Time to update your shower? Mags Hollings, Manager and Designer at Ripples in Brighton offers her advice
Your lifestyle: Before you jump straight in think about how you shower and who will be using the shower. These are questions that I ask my clients, so it’s important that you ask yourself them too.
Your options: You might like the look of an overhead shower (hotel-inspired designs are big news after all) but think about your options. You might also want to incorporate a hand-held shower too, perfect for those of you that don’t want to get your hair wet and is essential for rinsing out the shower afterwards.
Your water pressure: Before you consider which shower you’re going to opt for, think about your water pressure. Do you have a gravity fed system, combination boiler or pressurised system? Also consider the size of your water tank, is it large enough to meet your water needs?
Your future: If this is your forever home then you certainly need to think about future-proofing the shower. You should be thinking about non-slip tiles, grab bars and maybe even a seat area in your shower. To give your seat a more luxurious feel, top with mosaics or stone.
Your space: Create the biggest shower you can out of the amount of space you have, it really is as simple as that. Whether that’s a walk-in shower or a shower enclosure, both can be designed to look exactly how you want them.
Your layout: Think about the layout of the whole room, if you’re going for a walk-in shower then place furniture away from the shower so you minimize how wet items get.
Your approach: To the shower, that is. If you can avoid it, try not to have a step in to your shower instead go for a flush level floor, which can be achieved with a very shallow tray, or a tiled gradient floor.
Your heating: Think about adding under floor heating and wall heating to dry up moisture, this will give off a low level heat and heat your tiles. Now when you step out of the shower you won’t fill a chill but thanks to heated floors and walls your room will remain warm. Luxury redefined.
Your storage: Think about creating a shower recess to store your bottles that might normally clutter the floor of your shower. Stylish and practical.
Your lighting: At Ripples we offer customized lighting solutions for your shower, maybe you want lighting that changes at the click of a button, lighting placed on a timer or on a PIR sensor (so that when someone steps in the shower, it automatically comes on), these are all options.
Adastra Place, 38 Keymer Road, Hassocks BN6 8AP; 01273 841228; www.ripplesbathrooms.com
