Karol’s Simplicity Bathroom Designs
30 April 2010
“Cheap Thrills”
I know, I know, I do lots and lots of blogs on minimalist bathroom designs, but do the math with me. The bathrooms I have are all of five feet wide and nine feet long. At the moment they have a small toilet, small sink in a small vanity and, you guessed it, small combination tub/shower. We are not going to remodel our entire home, or even a large portion of it, to accommodate larger bathrooms, so what we see in the terms of available space, is what we are eventually going to have in the finished project. So, it naturally follows that whatever we eventually install in these bathrooms must, by necessity, occupy a small amount of space, you might even say a “minimal” amount of space. So, that’s why I love minimalism so much. Well, that’s part of the reason, and to be completely honest about it, not necessarily the entire reason for my affection for all things minimal. There is also the glory of the designs themselves, and with that, we can discuss the subject of today’s blog.
Karol is an Italian designer and manufacturer of all things bathroom that I have written about before, because of the sleekness of their designs. What they share with all minimalist designs, I suppose, is just that, the glory of an entire suite of items for a bathroom or kitchen, all designed with an absolute minimum in needless ornamentation. Actually, I suppose, there are those who will dismiss these concepts as austere, 
whereas for a guy like me, one of those neat-as-a-pin little prigs, the idea of a design with no clutter at all is pretty heavenly.
But the other thing I particularly like about this type of design really takes me back to the contents of the first paragraph of this today’s blog. If you have lots and lots of space in your bathrooms, then you can indulge in things like the vase for fresh-cut flowers on the vanity, and the like. In our bathrooms there really is no room for such things, let alone anything that is large, and as for anything heavily ornamented, well, again, where is there room for such things? At the moment, of course, because ours is a tract home with the original bathroom furnishings, the design motif is rather stark. And I say that knowing full well that those who don’t care for minimalism will dismiss it as stark. But stark is as stark does-or doesn’t-and in our bathrooms, stark is plain, unadorned fixtures purchased at rock bottom prices, vanities with outrageously high toe kicks-in order to get away with smaller cabinets for the vanities themselves-and with no drawers at all. Medicine cabinets that are really just little boxes wedged between a couple of studs in the wall and all of three inches deep. Is that stark or torture? Well, whatever it may be, it’s the news, and I don’t like it much.
So, in looking for something to replace all of that mess, I need something small, something trim, but something with flair, something that is a joy all unto itsel
f. Enter Karol with their Simplicity Bathroom Designs. They really are simple in design, but not overtly so. There is about them a panache, the kind of thing that brings joy to any room in which they reside. The colors are hot, the finishes sleek, the cabinetry both functional and fashionable. What they are, really, is minimalism defined, a statement all its own, which is that it is minimal not because of the cheapness that so pervades the fixtures in tract housing, but because of design. Karol’s Simplicity Line is not less because they want to cut corners, but less because they are endeavoring, and succeeding, at saying a little more with a little less. But these designs, by way of distinct contrast, are minimal, in that there are no unnecessary frills, placed there only for the sake of, well, cheap frills.
Joseph
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