Up-to-the-minute colours transform the bathroom into a lifestyle space

Old colours, modern hues, new combinations: bathrooms are bathing in colour.Design expert Frank A. Reinhardt of Cologne trend agency far.consulting explains why white is facing competition as the standard colour in the bathroom and introduces the most promising candidates for the long overdue handover of power at the top of the waterproof colour scale.In March, prime examples of colourful lifestyle bathrooms will be on show at the ISH, the world’s leading fair for the sanitary industry that takes place in Frankfurt every two years.The Pop up my Bathroom exhibition initiated by Messe Frankfurt and the German Sanitary Industry Association (Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. [VDS]) will be showcasing the major colour trends for the bathroom in an installation entitled Colour Selection.

Why is colour returning to the bathroom?

The bathroom is increasingly being perceived and used as a lifestyle space.And even though hygiene requirements and waterproofness definitely shouldn’t be ignored, there’s no reason why the bathroom floor and walls can’t be designed for cosiness.In their search for design elements that can add a warm touch to the classic white of cool but familiar-looking sanitaryware, bathroom designers have been turning to wood or wood hues in recent years.Now they’re happy to go one step further.And as bathroom designers become more daring, the product offering is evolving to keep pace. Carefully selected coloured sanitaryware and furniture with coloured surfaces are encouraging the trend towards bathrooms in cosy styles.Then you just need a few furnishing items like a chair or a nice lamp, and your lifestyle bathroom is complete.

As the creative director in charge of the VDS campaign Pop up my Bathroom, you’ve identified 12 colour trends for the ISH 2019.Which of them is the most important?

At the last Pop up my Bathroom trend forum at the ISH 2017, we focused on individualism as the top trend. It’s an enduring trend and its influence obviously doesn’t stop at bathroom design – it affects every aspect of our homes and lives. What’s crucial is that this megatrend is now coming into full force in the bathroom too – largely due to a new understanding of the bathroom as a private spa and because of all the technical innovations the industry has come up with. As a result, anyone with a specific bathroom design in mind now has a much wider selection of products to choose from – both in terms of what’s available from the sanitaryware sector and the choice of colours, flooring and tiles. From the bathroom user’s perspective, that’s a great development – but it’s also a challenge for whoever’s designing the bathroom.Right now, grey is very definitely the biggest common denominator when it comes to colour,although it’s not actually a newcomer to the bathroom: like fashions, colour trends come and go in waves, and we encountered this particular composite colour back in the 80s in the form of Manhattan Grey sanitaryware.Now grey is back again – but this time in several different shades with a more modern, timeless appeal.

Which elements of the design are actually responsible for the overall colour impression the bathroom makes?

Right now, it’s furniture surfaces that are setting the tone.At least for now, most ceramic or mineral cast washbasins are still white, so it’s the furniture that gives the space its character.Coloured fittings and accessories are a good way to underscore the defining colour. Expanses of a single colour are very popular in interior design right now, with patterns for accentuation.That increases the importance of the colours used for the interior design and they’re perceived as dominant.And these interior trends are being transferred to the lifestyle bathroom too.However, we’re also seeing a growing tendency to buy coloured versions of ceramic products like washbasins and toilets.It’s a trend that mainly comes from southern Europe.

So does it necessarily have to be the sanitaryware that brings colour into the bathroom?

It’s more a question of what you want or what’s possible.Take green, for example, which is playing a very important role in interior design right now.Apart from lacquered finishes for bathroom furniture, very few products in the sanitary sector are currently available in green – I think the Moss Green trauma of the 70s is probably still too deep-rooted.And yet nowadays there are some really modern shades of green that conjure up a great atmosphere.But of course it can take a while until a colour trend asserts itself and demand is big enough for the sanitaryware manufacturers to pick up on it.So in this case, the walls and ceilings often take on an important function.Plants that thrive in the conditions found in the bathroom are also a good way of accentuating the green look.And if the design includes water-saving fittings, a dual toilet flush and a rimless, easy-to-clean toilet, the bathroom isn’t just green on the outside, it’s green in an ecological sense as well.

In Pop up, you only talk about colours.What about patterns?

Like I said, patterns are having quite a tough time in interior design right now – with the exception of wallpapers. So if they’re used properly, suitable wallpapers can be another design element for bringing a snug feel to the bathroom.Geometric patterns are particularly in right now, but designs with big patterns are also in vogue. As a rule, that kind of accent is used on the wall with the washbasin, andif the patterns are chosen carefully, they can give the bathroom its theme – maybe an exotic plant world, baroque opulence or a welcoming country house look.Tiles are another way of bringing patterns into the bathroom – although more in the form of geometric designs or textured surfaces, sometimes even in 3D, which can be used to liven up the walls and floor.

Is there any on-trend colour that’s not really typical for the bathroom?

That would have to be black.At first glance, it doesn’t seem like an obvious choice for the bathroom.It’s a colour trend that comes from the interiors sector and is finding a growing number of fans in the bathroom too, because black looks upmarket, elegant and modern all at once.Especially when it’s mixed with white, black or particularly trendy green marble, or even with leather, black is a tasteful classic,whereas when it’s combined with painted metal furniture, wood and concrete, black makes an ideal companion for the industrial style.Black is just as timeless as white,which is why you sometimes see it in classic hotel bathrooms.What’s more, black is a perfect fit with gold, which is another on-trend colour right now – it looks great when you use it as a prominent eye-catcher, maybe in the form of a tap with a gold-coloured finish.

You’re propagating a bolder approach to colour in the bathroom. And yet on the other hand, you describe good old white as an on-trend colour!Isn’t that a contradiction?

The trend landscape is contradictory per se.But in the bathroom, history plays a role too – white has always been standard because it’s the neutral colour.However, if you look at the context, you soon realise that white has all sorts of other qualities as well: it brings other colours out, it neutralises contradictions between the architecture and furniture, and it dissolves boundaries to make spaces look seamless.Those are very valuable attributes, especially for minimalistic concepts – which, by the way, are becoming more widespread again after a long phase of country house and vintage.Especially when it comes to new builds, “Bauhaus-style” houses are very popular right now,so you can’t say it’s just the design school’s upcoming centenary that has focused attention on this look again.The Bauhaus style stands for minimalism and clarity.White conveys the values of the Bauhaus style in a very immediate way and is an ideal platform for additive colour elements.But tinted variants of white are also trending in interior design.However, because white has been the first choice for bathrooms for decades, this particular trend doesn’t stand out as much as the others.And that makes it more difficult to use white in the bathroom in a way that brings its modernity across.

Does colour perform any other functions in the bathroom other than serving purely decorative purposes?

Colour provides orientation as well.In a family bathroom, colour can be used to zone important functions like the washbasin, storage space or hygiene.Light-coloured surfaces or deliberate colour contrasts make everyday life in the bathroom easier.And that doesn’t just apply to people who are ill or have handicaps, of course, although manufacturers are certainly using this approach for products aimed at specific groups of users.Hewi has a washbasin with red markings for people with dementia, for instance.So bathroom planners can use colour to optimise users’ daily routines.That works really well in combination with a professional lighting design that not only creates emotionally appealing lighting scenarios but provides functional benefits as well, such as muted floor lighting for night-time trips to the toilet.

Which other colours are playing an important role in the bathroom?

In Pop up my Bathroom’s Colour Selection installation, we’ve pinpointed and named 12 different colour trends. Personally, I find the return of blue to the bathroom interesting. We know that colour trends come and go in waves over time, and blue was really big in the 70s and 80s. But now we’re seeing some really modern shades of blue for the bathroom – sometimes even with metallic effects, like the BetteLux Oval Silhouette bathtub in Blue Satin.As for the lacquered finishes, all sorts of different blues are available, for instance in the Sys30 range from burgbad. In principle, pastels are a very good choice for the bathroom too, because they create an airy, cheerful look for a perfect start to the morning.There are all sorts of options for designing a bathroom – you can even mix several different colours to create a bright, multicoloured look.That will be a top trend at the ISH 2019.

So which colour are trendsetters choosing?

The avant garde tends to use colour in the form of bright splashes, often in primary colours.Free thinkers who don’t want to tie themselves down to trends can use several plain-coloured, vibrant colour accents against a neutral background to create their very own Mondrian-style bathroom.Cosy colour harmonies definitely aren’t for them: they’re looking to make a bold statement that sets them apart from the mainstream.

But for those who want a snugger feel, which colours are in keeping with the trend towards turning the bathroom into lifestyle space?

Besides ultramodern grey, which is ideal for combining with other colours and natural materials, it’s definitely the brown palette.Light wood, and especially light oak, conjure up a cosy feel immediately.Up-to-the-minute brown hues can transform any bathroom into a lifestyle space, especially when combined with suitable accessories in the latest complementary accent colours – like petrol, turquoise, orange, a beige-tinted dusky pink (or Millennial Pink as it’s now called), ultraviolet or the odd dash of mustard, which looks great with olive and brown shades.

And what if you don’t want to pin yourself down to one particular colour?

With our trend concept, you don’t necessarily have to focus on a certain on-trend shade.On the contrary: colour schemes based on colour harmonies or colour chords are very in right now.They bring a sense of serenity to the bathroom even when bold colours are used.One colour plays the dominant role in the colour scheme and is combined with three to four other colours that add up to a harmonious overall impression.It’s the perfect approach for somebody who wants a suspenseful colour scheme.But finding the right combination isn’t easy, even though there are already apps for depicting precisely this kind of colour harmonies, for instance from Adobe or NCS.Even so, it can definitely be worth calling a professional in, especially if more than a bit of wall paint is involved and you’re planning to invest in lighting as well.

So the lighting and colour scheme ought to be planned together?

When you’re talking about colour, you need to talk about a professional lighting design as well.It’s surprising how much colours change in the course of the day – there’s a big difference between how they look in the morning sun as compared to when the bathroom is used in the evening.But thanks to modern LED technology, the bathroom is experiencing a whole new stage in its development as far as lighting is concerned.

Isn’t it becoming increasingly complex to plan a lifestyle bathroom?

Colour and the concept of a lifestyle bathroom are adding a new, extra level to bathroom planning.An analysis of the users’ needs is uppermost when you start planning a bathroom, whereas the interior design and personal taste preferences are defined in the second stage.You can compare it to creating a website: you don’t start thinking about the layout until you’ve defined the requirements and the way the content needs to be structured.The content and design are separate – that prevents the planning process getting chaotic.And there’s another benefit to that approach: if you’re fed up with your lifestyle bathroom after a few years, you can just give it an update.

One last question: what does your own bathroom look like?

Actually, we’ve just redone our bathroom and put a lot of thought into its functionality and lifestyle value. We’re thrilled with the big, level access shower (Kaldewei, Kermi), a Kaldewei bathtub that automatically fills with water at the perfect temperature, and a shower toilet (Geberit) that’s unbeatable when it comes to intimate hygiene.The big vanity unit gives us plenty of room to move and lots of storage space, so we don’t end up getting on each other’s nerves even when the morning gets off to a stressful start.The recessed mirror cabinet (Keuco) is really cool, but next time we’d definitely go for one with mirror heating.Instead of using tiles for the walls the sanitaryware is installed on, we opted for wood panelling instead.In combination with the wallpaper we used for the areas outside the splash zone it gives the bathroom a really snug look,and an outdoor lamp (Fatboy) in the abstract shape of a chandelier adds the finishing touch. When it came to choosing the colours, we were quite brave: we used dusky pink as the main colour and combined it with greige, white and oak.