Modern bathrooms 2020: Modern bathroom design with Villeroy & Boch
Family business Villeroy & Boch has been providing high-quality ceramics and modern bathroom design with style and class for more than 265 years. We know that quality is timeless and outlasts all trends. That said, one of our traditions is moving with the times – and always presenting our customers with new ideas and innovations.
Start thinking about tomorrow today if you are looking to refurnish, remodel, modernise or renovate your bathroom. What do you need, what are your dreams, what is on your future wish list?
Read on for inspiration, information and practical tips on modern bathroom design. Find out what characterises modern bathrooms and learn about the bathroom trends that 2020 has to offer.
What characterises the modern bathroom?
Spacious, lots of light, a harmonious bathroom design and all the luxury you could want – modern bathrooms are a far cry from the narrow, tiled wet rooms of earlier generations, which were designed to be practical above all else. Nowadays, liberality is clearly the trend. The modern bathroom is a place of relaxation and recuperation – a room in which you can happily spend time rebuilding your energy and drawing new inspiration.
Contemporary bathroom furnishing and design creates open spaces that you can feel and experience with all of your senses, rather than just your eyes. Perhaps a luxury walk-in shower, a freestanding bath, beautiful tiles for the walls or warm wood flooring. With an attractive, harmonious colour scheme, clean lines and transparent materials, you can create spatial depth, even in a small bathroom. Well-designed, innovative bathroom suites – featuring a rimless toilet, a slimline shower tray or a hot tub, for example – turn the modern bathroom into an oasis of wellbeing. Plus, with smooth surface finishes like the CeramicPlus technology from Villeroy & Boch, which repels water and dirt, your new bathroom will be extra hygienic and easy to clean.
The Villeroy & Boch virtual bathroom planner helps you through the design phase, by allowing you to try out various arrangements and immediately get started with specific plans for your new bathroom or private spa. You will also receive a warm welcome at any of our bathroom showrooms: see what a modern bathroom can offer you – both today and tomorrow – and collect ideas for your own dream bathroom. You can also let our experts advise you on planning and designing a bathroom in 2020.
Modern bathroom innovations by Villeroy & Boch
DirectFlush – The new generation of rimless toilets
The rim of the bowl in a traditional toilet is one of the hardest places to clean properly – even a brush and toilet cleaner don’t always do the trick. But a rimless toilet with DirectFlush can be cleaned and maintained with minimal effort and no residue, and is especially economical thanks to its flushing volume of 3 or 4.5 litres of water. Its innovative, rimless design means that the entire inner bowl is fully rinsed with every flush, right up to the edges. These modern toilets with attractive, timeless designs can be easily integrated into any bathroom and are particularly easy to clean and maintain.
TitanGlaze – A matte glaze for particularly fine surfaces
Matte shades are one of the key trends in interior design, including for bathrooms, where they provide a timelessly elegant look. Our innovative TitanGlaze finish not only gives sinks, showers and baths an exceptional look and feel, but is also especially scratch- and impact-resistant. As a result, the surfaces maintain their beauty for many years, looking as flawless as they did on day one even after intensive use.
Timeless, seamless, limitless: Modern bathrooms for every generation
Another clear standout bathroom trend, which predates 2019 is that of level access, open bathrooms, in which people of all ages feel right at home – singles, couples, families with small children, older people and people with limitations or disabilities. In addition to a lavish ambience, these modern bathrooms offer plenty of comfort and freedom of movement for your daily bathroom rituals.
The bathroom needs to suit the person, not vice versa
When planning and designing your bathroom, consider that your requirements may change over time. As in the rest of life, there should always be enough room in your bathroom for familiar habits, nice changes and necessary alterations.
Perhaps you plan to have children and want to ensure the bathroom is particularly safe and easy to clean, while also offering you and your partner plenty of luxury for your daily relaxation. Or, if the children are already grown up and have moved out, many couples take the opportunity to fulfil the long-cherished dream of having a comfortable luxury bath for two, and use the regained space to install a sauna, hot tub or create a private spa.
Knocking through a wall is not always necessary to gain this new space. Taking out the scarcely used elements or replacing them with newer, more suitable ones is often all that is required. For example, if you enjoy showering frequently but rarely run a bath, you could replace your old bath and shower with a modern, large luxury shower. Or you could part ways with your scarcely used, outdated shower unit and have a large corner bath or freestanding bath installed with all the extra comforts. Your new bath can be integrated into the existing bathroom furnishings however you wish, perhaps with a colour-matched coating or a customised tiled surrounding wall with steps and plenty of surface space around the bath.
Ideas and trends for modern showers
Walk-in showers are features in many modern bathrooms. They provide convenient access to the shower area, without having to climb up a step or over the tray’s edge. The flooring can be made to match the rest of the room or can be consciously set in contrast to it with another colour or surface. Treat yourself to some luxury with a Quaryl® shower tray, a material with a smooth, non-porous surface that maintains its unique gloss for years. Its excellent acoustic insulation and natural non-slip properties make it ideal for walk-in shower installations in modern bathrooms.
In new builds, installing walk-in showers is usually seamless. This is more difficult in older buildings because of old conventions for floor and ceiling structures (wood-beamed ceilings, for example). If the floor structure doesn’t provide enough space for a shower with completely level access, modern slimline shower trays are a good alternative. Plan as much space as possible for your new luxury shower – perhaps a standing area measuring 120 cm by 120 cm or even larger. Depending on your taste, pick out transparent shower walls (foldable glass walls, for example) or an opaque partition to act as a splash guard.
Flooring for modern bathrooms – Beautiful with or without tiles
You can also seamlessly renovate your bathroom floor without removing the old floor tiles by applying a microcement coating. Once multiple layers have been applied and spread by a specialist company, this waterproof and highly resistant material boasts a smooth concrete appearance in its natural state. The surface can then be altered as you wish, perhaps with marble effect paint or a non-slip texture. This fine cement is extremely versatile and suitable for use on shower walls, shelving, sauna areas and even furniture surfaces – for a bathroom paradise that flows seamlessly.
Do you love beautiful tiles? So do we! That’s why we offer a wide range of classic and modern tiles that can be perfectly combined with seamless design ideas. Large-size floor tiles immediately make small bathrooms appear more modern, spacious and inviting – whether they are matte, high-gloss, or finished with a popular stone, metal or wood effect. On the walls, you could combine a wall mosaic with a traditional, silky smooth oil-based plaster (e.g. tadelakt or Venetian plaster) – and for the floor, warm wood can be paired with extra-thin, high-performance underfloor heating.
Smart technology for modern bathrooms
Intelligent technology designed with people in mind results in modern bathrooms with the highest degree of safety and comfort. Here are three more exciting ideas for a relaxing bathroom with smart technology.
Enticing lighting
Looking for more light in a windowless bathroom, the right lighting for every setting, or simply better lighting in certain areas of the bathroom? With new lights, illuminated mirrors and mirror cabinets, a smart lighting system or bathroom furniture with lighting – perhaps from our Finion collection – you can visually restructure the room and alter its atmosphere to your heart’s content. Lights that can be operated individually provide bright light in the morning to help you wake up, wash and apply makeup, but cosy lighting in the evening so you can relax, take a bath, read or enjoy a cup of tea at your leisure.
Lighting systems controlled via an app or remote control can produce up to 16 million colours with just one energy-saving light source, setting the mood in your bathroom to fit every situation. Many intelligent light systems (LED panels and strips, for example) can also be upgraded without having to install new cables, switches or dimmers..