Creating a Modern Rustic Bathroom

Bathrooms come in every shape, size, and style available. There is sometimes some confusion, however, amongst homeowners that like the look of older style bathrooms, but fear that they’ll have to pass up on some of the more modern amenities to capture the style. This isn’t always the case, however. There are times when one can create something like a rustic-style bathroom that is also modern in its function, blending the best of both worlds.

Style of a Modern Rustic Bathroom

The key to incorporating modern and older styles into the same space is to let the style that you want come to the forefront of the design, while the amenities that you choose fade slightly into the background. In this case, the style of the bathroom should take precedence. 

Rustic-style bathrooms are all about texture and material. Lots of natural products including:

• Stone
• Wood
• Wrought iron, bronze, and copper

Should be used throughout the space to help capture the primitive look and feel of the space. Weathered and tumbled stone tiles can be used on both the walls and floor to bring durability and interest to the room. A distressed wood vanity or floating countertop adds additional dimension to the space, while a vessel sink made of copper, bronze, or roughly hewn stone can become a focal point of the room.

These should be the elements that are seen first and foremost in the room; anything else should complement them, but not compete for attention.

Blending Style with Function

A modern rustic bathroom will only look rustic when it’s complete; in fact the room should have all of the modern conveniences and amenities that people have begun to expect in the bathroom. The key is to have them harmonize with the rest of the space whenever possible. Examples of this include:

• Using a rain-style shower head mounted from the ceiling to mimic an outdoor shower experience
• Using bronze, copper, or iron faucets, valves, and accessories throughout the room to complement the materials in the space, without competing with them
• Choosing faucet and accessory styles that are simplistic in design – the key here is not to introduce a competing style. So while you can use a modern towel warmer in the room, the key is to select one that can mimic the look of pipes, such as a European Traditional style, also in a finish like brass or bronze to blend in with the other finishes and materials in the room. Pipes and pipe-style faucets and accessories were once common in rustic bathrooms, so you can easily blend modern conveniences like a towel warmer into your rustic bathroom by paying attention to the style
• Use niches whenever possible, building into the wall, rather than mounting baskets or shelves onto it. This adds more dimension to the room, and makes it appear as though you carved into the space, rather than added onto it. The end result is a room that has the necessary shelving and storage, but with the look of an outdoor ledge

In the case of items such as toilets, which are harder to disguise, simply choose a simple model and replace the toilet seat with a wooden version. This helps it blend in, without trying to pretend it’s something it isn’t.

Embrace Modern Rustic Design

Rustic design is a delight for the senses, but true rustic design can be hard to live with. By combining modern elements such as towel warmers into a more rustic setting, you can get the best of both worlds to help you better enjoy the space.

onlytowelwarmers.com is a family owned business that specializes in selling electric towel warmers.