Continued from Ah, A Home Spa! and Ah, A Home Spa! part 2.

More fun ideas for the bathroom…

Our American design standards could borrow a few ideas and details from our neighbors across the big ocean. I love many fixtures and accessories that in our travels seem to be quite commonly found in European bathrooms. In countries we have visited, most bathrooms contain fixtures and accessories that are not only practical but most often incorporate convenience and “makes sense” technologies.

The American plumbing industry is finally beginning to offer some of these products, and as they become more visible and available, the public will embrace them increasingly.

For instance…

Let’s look at the shower. Now granted, many European showers are so small that if you drop a bar of soap you might have trouble bending down to pick it up! The product I do love is the slide bar mounted hand shower. If the right head is chosen, it should be the only shower head needed. It is not only height adjustable, but is removable for washing feet, the dog, and the shower itself. Voilà- function and nice design rolled into one!

Next, how about the bidet…

Now granted, at first I wasn’t quite sure what one does with a bidet. When in school in Rome for a year, our daughter used to store her towels on top of a platform she placed over it. Space was at a premium and she obviously wasn’t sure of the benefit either.  I must admit confusion when visiting a native Italian friend. There was soap and a scrub brush sitting on the back of the bidet, and a tiny towel bar close by.

Didn’t quite get the picture and probably still don’t! But on our last trip to Spain, we did discover the practicality and other obvious uses of the standard bidet! Very handy for foot washing! Joking aside, I do love bidets now, and wish we had one!

And let’s not forget the standard European flush mechanism typical on top of the tank… the proverbial #1 and #2 flush! “Green,” practical, and water saving indeed!