Guest feature: Create a happy bathroom with Michelle Ogundehin
Author, presenter and all-round interiors guru Michelle Ogundehin discusses the importance of design, décor and details when creating a bathroom which benefits wellbeing in this exclusive feature.
Michelle Ogundehin is internationally renowned as a thought-leader on interiors, trends, style and wellbeing. Originally trained as an architect and the former Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Decoration UK, she is the Head Judge on BBC2's Interior Design Masters, and the author of Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness, a game-changing guide to living well. She is also a regular contributor to many prestigious publications worldwide including Vogue Living, FT How to Spend It magazine and Dezeen.
The importance of our enviornment
Our environment is as fundamental to your health and happiness as good food and regular exercise. In fact, I'd say it's actually more important! After all, it's pretty hard to create healthy food in a hectic kitchen, or to find the motivation to keep fit if you're surrounded by mess or gloom. And this belief is especially relevant in the bathroom.
One of the hardest working rooms in your home, your bathroom is where you start and finish every day. And yet so often we let the design and decor ball drop here. Perhaps it's because we become overwhelmed by the intricacies of plumbing or we fall prey to an assumption that bathrooms must always be clinically white and pristine? For sure they need to be finished in a manner that enables you to keep them spotless, but equally important is maintaining an ambience of warmth and welcome.
A holistic approach to design
Interestingly, over the last decade, there has been a trend for bathrooms to become mini-spa-esque temples to bathing, inviting solitude and relaxed contemplation as much as getting clean. Showers have become wider and larger, tubs bigger and deeper, and even entire rooms sometimes re-envisioned as walk-in 'wet rooms'. While this might look dreamy in a Moroccan villa seen on the pages of a glossy magazine, all wafty linen drapes and buffeted by temperate climes, it's unlikely to be achievable for most people. But the good news is, neither is it necessary, even when the creation of a home sanctuary is your goal.
The thing is, to focus all sense of 'retreat' on one room is to miss the supportive opportunity provided by the rest of your abode. Such emphasis is on escape, exaggerated by the fact that the bathroom is probably the only lockable room at home. But when we choose what surrounds us with intention, by which I mean, choosing things that tell our authentic stories, we begin to make everything around us capable of rejuvenating and revitalising us. Why? Because to have contemplated the colours, patterns or fabrics that truly make your heart sing is to have tapped into who you really are. And when we extend this to every material, finish and fixture, there'll be no need to seek solace in the loo!
“One of the hardest working rooms in your home, your bathroom is where you start and finish every day. And yet so often we let the design and decor ball drop here.”
-Michelle Ogundehin
Injecting fun
In short, bathrooms must never be neglected, but they needn't be over complicated. Rather, continue the decorative themes you have explored elsewhere, and don't be afraid to have some fun! Paint the ceiling lemon yellow; hang full length velvet curtains (assuming good ventilation); add a glorious splashback of patterned tiles, and don't forget the details. For example, decant run of the mill bathroom products into pretty glass jars and bottles. Pile your towels high on a small sculptural stool and mix the textures for increased tactility. Your taps too will be frequently touched so don't skimp here — the things that you use every day should be the things you love the most.
Finally, I'll always advocate for wall-hung units because they make even the smallest room feel more spacious, and twin sinks make busy mornings seamlessly efficient. Add in a mix of spot versus mood lighting, and your wellbeing bathroom will be perfectly set for everything from get-up-and-go showers to leisurely evening bubble baths.
Follow Michelle:
Instagram | @michelleogundehin
Website | michelleogundehin.com
Book | michelleogundehin.com/happy-inside/
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