Is your bathroom a relaxing haven where you can soak away the stresses of your day? Do you have an array of tea-lights in holders in the bathroom to give your end-of-day soak an ethereal ambiance? Or, is your bathroom purely utility - designed simply to have a quick shower and shoot off to start your 21st century lifestyle? Bathrooms can be anything you want them to be.



When my children were little, our bathroom was designed as a novelty, kiddies' paradise - or, at least, I think designed is too exact a word. My children took the bathroom over with their water toys and other paraphernalia. That is far nearer the truth! However, we did agree on a dolphin theme - we had a toilet seat with dolphins dancing around the seat, dolphins on the shower curtain and on the bathroom rug, dolphins were also on some of the wall tiles and the light pull had a handle in the shape of a dolphin shape.

As the children got older, this theme took on a more sophisticated approach. We still had dolphins on the tiles, but the tiles had been renewed during that time and the dolphin theme now illustrated dolphins jumping out of the water on the beach at Koi Samui, with palm trees wafting in the breeze. The shower curtain had been replaced for a more esoteric one which read 'I am beautiful' in lettering all the way down the length of the curtain. Apart from that, the toilet seat and light pull remained. The children have now left home and, due to disability, we are having the bathtub removed and a disabled shower fitted. The dolphins dancing in Koi Samui are being replaced by plain white tiles and I expect I will find a new shower curtain, although I haven't looked yet. We are not totally getting rid of the dancing dolphins though: they are being carefully removed from the bathroom wall and will be reset on the wall in the back lobby area near the back door.

The point I am making here is that your bathroom should be reflecting you and your family and needs to evolve as your family grows. Many homes have more than one bathroom: a family bathroom and an en-suite. They should be so lucky! My home is just too small to accommodate more than one bathroom. Bathrooms can be all things to all people, depending on your taste, your lifestyle and your budget. You could go for whirlpool bathtubs [I hate them], a Jacuzzi, a large freestanding bath that is almost deep enough to swim in, or a corner bath which is ideal for a small bathroom.

You can be spoilt with choices when it comes to showers: over the bath, free-standing shower stall, a tiled wet room. Then, of course, you could have a bathroom which is fitted out with bidet - a great innovation if you have a disability or, you could do as many Spanish people do and have the washing machine plumbed into the bathroom. The choice for bathroom décor is endless and only limited by your taste, imagination, budget and the size of your property.