Someone locally is selling a new, misordered white Kohler Purist tub for like 1/3 of normal cost, and I almost jumped at until I realized it had BubbleMassage and not the Effervescence i wanted (tiny bubbles rather than the usual big ones that quickly float to the surface and pop). I'm still intrigued with this tub - it, and its rectangular cousin the Kohler Sok, are like bathing in your own personal infinity pool. It's also a rare 2-person tub configured so you can either face each other or (my preference) face the same direction side by side, both in reasonable comfort. But I just can't fit a 46"w tub in this house (and thats before the obligitory deck built around it) so it will have to wait until my next move, which hopefully won't be too long in the future. Things I like in a bathroom that I really have: another Ikea Godmorgan sink cabinet (4' long x 18") with Odensvik sink - what an incredible use of space with those four deep wide drawers, thanks to the sink drain plumbing that's quickly pushed to the back, and the glossy drawerfronts, full extension drawer glides, soft-close feature, and wall hangability, along with the thick, glossy glazed ceramic top and nice chrome pulls I used, fool everyone into thinking it's seriously high-end stuff. As with a previous poster, the 18" rather than 21" depth went a long way to making the room feel roomier, since the deeper vanity would have been right up against the door opening. Since the Ikea sink doesn't have a backsplash, I put large ceramic tiles on the wall that look like Carrara marble. Nestled amonst those tiles between the sink and medicine cabinet is a 4" tall strip of glass/marble/metallic accent tile from Porcelanosa. Like everything else at that modernist boutique, it's expensive, but since I didn't need much it didn't matter, and the presense of obviously luxury-grade accent tiles further disguises that everything surrounding it came from Lowes or Ikea. Ditto the Pfister Kenzo waterfall faucet, which only set me back about $125. Looks 4x the price it is. California Faucets thermostatic tub/shower valve. Central lever controls temperature, with temperatures embossed in the metal, giving it the appearance of a dial on a nice wristwatch; just set your favorite temp and it keeps it. Below and above the large temperature control are two smaller levers for water volume control that can be used one at a time or both at once, for tub spout and shower, or fixed shower and hand shower, without the need for a seperate diverter control. All three controls fit on either a round or rectangular metal bezel, and there are loads of styles and finishes to choose from. Higher than average flow rate too. Much better than the Hansgrohe thermostatic valve I used in another room. An infrared heat lamp strategically positioned in the ceiling in front of the mirror and vanity cabinet, right under where you stand in front of the sink and mirror whilst drying off and styling hair. Also on the ceiling is a Broan QTR080L exhaust fan/light - very quiet, and the light uses a standard bulb instead of some funky compact fluorescent lamp that can only be purchase from an electrical specialty store, which is the norm for new exhaust fan/lights it seems. I put a retrofit LED bulb in there, which makes it even more efficient than the fluorescent bulbs most of these force you to use, and it gives off a more natural light too. Toto Drake II commode (or its skirted cousin, Vespin II). High quality, doesn't clog, perfect 16-1/2" height, cleans the side of the bowl extremely well (rare in 1.28gpf toilets), has two large water outlets instead of dozens of tiny holes that collect mildew so you can toss your toilet brush away. It's also slender so the space around it looks roomier in tight spaces. I used the Church 1720 slow-close seats from Lowes, which cover up most of their own seams at the back further easing cleaning (the lid on these sticks out about 1/2" beyond the seat and bowl underneath which looked odd at first, but that lets you lift the lid without touching the sometimes soiled parts underneath which I like). Also from Lowes, the Kohler recessed medicine cabinets mirrored inside and out, 26"h with several widths available, most for under $200. Would like them even better if the hinges allowed the doors (mirrored on the inside) to open further, but replacement hinges are available if you need that. Still, these look very elegant and are also very functional, with height-adjustable glass shelves. Home Depot has similar units with doors that swing open further, but they're not as well made. In another bathroom I used the Lowes Allen + Roth 31"w x 22"d vanity top in Blue Pearl, my favorite granite color, which was only $200 a few months ago but has risen in price some since. It's available in several other colors and widths too, all including an oval white undermount bowl. Still a good deal for a high quality granite top that fits atop loads of stock cabinets, though I'd prefer if it weren't pre-drilled for an 8" widespread faucet, generally ruling out using a single-hole or wall-mount faucet. These aren't stocked in stores, but they're not truly custom/built-to-order, probably sitting in a warehouse somewhere, and there's only about a one-week turnaround if you order from their website and pick up in their stores. These do include a backsplash, and a sidesplash is available too. Finally, nice sculpted lever handles on the bathroom doors, which allow them to be opened by pushing upward using the top of your hand if it's wet or soapy. I'm not a germophobe, but I like being able to do this before I'm about to eat a meal and want my hands to be clean and disinfected, and have guests over who may not have washed their hands after using the restroom. When used in the normal fashion, pushing downward with your palm, they're easier to open than round knobs.

Wow, that is stunning! I love the shine on the tile, it glows like polished marble or stone. Very, very pretty. I noticed you have a magnifying mirror that extends out from the wall. I want one of those but always wonder about how to place it for the best use. Where does the light come from in this room, is it a ceiling fixture? Is it good at helping highlight stray hairs at the browline? Thanks in advance! -EChic

All gorgeous and very generous of you all to share to help the uncreative types here (like moi) learn what is possible. Lindy I love your current bathroom - the floor and particularly the way the shower and bath are- I have a similar layout and envisioned what you did but had not quite seen it. Lindy- how do you like living with the floor you have now? It is really attractive.I am going to see if I can find it or something like it.

You bring up a good point about Europe, but there are some key differences between Europe and the US and the way things are handled in Europe vs. the US and you touched on this in your second sentence. And this also applies to antique houses in America, too. Then there is the concept of what is a "natural progression" and I think this concept is something that has not been well followed in the US and that's why there is a problem with "dated". Many people live in houses that are hundreds of years old in Europe. There was no such thing as a "bathroom" in many of these houses for the first couple hundred years of their existence. So, whatever is the first "modern" (~20th c.) bathroom that would have been put in a particular house is always appropriate. And then any subsequent bathroom style up to about 1980. (And not much beyond 1980 or so, imo, which I will get into in a bit). In America, most houses probably got bathrooms in the Edwardian Era up to the Depression, and new houses built after 1900 probably had bathrooms, although I've seen plans without. However, for example, I lived in a building that had no kitchen until 1965, and it had several toilet compartments and probably a room with a sink and bathtub in it somewhere, but not a modern bathroom until 1965. So what's proper in this house? And is a bathroom that was redone in 1955 improper in a Victorian house? Probably not. Really any bathroom that is "newer" than the house (again up to about 1980 or so, imo) is appropriate to the house. Why? because innovations were taking place, and most houses aren't house museums. What happened after 1980 and what is still happening that's problematic in America today? (And maybe not so much in the rest of the world). First, in general, it's one thing to see a very slick contemporary bathroom and kitchen in a 300 year old house, but it's another thing to see a slick contemporary bathroom in a 50 year old colonial revival house. There is much more contrast in the 300 yo house. And what happened after 1980? Up until about 1980, new styles were --new--. the end of the Late modern period was in the 1980s or so and was followed by Post-Modernism which was more or less a statement about reaching an end point in modernism. There is not much left after the white box to pare down. So in the 1980s they started with the fake "Victorian" style bath fixtures and this was followed by revivals of other historic fixtures and elements, and now a prevailing style for kitchen and bathrooms contains a lot of Edwardian and VIctorian inspired elements. It's hard to find a bathroom faucet that is not either a basic style but exceedingly cheaply made; or extremely modern, or faux -Victorian. And that's the crux of the problem: natural progression of bathrooms was always moving forward with technology and new fashions, but now the new fashion is in retrograde, so people are putting in bathrooms that have many elements that are taking stylistic cues from 1910 -1930 more or less in contemporary houses from 1980. It doesn't make stylistic sense. People argue that this is the "current" style going into new construction so it's appropriate but I am not sure. If the current style going into new construction was a bathroom taking design cues from 1955, I think people would see that that looked goofy in a 1980 house. And then there are decorative styles in America that are displaced by geography or are version of something that doesn't really exist. To go back to the OP, there really isn't any such thing as a "Tuscan" bathroom, even in Tuscany. Not how it would be interpreted in America. And while much about the building style may make a bathroom in the Southwest look very appropriate: adobe and or adobe style plaster, wood ceilings, saltillo and talavera tile---that, isolated in a bathroom in New Jersey, when the rest of the house is not that style--again, was never really right, so when that's out of fashion, it looks really wrong. Finally, in new construction, kitchens and baths have gotten larger, more expensive, and higher quality material-wise, than before, and somtimes this is just too elaborate for a house from the middle of the century. There is nothing the matter with improving on quality, there is no need to replace a plastic tub surround with another. But a marble bathroom with detailed nickel fixtures and a crystal chandelier in a modest Cape Cod or rancher just looks displaced. It's the fashion now, so it's what people will do, but it's going to look more dated than something that fit in with the rest of the house better.