“Had We but World Enough and Time”

One of the most sensuous poems I ever read was written in the 17^th century and begins with the words I’ve used for a title for this blog. I used it because so much of a bathroom design, especially that of a master bathroom, can be made to revolve around sensuousness. Not I hasten to add, sexuality, which is something else altogether, but sensuous, appealing to the senses, such as a fine wine or magnificent symphony or opulent silken fabric, or a bathroom vanity so elegantly designed, that sensuous is the only word one feels able to apply to it.

Not every bathroom design is the same, of course, and today I would like to write about an entirely different configuration for a bathroom, specifically, a master bathroom design. Some of those bathrooms have only the toilet and shower/tub in a separate room. The sink, although adjoining the bathroom proper, is open to the bedroom, thereby introducing, in theory, a touch of elegance. Unfortunately, that touch of elegance, because it is usually poorly executed, is often more theory than reality.

Larger homes begat larger master bedrooms, of course, but even in these, the supposed touch of elegance, because it is often no more than a simple vanity (counter is really a more accurate term for it) and sink, is really rather pedestrian. In a master bedroom like our own which also has this arrangement for a ridiculously cramped bathroom, we have no choice but some sort of vanity that will enable us to store quite a bit of stuff, as this is the bathroom the wife uses. I sometimes find myself wondering what the hell all that paraphernalia actually is, but mine is not to reason why; mine is to simply make those cabinets that will accommodate milady’s beauty aids. But for those who have a sink open to the bedroom and sufficient storage space elsewhere, there are a number of very elegant suggestions from Rab Arredobagno, which is another Italian company. I was going to say “cutting edge,” but really, when it comes to bathroom design, is there any other kind of Italian company these days? 

In looking at these pictures, it is immediately apparent to me that they simply pushed their vanities in front of any available wall, but if you have a master bathroom with the configuration I’ve described above, the most you will have to do to achieve a similar look in your own bathroom is a little dry wall work. And probably not even that. But the whole idea of that particular bathroom layout is to give it the feeling of a sitting room. So, the question to ask is, why not rip out the cheap garbage that came with your tract home and install vanities that will do just that?

Use the old standard vanity/counter with a drawer or two and an open compartment under the sink, and you really have done nothing but waste a wonderful idea for a bathroom design. It’s your home. Make it your home.

Joseph

“Written in Stone”

I feel a little strange in writing this particular blog because one of the strengths of our marriage is that my wife and I both take the view that nothing is written in stone. Well, except our wedding vows. We’re completely serious about those! But for the rest, we’re flexible, and certainly so when it comes to design. I always tell her that there’s about a million ways to design any given project, and we only have to find one that we both like.

And now here I am promoting bathroom designs that are written in stone! Actually, the one at the top of this blog is written in concrete, and far from being rigid, it is proof of just the opposite, of how flexible that particular medium can be. Concrete  seems, when you think about it in the abstract, to be such a cold, unyielding, ugly product, suitable only for sidewalks and foundation slabs. But in recent years a number of companies have taken this drab old product and transformed it in every possible way, starting with the shape, of course, but continuing on to utilize it in some wonderfully innovative ways.

What I find myself particularly liking about this particular sink, though, is that it is a chance to go in a different direction, or if you will, to a different time altogether. The design depicted here is an ammonite, which is an extinct species of cephalopods (please don’t ask me what that is!) which is said to have lived in the sea about 400 million years ago. Someone like myself (I read a lot of history) might well find something like this to be just the conversation piece I’ve been in search of for my bathroom. And if the gray is all that holds you back, you should be advised that HighTech produces this washbasin in several sizes and colors.

The other item in stone that caught my eye really is in several varies of stone: carrera marble, honed basalt, and onyx. It’s a new line of basins from Stone Forest which I’m told can be purchased for between $1010 and $1200. They’ve reduced the stone to its bare essentials, then dressed it up a little with stainless steel brackets and grill drains. There are also countertops and shelving of the same materials that can be combined in a number of different ways, with the emphasis on minimalism. It’s an old line, but sometimes less really is more—and especially so if you’ve written it in stone!

Joseph

“Snow Without Footprints”

OK, the first thing I want to point out, since this is not a picture of the wife’s bra, is that it is also not a picture of my bathroom. Nor did I take the picture. Nor do I know where it came from—picture or bra! It is simply something that caught my eye, purely because of the design possibilities raised by the sink itself.

Actually, when you look at it objectively, it is easy to see why the manufacturers decided to pose a picture like this one, not because sex sells so much, but simply because the sink itself has a sensuousness of line about it that lends itself to this kind of treatment.

Growing up in Montana one of my favorite things to do was walk in the backyard after a fresh snowfall. It was a very small yard, and in the summer months, I doubt that there was a single inch of it that wasn’t well-trampled by me and my four siblings. But whenever you were the first to walk on it after a snowfall, you always felt like you were the first person who had ever been back there.

It gave one a terrific sense of wonder, and it is something I have always looked for in my own designs, but whenever I design, I encounter limitations. The first is my own imagination (or lack of one!) of course, but always and forever, the one constant limitation is the fact that everything I make is functional—so it has to do its job, and I find it difficult, at times, to get around the limitation of a purely functional piece that is, somehow, altogether different from what has gone before. And that, in a nutshell, is why I have featured so many European designs on this website—because of their innovation. Ardino, which describes their work as “Italian style—made in Germany” is very much a case in point.

Really, you should be browsing through their website. I downloaded considerably more pictures than I can use in this blog because their site is so rich with, paradoxically, designs that are so simple.

Many of their designs are in white porcelain, but they’ve transformed that most common sink material into something altogether different with their curves and their designs and the way they all but hide how water escapes from the basin. And then just to make people like yours truly feel a bit more insecure, they’ve actually found a way to light the Dimara (it’s the rectangular sink) from within in a range of vibrant colors.

But what they have mostly done, to my mind, is to walk on snow that has no footprints. Feeling like I was the first person to ever walk in the back yard after a fresh snowfall was largely an illusion because others had already been there. In Europe, though, they have taken on the impossible—finding new designs in the prosaic. And succeeded, damn them, and succeeded.

Joseph