Beautiful Bathrooms

This article is from the May edition of Berkshire Life 2013 by Catriona Lock, Creative Director.

Catriona Lock, Creative Director, Soak in Style

  The bathroom is becoming an integral part of people’s homes and life; a space to wake up and feel invigorated and ready for the day, or relax and unwind and enjoy some longed for ‘me’ time, and is reflected in the trends for the space.

  50 shades of grey are the colours of 2013, which can be interpreted in many different styles. Bold strong tones feel very modern and minimal, or soft ‘vintage’ shades give a more traditional feel.  My personal favourites are the ‘greige’ tones, an almost stoney looking grey which is very on trend colour wise, but timeless due to the neutral and natural feel.

Grey and Greige stone tiles

  From a hygiene point of view a wall-hung toilet is much easier to keep clean than one mounted on the floor.

  A designer can help to ensure the frame and cistern is incorporated into the room in a subtle way.  Being able to see more of the floor also makes the room feel bigger.

  Integrated basins with wall mounted vanity units continue this clean effortless elegance.  Neutral tones such as cappuccino, beige or grey are incredibly popular this year in either gloss or matt finishes and woods in an almost distressed looking finish are very on trend.

Happy D.2 in basin unit in Linen

  Wet room/walk in showers are lusted after for every master en suite, with luxurious rain fall showers.

Gessi Wellness Shower

Body jets and multi-function showers have taken over from enclosed ‘cabins’.  Even if the wet floor has to be raised this can be seamlessly incorporated into the design.  

Raised shower area with bespoke mosaics and wood effect tiles enhanced with LED lighting

Again, having a designer’s help is invaluable.

  Freestanding baths and sit on sculptural basins are popular for larger, grander rooms.

Victoria + Albert Barcelona Bath with floor LED lighting - the lighting enhances the bath and makes a relaxing area in a master suite overlooking a large south-facing garden

Gessi ISpa White Taps + Sculptural  Basins + Accessories

Victoria + Albert Toulouse Bath + Basin - the sculptural shapes add structure and balance to the bathroom

  Cat Lock, Creative Director for Soak in Style, has been nominated for the last three years for Bathroom Designer of the Year in various categories.  Cat is a qualified bathroom designer and has also studied Interior Design.

Creative Director Finalist KBBR Awards 2013 - Bathrooms up to £10K

Catriona Lock is a finalist in the KBBR Awards 2013 in the Bathroom Design Category up to £10K.  Catriona, who is Soak in Style's Creative Director, is a finalist for the 3rd consecutive year in the KBBR Awards.

The second floor where this bathroom is located has 2 bedrooms with their own en suite.  The children are now young but it is anticipated that this is where they will move when they are older - perhaps teenagers -  as these rooms adjoin a central room that could be a joint study.
  
Our clients had a young son with a daughter on the way, and wanted to reflect a grown up masculine versus feminine feel.  This room is the more feminine of the two and our client had some fairly set ideas  about the style and feel of the room.

Must haves were:

• Cross head taps, specifically a 3 tap hole wall mounted basin mixer to sit above a sink style basin on a wooden shelf.
• A large shower and separate bath
• A wall hung WC
• Storage was not important as the room had access to the eaves storage area from within and the bedroom would also house a fair mount of storage.  However this did mean incorporating 2 doors.
• Our client had sourced and chosen some small white brick mosaics which she wanted for the walls.  

These tiles enabled Catriona to get a clear picture of her vision for the space and brought it altogether harmoniously.

Catriona designed and specified the 6 bathrooms and 2 cloakrooms for the refurbishment of our clients 1930's home in Beaconsfield.  They are delighted with all the bathrooms.

Soak in Style Highly Commended Design Awards 2011

Soak in Style are delighted to announce that Catriona Lock, our newly promoted Creative Director, has been awarded a Highly Commended Certificate from Designer Magazine in the Bathroom Design £15K+ category 2011.

Catriona says  "This was a great bathroom to work on as the space was like a large empty shell. There were very few restrictions, only where the soil stack was and the customers taste. 

The brief was to create a fantastic bathroom that was a great space to relax in as well as bright and energising at the start of the day.  The couple are without children and are in their 40s so something stylish was important. As the main bathroom in the house it would be seen by their friends and it was important it reflected their taste and interests.  However, they were nervous of doing anything too daring with colour or finishes, so I had to create a stunning factor with the space itself.

I am thrilled with the end result as I feel the room flows beautifully and a harmonious space has definitely been created.  The fact that we have been able to use two rooms into one is fantastic and I felt I have used the space very well to give the clients wow factor from negative space, as well as positive. The lighting of the mirror cabinet and recesses above the toilet create clever shadows which dance within the room and add a fantastic intensity to the space.  I also added a waterproof television for the gadget hungry man in the household, and recesses in the shower for the clutter conscious woman. The atmosphere that is created in this space at different times of the day is also fascinating as the two large windows bring in a lot of natural light, but at night the artificial lighting brings the room alive".

Images from the finished bathroom of the Highly Commended Design are featured below.

 

2012 Finalist Bathroom Designer £25K+ Soak in Style

Soak are delighted to announce that for the second year running, our Head Designer, Catriona Lock, is a finalist in the KBB Review Industry Awards.  Catriona has been nominated as one of 4 finalists for Bathroom Designer of the Year in the £25+ category.

Catriona Lock, Designer Soak in Style

Catriona describes the inspiration behind her design: "the theme of black and white came into play once I had selected the bath, after which everything else just seemed to drop into place.  I settled on the iconic design of the Amalfi bath from V+A deciding that the sculptural aspects of the bath were perfect for this space.  The design concept of this room is from the minute you walk in you want to start touching and using everything as the tactile appeal has such a huge impact on this design.  The fascinating part of this design is as soon as I walked into the existing bathroom I could see that a huge amount of space was not being used to it's full advantage.  Having worked with our clients on their master bathroom, I had a good idea of what their tastes were, and as soon as I had established what they wanted from this room in the way of product, i.e bath and shower, and storage, I could start to put the room together in my head and it all just slotted into place."

Amalfi Bath, Bisazza Mosaics, Dansani Zaro and Valentino Tiles

Catriona Lock's Design Nominated for Designer of the Year KBBR Awards 2012

Soak Showroom Closed Monday 16 and 17 May 2011

The SOAK team will be attending the KBB exhibition and KBBReview Awards as our Designer is a finalist for Young Designer of the Year Award, Bathrooms.

The Soak showroom will be closed from 10.00am on Monday 16 May until 9.00am Wednesday 18 May 2011.

Soak's Designer Finalist for KBB Review Industry Young Designer of the Year Award - Bathrooms

Soak in Style are delighted to announce that their Designer, Catriona Lock, is a finalist in the KBB Review Industry Awards for Young Designer of the Year - Bathrooms 2011.

Catriona is absolutely thrilled to have been shortlisted and says "This was a design I particularly enjoyed working on as the clients were very receptive to my suggestions for a stunning bathroom for them to enjoy".

The finished bathroom was such a huge success with our clients and we have just started work on their family bathroom with a similar budget but a slightly different brief as this is to include a bath and shower.

BEFORE

AFTER

Marlene by Bisazza Mosaics, Diamond by Valentino-Piemme

The finished bathroom

Specially commissioned frosted glass door

Niche is tiled with Bisazza Mosaics and Valentino-Piemme

Shower screen by APS, Mastella Manta Cupboard, Verso Catalano Pan

 Manta Glass Basin, Mirror and Furniture by Mastella

Soak offer a design and installation service or supply only and is a family run business.  The Soak industrial style showroom is located in Reform Road, Maidenhead which is just past the iconic Brunel Maidenhead Bridge on the A4 heading into Maidenhead.