If the old adage holds true and one’s home is one’s castle, in the United States at least one’s bathroom is a palace where showers are kitted out with iPods and there are plasma screen televisions in the spa bath.
Americans will spend $22-billion on luxury bathrooms this year — 10 times more than the United States government will devote to HIV/Aids research, the Washington Post pointed out on Thursday. Flush homeowners looking for the ultimate in luxury bathrooms will find no problem in running up a $100 000 tab on showers, tubs and toilets.
”They are making this into their retreat, their home spa. It’s like a mini living room now,” said Arlene Hirst, for Metropolitan Home, an upmarket design magazine.
Over the past seven or eight years the focus of home design has shifted from the luxury kitchen to the bathroom, with Americans eager to spend as much money on private luxuries as on public spaces.
”I think it all comes from people going to spas and going to the gym and wanting to have all the same things at home. We are very stressed and we want to pamper ourselves.”
In the world of guilty pleasures bathtubs can easily run to $15 000 — and that’s without the television or coloured lights to ward off the winter blues.
Showers are oversized, fitted with iPods and programmable, allowing a bather to choose between rainfall or an all-over spray along with their favourite tunes. Floors, of imported tile or marble, are heated.
Programmable toilets are available too — though Hirst doubts that is a trend that will catch on in the US. ”Americans are a little behind on toilets,” she said. – Guardian Unlimited Â