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10 Design Ideas to Steal from Luxury Hotel Bathrooms
What do you do before you plan your trips? For me, I always look to see what hotels are available first. It’s probably because I generally already know what the must-sees are, but at the end of the day, if I can’t come home to a great room, then it’s not really a vacation. I’m probably crazy to admit this, but once I realized this, everything started falling into place.
So of course there’s a ton of information out there, but the good places generally stand out pretty easily: they’re across parks or near major embassies, and almost always near the major museums and shopping areas. But here’s my twist: while I’m checking out the properties online, I always look closely at pictures of the bathrooms. Why? One, because I don’t unwind in the lobby. And two, because in a bath you can really tell how much attention the designers paid to creating the perfect experience for their guests.
I look at everything — the light fixtures, the tiles, the towels, the bath accessories, and the soaps and lotions — and then I take it all in. Does everything belong there? Are there surprises along the way? Is there enough space for toiletries? I keep asking these questions until I can finally imagine myself there. Then I’m ready to look for flights.
Here’s a list of some of the hotels that have most inspired me, and ten great ideas on how to take a little of these special places home with you.
1. If you have a view, keep things airy and minimal.
As Seen in New York Magazine: The Best Hotel Sheets
As we all know, high-end hotels are the best at choosing sheets that are luxurious, soft, and durable, so they look good wash after wash.
New York Magazine’s The Strategist recently set out to find the sheets that hotel insiders loved in a column “The Best Sheets, According to Hotel Insiders.” Featured was the Garnier-Thiebaut’s Nice bedding collection:
It seems they tracked down some of the insiders at the Four Seasons Hotel, New York, Mandarin Oriental, Washington DC, Park Hyatt, Chicago, Ritz Carlton, Key Biscayne, The Inn at Palmetto Bluff, Cheval Blanc, Courchevel, not to mention Per Se in New York, Qatar Airways, and the Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon in Tokyo. One of the most respected names in the hospitality industry, Garnier-Thiebaut supplies linens to some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the world, so it was probably inevitable they would make it on such a list.
Just take a look at their linens:
See the entire Garnier-Thiebaut selection online here.
How to Choose the Perfect Coffee Table
We love working with coffee tables, as they are both beautiful and infinitely practical. Here are some of our best design tips.
1. Generally, your coffee table should be about two-thirds the length of your sofa.
2. A coffee table should either align with the seat of the sofa or be about one to two inches lower.
3. Place your coffee table 18 inches away from your sofa, or any other seating in the room. If it faces a TV stand or fireplace, leave at least 30 inches from the edge of the coffee table for walking around.
4. In oversized rooms, you can often combine coffee tables to create what you need. For a large square, place two rectangular ones side by side. Or get creative and join three triangular ones to form a neat whimsical shape.
Born in Detroit: Grit and Grace from Regina Andrew
What do you get when you combine a stylish artist with a musician in a city full of soul and manufacturing prowess? Regina Andrew!
Founded in south Detroit (the Paris of the Midwest, as they love to say) over twenty years ago, this talented couple has created a very personal collection full of classics with a an edge (modern, rock and roll, funk), so you can use them over and over again, no matter how often you move.
Their first product – a designer doghouse for a charity fundraiser – speaks volumes to their commitment to living a well-lived life and to supporting the local community. They’re also super passionate about the environment. Regina Andrew’s headquarters and warehouses are 100% solar powered, they use as much recycled cardboard as possible, and they transform reclaimed objects into beautiful things.
Always On Vacation: Fine Art Photographer Gray Malin
Living in Los Angeles, we can’t help being drawn to anything that reminds us to spend more time outdoors. And whether it’s in Beverly Hills or Lake Como, images of folks on vacation always make us smile.
Gray Malin and his fine art photographs will do the same for you. The series which shot him to fame, Prada Marfa, is Marfa, Texas (known for its modern art installations) like you’ve never seen it:
The Editors’ Favorite: 6 Ways to Use Clear Acrylic Furniture
With streamlined silhouettes, acrylic furnishings are functional and add no visual weight. Also known as Lucite or Plexiglass, these pieces are clearer than glass and quite a bit lighter. Cleaning is a breeze: just use a soft cleaning cloth and warm soapy water, rinse with clean water, and allow to air dry.
Here in L.A., you see them used at a lot of homes in the Hollywood Hills, Malibu, and in more traditional settings to help lighten the overall scheme or create contrast against more vintage pieces. In New York, almost every new high-end development has them in their model units. And editors at design magazines like Elle Decor and Architectural Digest love them.
What we know for sure: if you stick with well-made pieces, they’ll give any space an instant boost of glamour. Here are some of our favorite ways to use them:
The Instant Decorator: Poolside Project
Inspired by Gray Malin’s photographs at the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club in Santa Barbara, we styled a collection to help you dress up your poolside in minutes.
Just Dropped: The Haas Brothers + L’Objet Collaboration
In less than eight years, artists Simon and Nikolai Haas (collectively known as Haas Brothers) have taken the art world by storm. Known for their colorful, biomorphic, and imaginative furniture, ornaments, and objects, the Los Angeles-based twins started out by making furniture for Tobey Maguire when he was redoing his office at Sony Studios in 2010.
Following this, they landed a slew of high-profile jobs, including designing monster masks for Lady Gaga, outfitting Louis Vuitton Shanghai’s digs with Peter Marino, producing furniture for Donatella Versace, and working on the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. As if that’s not enough, they’ve also shown their work at Art Basel Miami.
Now, they’ve collaborated with Elad Yifrach from L’Objet to create a family of unforgettable, whimsical creatures:
Setting the Table: Celebrating Lunar New Year in Style
If you’re like us, you’ve probably moved way past the heavily sauced Chinese dishes from your younger days and sampled your share of truly spectacular Chinese food.
Today, Hong Kong and Macau have 82 Michelin starred recommendations. And on our last trip to Singapore, the dim sum at Jiang-Nan Chun (at the Four Seasons Singapore) was out of this world. Closer to home in L.A., Chang’an in the San Gabriel Valley shows us how a new generation of Asians likes to eat: in restaurants that are well-designed, specialize in serving premium food, and can just easily welcome the local family of ten as well as the Gucci/Prada/Lamborghini students at the local college.
So if you’re a fan of this next-caliber Asian food, how do you do it justice at home? We’ll show you show. And once you’ve got the hang of it, a Lunar New Year’s celebration, which falls on February 5th this year, is the perfect time to try it out.
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