SWEET ENSUITES
After kitchens, the bathroom retreat has become the hottest target for savvy designers and for homeowners.
Oh, Johnny, we would hardly know you. The tiny, private water closet first designed by Britain’s John Harington in the 16th century and made popular three centuries later by Thomas Crapper have morphed into sunny, communal affairs that include huge showers, body sprays, steam, curvaceous tubs, heated tiles and the occasional fireplace.
Look out Le Nordik, the emergence of the private home spa may cut into business at the popular Chelsea retreat, says designer Nathan Kyle of Astro Design Centre.
But get ready to pay for the luxury, with limestone tubs hitting $5,400 and premium, oversized steam showers costing $11,000, according to those in the industry.
The ensuite, that bathroom retreat attached to the master bedroom, has become the next hot design button after the kitchen, says Ernst Hupel, co-owner of 2H Interior Design and the idea man behind a wonderfully decadent bathroom he designed in Manotick for a business couple and their four young children. “It’s all about healthy living,” he says. The Manotick ensuite, a finalist in one of the most hotly contested categories at the 30th annual Housing Design Awards held earlier this fall, features a curved, free-standing tub set into an alcove surrounded by windows, and a delicate shell-encrusted chandelier that Hupel found in Texas.
There is an oversized shower nearby, and the wall-mounted toilet is tucked into a separate water closet. John Harington would most certainly approve.
‘I was a little shocked, but the last few jobs it’s been the men pushing for tubs. I pick a tub on how it looks and how it fits into a room, but I tell clients to get into the tub in the showroom. Check it out. It’s like buying a pair of shoes. It has to be comfortable.’ CHUCK MILLS Owner of Chuck Mills Residential Design & Development
The design, says Hupel, is about creating a quiet living space, a room where you can gather your thoughts between brushing teeth and showering and before heading off into the busy fray of the day.
Hupel also recently renovated the ensuite in his Victorian heritage home in downtown Ottawa. Because space was tight, he opted for an oversized shower with multiple heads; there’s still a tub in his daughters’ bathroom.
“I love going in there, and there is a moment before preparing lunches that I just gather my thoughts, and then I can open the door and get ready for the chaos beyond.”
A busy medical professional who owns a winning ensuite in the Housing Design Awards understands Hupel’s take on escaping the craziness.
“It is my sanctuary away from a crazy, hectic life and work. It is a good place to go and relax at the end of the day,” he says.
He worked with architect Christopher Simmonds, his colleague Rick Shean and Kyle on the deceptively simple, yet elegant bathroom overlooking the Ottawa River. The Simmonds team won multiple design honours for the glass-and-stone house, including top prize for the ensuite.
The homeowner wanted to create a feeling of intimacy in the ensuite, which is separated from the master bedroom by only a three-sided fireplace. The man and his partner like to sit out on the secondfloor deck, sharing a glass of wine and letting the fireplace light up the inside spaces.
They don’t worry about privacy — boaters are too far away in the summer and cross-country skiers in winter are intent on motoring across the snow.
The riverfront ensuite features many popular features in today’s upscale johns, starting with oversized showers and multiple heads to free-standing tubs, which are almost sculptural and often sit next to a bank of windows. The floors are almost always heated.
Many of the entries competing for honours in the large, custom-bathroom category featured free-standing tubs. Surprisingly, it’s not always women demanding the tubs, says Chuck Mills, owner of Chuck Mills Residential Design & Development and the recipient of local, provincial and national design honours.
In one case, he customized a free-standing tub, adding a wooden skirt because the female client was petite.
He says free-standing tubs are taking over from corner tubs, yet many clients rarely use them, buying them for the resale value of their home. And he’s seeing an increase in the percentage of clients completely dropping the tub from the ensuite, instead dedicating the space to an oversized shower.
“Sixty per cent of the ensuites I design do not have tubs, yet it’s also a question of space. If you have the space, there is a tub.”
Julie and Denis Staples both got their perfect ensuite after building a new home on the site of his childhood home in Alta Vista.
The big, strapping president of Deslaurier Custom Cabinets immediately heads for the shower, turning on the rain head and two extra jets, while she has a fast bath in the morning or lingers in a slipper tub of volcanic limestone at night with a glass of wine and Netflix on her iPad.
“I have never been in the tub, and Julie loves it,” says Staples.
“I am in the bath every day. It is a nice area for escaping,” says the mother of two young boys.
Every once in a while, the boys will ask to have their baths in Mommy’s tub, says Julie. Then it’s truly a family affair in this adult retreat.