/
Mary Ann Keeling is a freelance writer and business consultant who travels frequently. She is interested in all forms of green design, particularly those modern, clever ideas that can help in protecting the environment.

Bathroom Design Trends

May 12, 2013 by Suzanne Lasky

S Interior Design loves remodeling bathrooms for their clients. When we were asked to host this guest blog post on Bathroom Trends, we said YES! Fun, contemporary design ideas to inspire you.

Bathroom Trends: Glass Mosaic Tile (via)

Bathroom trends to me start with the tile work. In this case, one of my favorite examples is the Copper Color Bisazza Glass Mosaic Tile. It gives you that contemporary look and serene feeling to your bathroom. Other trendy styles of tile you should consider for your bathroom redesign project are natural stone, pebble tile, stone mosaic tile and stainless steel tile. If you’re doing budget-conscious remodeling, use designer tile sparingly in the form of cut-out tile accents, to give you that designer tile design cue.

Turquoise Painted Glass Vessel Sink (via)

Vessel sinks are very much trendy these days. Walk into any high-end restaurant’s bathroom, and you’ll likely see a vessel sink. Depending on the style, they can also be very affordable. Personally, I like the above vessel sink made of glass, and painted turquoise.

Trendy Shower Doors: Neo-Angle Frameless Shower Enclosures and Glass BathTub Screens

If you couldn’t tell from the glass vessel sinks and the glass mosaic tile recommendations, glass is in style when it comes to the bathroom. One of the reasons for that is because glass allows for the passage of light. That means a lot of glass, opens up an otherwise small looking bathroom, and makes it look more spacious. Also, if you have fancy tile work in your bathroom, there’s no better way to show off that tile work than with beautiful low-iron glass (in which the green hue has been reduced by taking out the iron content).

Nothing looks drabber than cheap, toxic, vinyl shower curtains. In these examples, the neo-angle shower enclosure is the trendiest and most expensive shower enclosure on the market. It’s frameless, so the metal hardware is barely visible.

On the other side, is the glass bathtub screen. These are very trendy in Europe, and are starting to make their way over into the United States. In Europe, people aren’t afraid of a little bit of water splashing out of their tubs. At the end of the day, both a full shower enclosure and a glass bathtub screen are great options for a trendy bathroom.

Granite Countertop (via)

Granite countertops are a popular décor trend both in the bathroom and the kitchen. They provide the perfect backdrop for the aforementioned glass vessel sinks. And if you’re going to spend the “dough-re-mi” for a solid-slab granite countertop, utilizing clear glass vessel sinks might be a good idea in order to better showcase the granite. If you’re looking to save money, you can also do a DIY project and use a granite tile kit, which is a third of the price of buying the solid slab of granite, as seen above. They both provide that trendy, natural, solid-stone look for one’s bathroom.

About the Author

Shahab Shokouhi is a glass design expert at www.dullesglassandmirror.com, an innovative manufacturer of glass table tops, glass shelves, and all other glass and mirror products. Follow Dulles Glass and Mirror on Pinterest or on YouTube to see how they’re changing the way glass products are manufactured, customized and delivered.

It’s Good to be GREEN

March 25, 2013 by Suzanne Lasky

No, I am not talking about green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, or green eggs and ham, but green in terms of selection of eco-friendly materials to complete your home remodel. Below is a guest post that describes some good ideas about how you can ‘think green’.

Making your home remodel as green as possible

When remodelling a home you have to make environmental concerns a priority now, not just because of government regulations and stipulations, but also because we have a duty to build buildings and homes that use as few resources as possible, will operate without depleting natural resources on an ongoing basis, and will stand the test of time and be durable and liveable for many years to come. This might sound like a challenge if you’re remodelling a home, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. It doesn’t mean your remodelled home has to be a complete off-the-grid tepee without electricity or running water, it just means that you should use approved green products and appliances when doing your constructions. Information about green solutions is readily available; just browse design and construction firms like Unique Design. Green design doesn’t have to affect the appearance of your remodel either, just the mechanics of it. Here are some pictures of green remodelled homes:

It is now very easy to power your kitchen or bathroom by using solar energy, so if you are doing works on your plumbing or light fittings you should think about this. Solar energy will also attract generous rebates from the government, meaning that your energy bill will dramatically decrease.

Plumbing fixtures are good place to focus your attention as well, as faulty or inadequate fixtures are responsible for huge amounts of leaking and water wastage. A good thing to do when in the midst of a remodel is to get an energy audit, which will show you exactly how and where your energy consumption is going. It might be a revelation to find out exactly how energy is used in your home, and then you’ll know what the big consumers are and how you can save on energy expenses. Most people find that energy is used for a few hours in the evening, across two rooms, the kitchen and the bathroom. As a general rule, good quality products are better for the environment because they use energy more efficiently and last longer, meaning that they stay out of our landfill for longer.