What’s YOUR Vacation Room?

Completely coincidentally with the shift in the temperature, I visited with new clients yesterday to assist them with some re-design projects at their home. I say coincidentally because one of the rooms receiving attention is a grand indoor swimming pool room that smacks of winter fantasy escape to the tropics! Yes, a vacation room – where you create an environment that makes you feel that you have escaped the winter’s chill and gathered your family for a vacation of fun in the pool!
The strength of the architecture, massive exposed steel roof structure, lots of windows, great volume, and neutral deck was virtually a clean canvas. Cabana-like dressing rooms and ¾ bath all were ripe for a simple face-lift to bring it into a timeless spa-like retreat. Crisp whites punctuated with a cool marine blue called to me – appeared to me- as I took it all in and imagined the transformation from the far end of the pool.
Classic and traditional a bold blue and white stripe of durable, ultra-violet and mildew resistant acrylic fabric is the ticket for drapes flanking all window and door openings. Place prominent palm trees around the deck and voila! But let’s think about how the rest of us without such a magnificent indoor environment might create a tropical getaway in our own lives without leaving home.
While we want most of our home to insulate from the cold and offer reprieve with warm colors and textures…Calgon said it best “take me away,” as a bathroom can be designed to suggest a setting with a sense of luxurious escape. A spa-like retreat in which you can lean back and immerse in a deep bath, listen to the Blue Hawaiians play “Sway” as you sip a delicious iced Daiquiri while the hot-hot-hot steam fogs the windows, and moistens the palm fronds of the verdant plant leaning in toward the tub.
So take a look at your bathroom and envision that exciting destination and fantasy that will take you away for a refreshing, warm and relaxing retreat from the winter doldrums. Cheers!