What makes a modern bathroom, and how do you make your wishes a reality?

Finding a theme: How to give your modern bathroom a clear line

What do you like in the bathroom? Before we give you concrete assistance with bathroom planning, we will show you a few ideas here. hansgrohe design tip: Give your bathroom a theme. Once you've decided on a line, you should follow it through consistently. Here are three theme suggestions:

“Inspired by Nature” theme: Naturalness in the modern bathroom

Relax and refresh yourself in a more natural design. Here's how you can furnish a comfortable bathroom with individual flair:

• The be-all and end-all are natural surfaces and materials: wooden floors, wooden sinks, or wooden platforms. Gravel floors, natural stone tiles, or natural stone floors also work well visually, flattering all the senses and warming the feet. Likewise on trend: the wood look with concrete or marble, or concrete look with wood effects. Another nice combination: old wood with stone.
• In terms of color, beige shades as well as gray, granite, or anthracite give your bathroom a modern look. On walls and ceilings, the whole range of natural tones comes across well. Perhaps you're dreaming of an open-air bathroom on a terrace or in the garden? In this case, a sky blue ceiling could tie the theme together.
• An open space concept creates a lot of space for wellness. Large windows flood bathrooms with daylight and ensure a sunny atmosphere. If this is not possible, illuminate your bathroom skillfully: This creates a cozy, feel-good atmosphere. In floor-level shower areas with rain showers, you can move freely and enjoy the feeling of droplets on your skin.
• Love accessories? Whether jungle, mountains, or desert: Photo wallpapers are back in. Also wooden side tables, stools, ladders, or deck chairs. Lush green plants, as well as runners and textiles in earthy shades, are original eye-catchers.
• With so much harmony, a few contrasts are needed. Attractive mix of materials in the bathroom: wood with chrome. Also lovely: Mineral casting or ceramics in white with chrome, as well as stone with glass.

“Design Statements” theme: Setting accents in the modern bathroom

Your bathroom will look elegant and high-quality with a specifically placed design. Modern faucets or shower combinations look like objects in a minimalist interior. Or you can indulge in luxury and design the whole room according to all the rules of art.

• Modern design is characterized by reduced shapes and clean lines.High-quality bathroom design is easy to operate and highly functional.
• Organize your belongings in built-in cabinets, shelves, tall cupboards, or sideboards with exclusive surface finishes. Plenty of storage space makes your bathroom utensils disappear, ensures tidiness, and gives you a clear view of the essentials: your design treasures.
• Exclusive eye-catchers are: freestanding bath tubs or sinks, combined with high towering faucets (= Highrisers). A shower area with a large, all-round invigorating overhead shower. A vanity with ingenious push-button faucet. An elegant, designer radiator for towels...
• If you love patterns and material mixes, you’ll love these tiles: colorful mosaics, oriental, geometric, or floral decorations. Gold with marble, glass with stone, cool surfaces in black/white or light/dark. High-contrast colors, materials, and textures bring glamor to the bathroom.

“Extraordinary Architecture” theme: The modern bathroom as a living room

It's wonderful when you can plan a lot of space for your bathroom! In a new building or in a total renovation, dream bathrooms flooded with light can be realized with generous architecture. Trend-setting: when sleeping or living areas merge.

• For a spa feeling at home, have generous solutions installed that extend your range of motion. For example, a freestanding bath tub in the middle of a room or on a pedestal. Double washbasins with designer faucets or faucets that grow tall from the floor. A bidet. A floor-level showering paradise with multiple showers. Likewise luxurious: King-size shower systems with convenient shelves.
• Who says that a bathroom only has to be used for body care? With couches, leather armchairs, or lounge furniture, you can set up relaxation zones and turn your bathroom into a second living room. Thanks to avantgarde design lamps, sophisticated LED lighting, or plenty of daylight, you will never want to leave your dream bathroom again.
• Opulent or cool? Parallel or asymmetrical? Express excellent taste and creativity: with texturing tile walls, contrasting color surfaces, puristic accessories, or a mirror cabinet. Window fronts offer pleasant views into the garden. Why not try a landscape painting or a sculpture?

Would you like even more inspiration? We’ve tracked down the latest bathroom trends for you.

Planning smart: How to furnish your very own modern bathroom

Does your bathroom have its theme? Fantastic. Then here are a few frequently asked questions that occupy many builders or renovators.

• Do you have a small bathroom? No matter. You can fake size with mirrors. Lots of light can be conjured up with sophisticated illumination (LED strips, mirror lights, halogen spots), even in bathrooms without windows. To make optimal use of every square centimeter, you can, for example, install a rectangular bath tub under the pitched roof. Use concealed installations so the faucets don't appear “bulky.” Flat shower and bathtub controls are embedded in the wall. This looks elegant and provides freedom of movement even in small spaces. Or you can do without the bath tub, and instead build yourself a modern shower with a lavish rain shower. Place your towels on wooden ladders or rung radiators. If you place a vanity on a base cabinet, you get storage space underneath. Here, too, the faucet can be laid under the grout in a minimalistic manner. High cupboards and built-in cupboards make bathroom utensils disappear and clean up the small bathroom. You can also enlarge it visually with a light wall and floor color.
• Shower on weekdays, bathe on Saturdays? Need a shower AND a bath tub? Understandable. Both have their benefits. But which bath tubs and showers are convincing in the modern bathroom? The freestanding bath tub is the epitome of luxury and sophisticated bathroom culture. The playful lionfoot variant, a square, boat-shaped, or oval form: Everything looks grandiose in the large, modern bathroom. Stylish addition: a bath tub faucet rising high from the floor. The corner bath is a space-saving solution for smaller bathrooms. Nevertheless, make sure that it fits your body size and offers space for more than one sitz bath. The practical shower cabin never goes out of fashion, but tends to get bigger, more comfortable, and more luxurious. Whether it’s staged in the middle of a room, on the wall, in a wall niche, in front of a window, or in the corner depends on taste and bathroom architecture. Highly fashionable: transparent showers with glass/plexiglass all around. This can be curved, angular, or spiral. Whether with or without chrome fittings: Glass provides a clear view of a modern shower system, for example with overhead/body spray showers or minimalistically flat concealed faucets. Dreaming of a walk-in shower? There are models that can be entered from multiple sides. Sometimes a discreet glass partition provides splash protection; purists can even do without glass. Avantgarde variant: the shower you can walk into directly from your bed. In open shower paradises, you can set exciting highlights with modern tiles. Incidentally: Walk-in showers are not only an aesthetic gain. Since they have no stumbling blocks, they are the ideal foundation for a future-proof, multi-generation bathroom and for age-appropriate living.
• Have you discovered some splendid tiles and don’t know how to lay them where? Whether discreet-natural, Oriental-playful, or youthful-fresh: Bathroom tiles offer infinite decor and design possibilities. They are eye-catchers in the bathroom, and hopefully you won’t get tired of them for a long time. In practical terms, they are an important splash and mold protection for walls and floors. With small mosaic tiles made of ceramics and/or glass, you can set beautiful accents on the shower, sink, bath tub, or in a niche. Classic tiles are increasingly giving way to tiles with a wooden plank look and marble floors. You can line your walls and floors with large natural stone tiles, for example: slate, granite, or sandstone. With their natural grains and structures, they bring this original “hygge-ness” into the bathroom. Whether porcelain stoneware or tiles in a wood look, whether half-high or tiled up to the ceiling: All is permitted that pleases. And that’s easy to clean. Sure, you can do it without tiles: “Naked” walls can often be found in the modern bathroom. If you like it cool-puristic, you can rely on a trendy concrete look in gray or natural shades.

Bathroom planning with hansgrohe: More advisor articles about modern bathrooms

• Want to plan and build a completely new room? See how you can design your bathroom totally according to your wishes.
• Want to modernize an existing bathroom? See how to renovate your bathroom in an uncomplicated way.
• Which shower and bath faucets will you use? Discover the many advantages of exposed installations. Not only do you exchange and install them in no time, you also don’t have to drill the tiles for them.
• Which lavatory faucets match your bathroom theme? In our purchase and style consultation around the faucet, you will find appealing possibilities.
• Which sink goes with which faucet? In the hansgrohe ComfortZone test, you will see how you can perfectly combine sink and faucet.
• Here you will find ideas for the installation of a floor-level shower. And: further planning tips for a modern, open-plan bathroom.