Stylish shower designs, from traditional screened enclosures to modern walk in rooms, with colourful patterned tiles, elegant marble, and everything in between

MCCAUGHAN-HAWES

Digital Features Writer at House & Garden

 

TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2021

Designing a shower may seem like a strictly utilitarian exercise, but there are all sorts of ways to make these practical spaces beautiful as well. Whether you have a small space in one corner of the bathroom to squeeze in a shower enclosure, or acres of space for an expansive walk-in design, and whether you prefer traditional or modern, vibrantly colourful tiles or a more spare and minimal design, we've got ideas you're sure to take to.

 

 

 

Hugh Leslie designed this enclosed shower unit in a London house. The white panelled side and door are not closed off from the top, allowing steam to escape, as well as through a vent above the door. The door has four glass panels to allow light into the shower. Inside, the walk-in shower is lined in teak, which feels a bit like entering a first-class compartment on a vintage train.

 

SIMON BROWN

 

The shower of Angelica Squire's house is lined with deep blue zellige tiles. These glossy tiles bounce the light around and add a magical, Moroccan feel to the walk-in shower, which also benefits from a window in one wall of the enclosure. To allow the effect of the blue tiles to take hold in the entire bathroom, Angelica chose a simple glass screen and gold taps. The most remarkable thing about the decoration is Angelica's decision to tile the ceiling too, giving a cocooning, almost underwater effect from the zellige.

 

OWEN GALE

 

The shower mosaic in the main bathroom in a restored Georgian house by Ptolemy Dean was created by Ann Hughes at Pierre Mesguich Mosaik. The mother-of-pearl-inlaid mirror is from Iznik Classics.

 

MICHAEL SINCLAIR

 

The shower in the main bathroom at Ven House is particularly unusual. The glass cubicle is raised from the floor on feet in the manor of a bathtub.

 

MICHAEL SINCLAIR

 

Todhunter Earle kept this shower design simple, adding a single paned window between the walk-in shower and sink. The shower fixtures are black with pipework concealed. The sunken shelf is a neat way to make room for toiletries.

 

ALICIA TAYLOR

 

Salvaged wooden doors or screens can be a good alternative to the standard glass shower screen or curtain. Here, a pair of Chinese screens act as shower doors. Glass has been placed behind them to protect them from the water. Try Lassco for salvaged doors.

 

WILLIAM ABRANNOWICZ

 

A cast-iron Aston Matthews ‘Epoca’ bath, its sides painted in Emente’s ‘Orpiment’, provides a colourful contrast with Robert Kime’s ‘Grille Sage’ wallpaper and muted panelling in this bathroom by Ben Pentreath. The shower flows into the bath with an unconventional circular curtain to protect from splashing.

 

PAUL MASSEY

 

Ashlar Mason supplied the heavily striated marble for the bathroom in Audrey Carden's speedily transformed London house.

 

 

The simple palette and accessories makes this bathroom in a Kensington flat feel elegant and luxurious. The bathroom walls are covered with tadelakt[ plaster, while the walk-in shower has a projecting marble base. Despite the walk-in shower not a having a door, it makes the space appear larger, and just that little more enticing.

 

SIMON BROWN

White vintage tiles

WHITE VINTAGE TILES

Vintage industrial tiles, imported from the US, line the children's shower room in restaurant owner Keith McNally's Notting Hill home.

 

SIMON UPTON

 

The main bathroom at Slackwood Farm has a walnut shower pod and beautiful grey stone units.

 

 

The industrial style hydrotherapy bathroom of Carskiey Estate has its original shower, bath and teak wet-room floor. The Edwardian plumbing still survives, with taps displaying hot and cold saltwater and hot and cold freshwater in the magnificent bathrooms - though the salt water pipes have now corroded and are no longer in use.

 

DAVIDE LOVATTI

 

Interior designer Sarah Chambers believes that, 'If I don't show a client something that surprises them, I'm not doing my job.' The tiles in her bathroom look, at first glance, like natural stone but they are in fact decorated with a flock design - a very pleasant surprise indeed!