In & Out of the bathroom: The Bathroom trends of 2017

It’s our job to know what’s coming (and going) to ensure we are always providing a product that is ‘Superior as Standard’.

A lot of our predictions come from provable statistical and industry insight, and some are more about gut feeling and our personal analysis of the direction of trends – and those informed theories are something we thought we’d share with you.

What to look out for in 2017

Digital VS Analogue

This may seem like a strange heading when talking about décor trends but it’s the best way we could summarise the coming bathroom trends for 2017 – let us explain. For the past decade especially, the tech giant Apple has had a huge influence in all areas of design, that influence has been seen in the clean, crisp lined, bright, reflective surfaces we’ve all become so used to. The design predictions for this year seem very much like a decisive kick-back against the clean reflective surfaces we look into every day, replacing them with raw materials, handcrafted objects, and imperfect forms i.e. An imperfect analogue aesthetic, compared to modern clean digital forms.

Colours

For years we’ve been awash with white, with the more daring throwing in the accent of a fresh bright colour, but we’re about to see the introduction of something new. This year is about sophisticated hues, matt sunrise pastels and confidently dark tones. The pastel colour palette trend rolling over from the end of last year consists of the kind of colours you’d expect to see in a desert sunrise – soft blues, pinks, peaches, violets and soft yellows.

We’re out of the economic crisis, so to celebrate (before any political blunders cause another crisis) the colour of the year is the colour of money, green. Jokes aside, the many and numerous trend spotters are all reasonably unanimous that green will be pretty instrumental in décor trends this year alongside other rich earthy tones – so expect to see it in both tiles and paint schemes. Darker colours like dusky blue and very dark greys will be equally popular and can already be seen on a mass market level with commercial brands like Ikea already pushing dark interiors in this years’ showrooms.

Metals

For the last few years Copper and Rose Gold have absolutely dominated the pages of interior magazines and proliferated the home décor mass market, but as of 2017 we predict this is about to change. There has been a lot of early signs suggesting the bold copper colours are being replaced with the more muted tones of Brass, Bronze and tarnished metals with interesting patinas.

Ceramics

This is an important section of future trends, particularly in relation to bathroom design, seeing as ceramic and stoneware tiles account for a significant area of wallspace in every bathroom! So when it comes to tiles we predict you’ll see the metro tile carry on but in varied forms. The standard size high gloss metro will be seen in dark greens and crackled glazes, the white metro tile will be popular in a thinner (lower) heights and will be far more common in ‘raw’ bone whites and chalkier more tactile textures. To complement the new earthy, raw and green trends there has also been some talk about the resurgence of terracotta tiling, we’re not sure what the uptake of this idea will be, but we thought we’d mention it.

This year ceramics will be far more important to décor than just its impact on our tiling choices, artisanal handcrafted earthenware glazed items are the must have accessories of the year, replacing the clean copper and marble creations of the previous year.

Accessorising

So far we’ve talked about a very particular imperfect, tactile look for this years’ trends and this carries on into accessories and other materials you might be using in the bathroom.

Cork – In the early nineties there was a short-lived trend for cork flooring, but this year cork walls and other areas of cork detailing will be very prominent.

Woven baskets – That’s right you’ll see the re-emergence of the wicker laundry basket. Woven wicker products are sure to find their way into a few bathroom accessories this year.

Darker woods – So following a long stretch of light (Danish stained) and whitewashed woods to fit our clean, light environments you’ll start to see an increase in darker woods.

Living walls – You may have seen these pop up as a curiosity on Pinterest, but this year the living wall, a wall constructed of mosses, ferns and living plants, is set to appear in homes and hotels.

2017 trends in summary

In the year that celebrates 10 years of the iPhone, general trend predictions suggest that the contemporary bathroom aesthetic will be taking a step away from the white minimal tech inspired aesthetic, to something more tactile, more colourful, more natural and a little less homogenised in its perfection.

This leaning towards bold new colours, individual features and visibly tactile surfaces is perfectly complemented by the fact that we’ve introduced PureVueHD glass as standard in our Classic and Coastline shower enclosure ranges. PureVueHD breaks down the barrier between you and your décor with its clearer glass highlighting all those new textures and not adulterating all those muted metals, natural colours and tactile material choices.

Learn more about our PureVueHD ranges