Luxury Bathroom Design Inspiration

From the baths of ancient Rome to the Moroccan hammam, the bathroom is a near-sacred place where you can gloriously purify yourself of the grime of the world, day after day.

With the marvellous freedom that we have today to sample at our discretion from cultures, technologies, and schools of thought, designing this very personal sanctuary is a proposition full of possible juxtapositions. 

I love nothing more but to add to my arsenal of ideas, so I can be sure to pull a few out no matter the personality and lifestyle of the client.  Here are some bathrooms across the world which have stayed with me and provided me with luxury bathroom inspiration.

I have long been excited by the marble-like finish and elegantly tactile qualities of the Moroccan tadelakt plaster used in this shower.   The restraint and organic sensibilities of this bathroom are to be admired, from the minimal showerhead to the wood stool and mirror frame and the pure white textiles chosen.

If you are a fan of Missoni and Pucci, you will adore the contrasting geometric designs in this room, accentuated by the groovy colours of the towel.

From a minimum of carefully curated materials, a complex design emerges; I am smitten by the way that the striated marble creates a gorgeous composition in the mirrors, heightened by the various shapes of the copper accents.

Drama and intensity are injected into this bathroom using backlighting.

The fun, animated but very chic bright blue of the rocker is the perfect finishing touch for the stylish simplicity of this bathroom by Filippo Carandini Studio.  Notice how it is picked up in a darker blue in the stool in the room beyond this one. 

The golden opulence of these tiles brings the constellations into bath-time.  You can almost imagine the copper knobs as planets and suns. 

More design inspiration from the great outdoors, albeit in a very different way.  The staggered rounds of wood that make up the column of the sink and the horizontal compartment of raw lumber bring a whiff of a wild, fighting spirit into this sophisticated, masculine room.

I have to say that hotel bathrooms number heavily among my favourites, and this one for Viceroy Hotel NYC epitomises the sumptuous glamour that I associate with them.  A mixture of urban cool and suave cultivation, this ravishing room would be a delight to call mine for a few nights.   

I finish by presenting you with a quite captivating shimmering, gilded wall.  This one design choice transforms the otherwise minimal room, bringing hedonism, audacity, grandeur, and any number of further qualities into it – all without the need to be ostentatious.