Super Bathroom is your home health studio

Was it just 60 years ago that a sizeable proportion of Australian homes still had outside toilets? Moving the loo inside, with the consequent adjustment in plumbing, was at the cutting edge of bathroom design in those days.

Since then bathrooms have been the greyhounds of home design, outstripping even the kitchen with their constantly changing fashions and technologies. There was a brief and totally impractical fad for wall-to-wall carpets, then underfloor heating brought tiles to the fore.

Bathrooms got bigger, took on the style of luxury palaces based on Ancient Rome with the addition of the latest high-tech devices such as power showers and spas. Even that is not enough for today’s high-rollers – make way for the Super-Bathroom, the health spa at the end of the landing.

Exercise machines, Steam ‘cabins’, spa baths complete with chromotherapy mood lighting, even a sound system and a plasma screen television that slides down into a recess when not in use. As one London-based designer says “today’s bathroom should mean that you do not have to go to the gym or the beauty salon.

“You can chill out and pamper yourself without facing crowds and traffic jams – surely it’s worth avoiding all that stress, time and money.”

Maybe, but money is a factor. The Super Bathroom is going to cost in the region of $80,000, and that’s an awful lot of gym memberships. Even so, real estate experts are predicting that even that kind of money can still reward you with increased property values.

“It’s amazing how quickly luxuries become necessities in the bathroom,” she says. “People are beginning to realise they are leading such stressful days that a way to wind down at home is absolutely essential. I would recommend the installation of a Super Bathroom as a great investment.”

If all this is just a bit beyond your means, perhaps the addition of a single feature, such as a steam cubicle or cabin, will be better for the budget. One new to the market has several functions apart from the steam, including a freezing shower for contrast, side jets, an MP3 player and atmospheric lighting – let the good times roll!

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