Taking inspiration from your favourite hotel experiences can help glamourise your interiors, and bring a touch of luxury into your home. The latest hotel-esque trend we've seen cropping up more than usual lately is a bathtub in the bedroom - the question is, would you try it?
Having a bathtub as part of your bedroom ideas is the ultimate showstopper, the pièce de résistance that you could gaze in wonder at every day. Seeing something that is almost exclusively reserved for hotels in your own home is guaranteed to elevate your bedroom interior to a whole new level of luxe.
But how practical is it to have a bathtub in the bedroom? It might seem dreamy, but would the reality live up to the expectations? The Ideal Home team have weighed in and shared whether they'd be willing to bring this trend into their own homes.
Bathtub in the bedroom trend
If you like the sound of having a bathtub in the bedroom and you decide to embark upon the project, it might just be the best thing you ever did - especially if your small bathroom ideas can't currently accommodate a tub. But there's a few things that you might want to consider first.
How practical is a bathtub in the bedroom?
As glamorous as the end result is sure to be, there are a lot of practical factors to consider before you go planning a bathtub in the bedroom project.
'A good starting point is consideration of the water feed and waste, which will ensure good flow rates for feed and drainage,' says Adam Mosley, Director, Thomas Crapper. 'It is vital to ensure the floorboards and joists are sufficiently strong to hold the weight of the bath, the water, and the person (or people!) sitting in it.'
So, you'd have to think about whether your bedroom flooring ideas would be up to the job of holding a bath before you commit. You'd also have to incorporate some bathroom storage ideas into your bedroom, as there would need to be towels and other bath-related products nearby for you to enjoy your bathing experience.
'A hot bath will generate a fair amount of steam and whilst wall coverings in bathrooms are often water-resistant, they rarely are in bedrooms,' says Adam. 'So thinking about ventilation becomes a requirement as it will also help prevent excess moisture in the atmosphere.'
The last thing you want to be doing is learning how to stop condensation on walls in your bedroom, so take into account that you may need to repaint your bedroom walls with a damp-resistant paint, like the Polar Damp Seal Anti Damp Paint, £16.99 at Amazon.
Would we try it?
There's a mixed bag of opinions in the Ideal Home team as to whether we'd put a bathtub in the bedroom. Some of us like the idea, but think the reality wouldn't be so glamorous.
'A bath in the bedroom looks lovely in pictures, but I can imagine managing humidity and plumbing complexities being a bit of a headache,' says Amy Lockwood, Ideal Home’s Ecommerce Editor. 'That said, I do love a bath, so if I lived in a property that only had space for a shower in the bathroom then I'd be looking to squeeze in a bath wherever I could, and if the master bedroom was big enough that could be a great solution.'
Space considerations are definitely prominent when considering putting a bathtub in the bedroom. Small bedroom ideas would certainly struggle to accommodate a bathtub and the extra bits and bobs that would be needed.
'My husband and I are big bath fans, so this is a design solution that's on our 'possible' list for home,' says Ideal Home's Editor in Chief, Heather Young. 'We've been thinking about reconfiguring our long bedroom to section off an area to use as a walk-in wardrobe, but recently we've been discussing whether to turn the en suite into a walk-in wardrobe instead, and then have a bathroom, complete with bath in the bedroom. The jury's out for now!'
Others sit a bit more firmly in the 'no' camp, and aren't tempted by the thought of being able to bathe and sleep in the same room.
'I wouldn't ever want one. I think it's nicer to keep your space for bathing separate from the bedroom,' says Rachel Crow, Acting Editor, Period Living. 'An en suite is a bit of luxury, whereas I'd be put off by a bath in the bedroom and would worry it would just end up turning into a repository for laundry! I also prefer a cool bedroom for sleeping and wouldn't want to create a warm and steamy sleep space.'
'Since I am not a big-time bather, it feels gimmicky and not something I'd covet,' agrees Real Home's Style Editor, Anna Morley. 'I think they look lush in boutique hotel rooms but when I've seen them in actual bedrooms they always look unused.'
It's true that bringing a bath into the bedroom would make the room warmer, not ideal if you're looking for ways to keep the bedroom cool. If your bedroom is large enough, you could get creative with how you use the space so that the bathtub doesn't negatively impact your sleep.
'I think it could work if you had a large enough room to create a separate nook for the bathroom - so essentially an en suite, but with doors that slide back entirely so that the bath becomes a part of the bedroom,' says Andrea Childs, Editor of Country Homes & Interiors. 'Or if you have a room where the bath is behind the bed, separated by a divider.'
So there's a lot to weigh up when it comes to putting a bathtub in the bedroom. Is your boudoir up to the task? If so, the bath might just become your new favourite interior feature!
