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Bring Your Bathroom Up To Date With Trends From 2012

The internet is packed with a huge number of different bathroom ideas. However, with the Diamond Jubilee, Wimbledon and the London Olympics, 2012 is a year to remember – so why not update your bathroom to reflect the current trends?

Go natural with wood

Bringing the outdoors into your bathroom is all the rage for 2012. Debbie Travis, a Montreal-based design expert who has her own TV series and set of published books, affirms that even though kitchens are going brighter, baths are going the opposite direction, with many natural elements.

“Unless it's a children's bath, you don't want to be confronted with bright colours,” she says. So what is the best way to achieve this modern look? “The soothing, natural, bath trend is coming through the wood-grain ceramic or porcelain tile,” Debbie reveals.

Wood is also a perfect material to add a soft, natural touch to your bathroom. Wood floors are most definitely in and because the planks are of a better quality, they can last in the bathroom. In its new starring role, wood is not only being used on floors but also for sinks and bathtubs. Use salvaged barn board for baths, floors and frames for contemporary mirrors to create a raw, textured look.

In a bathroom environment, it is texture rather than colour that proves the most effective way to provide warmth and visual depth. Metal can work wonders to modernise a bathroom. However, it can also impact a room negatively by making it look cold or even sterile. This year however, metal fixtures are on-trend in finishes like Champagne bronze or oil-rubbed bronze.

Catwalk to bathroom

If the natural look isn’t quite your thing, or if you are fashion-conscious, it may be an idea to bring current catwalk collections to the bathroom. The catwalk is awash with bold, bright colours, which can be teamed with neutrals in a bathroom environment for a more modern look.

Designers’ collections are also brimming with prints, including animal and geometric, and plenty of stripes. As wallpaper has been busy making its comeback, why not combine two current fashion trends and paper one of the walls with some eye-catching geometric paper?

Show-stopping tiles are also big this year. Choose from a vast range of tiles – natural stones, quartz, glass – and install them in shower enclosures or in the floor. Use this style to punctuate a neutral bathroom decorated with white, grey or black. To complete the catwalk look, why not purchase some steel spotlights for the ceiling? To instil more personality in your bathroom, try installing some fun and unique bathroom lighting, like hanging fixtures instead of wall-mounted lights. Pebble Grey offers a huge range of modern lights to cater to every taste.

Eco-friendly countertops

Glass tiles are certainly fashionable for bathrooms this year, but recycled glass tiles are even more so. There are a wide variety of recycled tiles available, such as recycled glass composites and recycled paper and resin composites. As well as mimicking natural stone, they are durable and easy to clean – and better for the environment.