A new year can herald a sudden flutter of DIY project plans, with bathrooms often at the top of the list. Now, more than ever, bathrooms have to deviate from just a practical place for daily routines. Offering everything from spa escapes to family splash, dressing or makeup zones, bathrooms are taking the brunt of family life.

Today, we take a look at the most common and predicted trends for 2024 and how they’re already making their mark on bathroom design.

Cosy comfort

Soft furnishings may have been disregarded previously, but rugs, art and plants feature heavily in bathroom design. Rugs are beneficial for denoting areas for dressing or adding comfort near spa bath areas.

Pictured above – Louis De Poortere, Gallery Shapes collection, 9370 Secret from £205 (100x140cm), Louis De Poortere, louisdepoortere.com

Sustainable options

From water conservation to choosing the right materials and pampering products, sustainability and ethical design remain heavily within bathroom projects. Granorte has long understood and promoted the benefits of choosing cork for walls and floors. Its Nuspa washbasin and bath promote how this sustainable and renewable material can be used as an alternative to traditional bathroom ware.

Pictured above is Granorte’s Nuspa Freestanding Washbasin Sigma from £699 (750x400x150) granorte.co.uk

Back to earth for colour inspiration

Whether it’s warm terracotta’s or coastal sands, the outdoors is inspiring calming bathroom aesthetics. The ability to provide this wider connection with the natural world results in a relaxing aesthetic that appeals to multi-generational living.

Pictured above – Moodboards from Moduleo – left Board Walk / middle Sand / right Tidal Wave featuring Moduleo Roots range.

Stone without the cold feet

Contemporary tile, terrazzo and marble typically offer the cold shoulder when it comes to foot comfort, but with vinyl, laminate and cushion vinyl floors providing a realistic alternative to solid, you can ditch the unpractical and keep with style.

Pictured above – left LeoLine, Diamond XT, Stomboli cushion vinyl from £28 per m2, LeoLine. Pictured middle Quick-Step Illume, Oyster Concrete vinyl from £47.99 per m2, Quick-Step, and right LeoLine, Comfytex PU, Balmani cushion vinyl from £23 per m2, LeoLin.

Pattern alert

Bathrooms often take on a clean, crisp palette, so breaking up the space with colour and pattern can help add character and a signature style. From geometrics, terrazzo and checkerboard, flooring offers homeowners an easy way to update existing bathrooms.

Pictured above left LeoLine, Aspire, York 99 cushion vinyl from £21 per m, middle Moduleo Roots Fiastra 46534 from £35.29 per m2, Moduleo and right LeoLine, Atomic XT, Treviso cushion vinyl from £28 per m2

Top bathroom tips for 2024

• Make the most of measuring and sample services to help perfect the look while keeping on track with your budget. More planning will help you to make better long-term purchases.
• For flooring, look at how your room will be used and whether you’ll use underfloor heating. Future-proofing your room with easy-to-maintain alternatives will make it easier to keep looking in tip-top shape.
• Whether choosing towels, robes or accessories, keep a curated look by sourcing accessories and soft furnishings within your chosen palette.

Storage solutions will help keep bathroom areas looking clean and uncluttered. Consider incorporating draws for cleaning and make-up products.

Once considered an added extra, a cloakroom is now essential in all new-build properties or for anyone updating or remodelling their home. It’s a convenient space for guests to freshen up without having to go through the entire house and a necessary facility for multigenerational households. Therefore, it’s no surprise that demand is high for bathroom solutions to suit these tiny spaces. Fortunately, Roca offers a wide – and growing – range of compact sanitaryware and reduced-sized furniture, all designed to help you make the very most of the floorspace available in your cloakroom.

But where to start? Here are a few key things to think about when planning the smallest room in the home.

Choose space-saving fixtures and fittings

When designing a cloakroom, the first step is choosing the right fixtures and fittings. Whether tucked under the stairs or an added extra on a kitchen extension, a cloakroom requires fixtures that are compact and space-saving.

Roca’s The Gap (pictured top and left) is an ideal choice. Its furniture range is designed to include something for all sizes of bathroom, from 1200m double basin vanities to compact furniture that measures just 500mm-wide (see right, in Nordic Ash, £630). Crucially, the compact vanity also projects just 380mm, allowing for more kneeroom if the WC is opposite or next to the basin. It also comes with an integrated basin and two useful drawers for spare toilet rolls.

Go for wall-hung sanitaryware

When it comes to saving space in a cloakroom, wall-hung sanitaryware and furniture is a no-brainer. By mounting the toilet, basin or vanity unit on the wall, you can free up valuable floor space, making the cloakroom feel more open. The most compact WCs from Roca’s Ona collection are wall-hung designs, which project just 480mm into the room. Bear in mind you’ll need a concealed frame to support the WC, but a compact frame is only around 80mm deep.

Select a small basin

In a cloakroom, the basin only needs to be big enough to rinse your hands, so you can go for something as tiny as the Ona wall-hung basin. Measuring just 450 x 260 x 150mm and made from Roca’s revolutionary extra-strong Fineceramic® (a unique ceramic with additional minerals that give it greater strength), its ultra-thin walls allow for maximum hand washing space in a small bowl.

If you have space to team your basin with a vanity, it can be invaluable in reducing even the limited amount of clutter liable to gather in a cloakroom. An excellent example is the Ona compact vanity, which has a side-mounted tap to allow for more usable basin space and measures just 450mm (see below). And the best part about wall-hung pieces? They’re easier to clean around, as there are no awkward corners or crevices to navigate – a definite bonus in a room you may be cleaning daily.

Above: Ona 450mm single-door vanity with basin in Light Oak, £656.

Maximise storage space

While you don’t need to store anything like the number of items needed for a family bathroom, some storage is still useful in a cloakroom for spare toilet rolls, cleaning products and other essentials. Roca compact vanities include either two drawers or a single cupboard, which is plenty of useable space for these few items. The Mini Pro (see next page) is a great example, as it not only has a cupboard with shelf inside, but also features an open shelf at the bottom. This works both as a design feature and as a place to stash things you might want guests to access easily, such as room fragrance. Not only that, the basin is reversable so the tap can be on whichever side best suits the layout of the room and it has an integrated towel hook on the side to help further save space.

Another option is to install a mirrored cabinet on the wall above the basin (even a shallow one will have enough space for additional toiletries). If you are concerned about people bumping their head on it, you can place it off to one side, as long as the mirror remains useable. Finally, for the smallest of cloakrooms, consider some open shelving. A floating shelf above the WC, for example, will be the perfect spot to stash a fragrant candle.

Above: Mini Pro 465m-wide vanity in Birch, £431.

Stockist: 01530 830080 or uk.roca.com/where-to-buy-showrooms