A few years ago some friends were refurbishing their bathroom and decided to make it a wet room.  At the time, I had no idea what a wet room was so just nodded sagely!  But, as with anything, once I’d heard the term “wet room” it just kept coming up again and again.  Wet rooms remain one of the most popular trends in contemporary bathrooms so we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the origins of the wet room and some different wet room designs.

What is a wet room?

What is a wet room?  Basically it is a tiled shower area in a room that does not have a built-in, enclosed shower cubicle.  The bathroom itself acts as the shower enclosure.  This means that the bathroom has to be fully waterproofed and many wet rooms are tiled from floor to ceiling for this purpose.  Drainage is another important issue to think about when considering installing a wet room, as a wet room will need some kind of gradient or slope towards a drain hole.

 The wet room concept originates from Scandinavia.  Wet rooms have been standard in most houses in Scandinavia for many decades.  But now their popularity is growing world wide, and they are often featured on interior design programmes, attracting a lot of interest in the process.

Advantages of a wet room

There are many advantages to a wet room.  It can be an effective use of space and bring a touch of luxury to a small bathroom.  This is particularly true for a small bathroom where a shower cubicle may not easily fit.  Its walk in style also gives a simple and minimalistic appearance to any bathroom.   Wet rooms are also hygienic as they have no nooks and crannies so are easy to clean.  They are also wonderfully practical for people with mobility issues as there is no need to manoeuvre into a shower cubicle.  Many people also appreciate the feeling of space and well-being that a wet room can bring; almost like having your own personal spa!

Examples of wet rooms

At Stone and Chrome we are experienced in designing and installing wet rooms.  We are delighted to feature a couple of examples here.

The bathroom pictured at the beginning of this article contains a myriad of luxury features including the ILBAGNOALESSI One basin and wall hung Pro WC from LAUFEN, a luxury walk in shower with heated seating (as pictured above). and LED accent lit storage recesses.  You can see full details here.  The openness of the wetroom is perfectly complemented by the slick black finish to create an overall impression of contemporary minimalist chic.

The image on the right is from an ensuite bathroom that we created with a freestanding cast marble bath and large wet floor showering area. This room is tiled in silver grey limestone, and painted in Farrow & Balls Elephant’s Breath.  To see more of this beautiful bathroom click here.  You will notice that the wet room element of the bathroom combines wonderfully with the other elements and is partially screened off the prevent splashing whilst still maintaining the open plan feel of a wet room.

The third example we are featuring today is this gorgeous silver grey limestone bathroom with wet floor. In this room, a small stud wall separates the shower from the rest of the bathroom and also houses the wall hung WC.   We also created a feature wall in this bathroom using quartz decopanel, which looks stunning and is a perfect complement to the bathroom furniture by Svedbergs.  For full details click here.

We hope that this article has given you some inspiration about how a wet room might work in your home?  If you would like to visit us in person to see some examples and find out more about options that might work for you then do get in touch with us!   We’d be happy to help.