From making the shower the main event to creating a bathroom that shifts your mood, these design principles are redefining bathrooms as more personal and restorative spaces, says stylist Miaad Latoof
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athrooms have quietly stepped up in the past few years. In 2026, they’re no longer just places to get clean — they’re being asked to set the mood and feel like a true part of the home.I’m seeing more and more clients wanting spaces that are just as thoughtful
There’s also been a beautiful shift towards softer, more organic lines lately, and for good reason. The sweep of a curved doorway or a rounded vanity that immediately calms the senses. Suddenly, all those cold, hard surfaces you associate with bathrooms are softened, and the room feels less clinical, more cocooning. If you’re in the middle of a full renovation, consider adding a statement arch or curved opening; it can completely redefine the space. But, honestly, you don’t have to knock down walls to achieve this. Curves can appear in a sculptural mirror, the edge of a vanity, bathroom accessories, or even just the right set of rounded wall lights. Add in layered, tonal colours and the plushest, most tactile towels you can find, and suddenly your bathroom feels softer, more organic, almost as inviting as your living room.
The Design Principles
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and beautiful as their living rooms, right down to the textures, natural materials, colours and even lighting. There’s also a renewed love of tactility and craftsmanship. I get excited about fixtures and materials that beg to be touched, that age beautifully, and have a real sense of quality to them. Why shouldn’t the bathroom get the same thoughtful treatment?
Design the shower into
the architecture
Some of the details I notice most in elevated bathrooms are the architectural ones — decorative moulding, architraves, panelled detailing and, if you really want to stop me in my tracks, give me an arch over the shower. They give the shower a real sense of presence. They also make the room feel designed, rather than simply fitted out.
Which Elevate Your Bathroom
That We Can’t Get Enough Of
The most inspiring bathrooms create a little sense of theatre — a gentle shift away from the everyday. And, often, that feeling starts with the shower. It’s
one of those daily rituals that can reset the pace of the day. Mira Showers taps into that idea beautifully, balancing thoughtful design with a focus on wellness, while delivering the aesthetics we now expect from our bathrooms. So whether you’re ripping everything out or simply swapping your shower fixtures, these are the design principles I think create that sense of escapism, and will still feel relevant long after 2026.
Turn the shower
into a destination
Showers have often been relegated to an afterthought above the bath, making every step in and out feel more awkward than pleasurable. Yes, sometimes it’s the only way to get the best of both worlds but, today, they’re finally claiming their own space, and it completely changes how we experience the room. Give the shower a little room to breathe, and suddenly it has a presence in its own right.
Designers are leaning into this by treating the shower as the main event. Material drenching can visually set it apart from the rest of the bathroom, while recessed niches and thoughtful storage make the space feel designed around the way you actually use it. But, of course, it’s about more than how the shower looks. If you’ve ever stepped into a dreamy hotel shower, you’ll know what I mean: generous rainfall overhead, with water surrounding you rather than simply hitting one spot. It can transform a routine rinse into something you genuinely want to savour. Trust me, I’m always tempted to stay a little longer.
So how do you bring that feeling home? Look for a shower that delivers on experience as much as aesthetics. The Mira Atom Dual Bar Mixer Shower brings those two ideas together. Its matt black finish gives the shower visual presence, while the overhead deluge and four-spray handset offer different ways to experience the water. But with coloured fittings make sure to look beyond the shade itself. The quality and durability of the finish matter just as much, particularly in a space exposed to water and regular cleaning.
The most inspiring bathrooms
create a little sense of theatre
Move beyond the white-box bathroom
It’s about time we moved past the idea that a bathroom has to be pared-back or clinical. Why leave your personality at the door? I always find myself drawn to bathrooms that feel just as confident and characterful as the rest of the home, maybe it’s an unexpected colour, patterned tile, artwork or a slightly surprising mix of finishes. The new wave of anti-minimalism isn’t about filling every surface. It’s about layering in character and allowing your own taste to come through. Pick details that make you pause or smile, not just what feels safe. Bathrooms can be expressive and deeply restorative at the same time; in fact, it’s those personal touches that make the room feel somewhere you genuinely enjoy spending time in.
Give the bathroom more than one mood
Bathrooms get most of their use at the bookends of the day, yet we often design them as though we need the same thing at 7am as we do at 10pm. I don’t think we do. In the morning, you want clarity and natural light that gently nudges you awake. By evening, you want softness and warmth, a quieter atmosphere that signals the day is winding down.
That’s why layered lighting is non-negotiable for me. Think good task lighting around the mirror, then softer concealed or low-level lighting for later on. And, if you’re simply refreshing the space, my advice is to stop relying on one harsh ceiling light to do everything. Even changing the warmth of your bulbs, adding a dimmer where suitable, or introducing softer secondary lighting can completely shift the atmosphere. The best bathrooms know how to change gear with you — energising when you need it, and calming when you don’t.
Make the shower somewhere you want to stay
Ultimately, all of these details come back to how the bathroom makes you feel when you are actually in it. The shower can be so easy to overlook, yet it gives us something increasingly rare in the day: a few uninterrupted minutes to ourselves. So why should it feel purely functional?
Sometimes it’s the moment that clears your head; other times, it’s where you finally switch off. Either way, the most considered showers create space to slow down and the water itself is part of that experience. Like the Mira Atom Dual Bar Mixer which has a 250mm deluge showerhead that creates that spa-like drenching feeling. Helping you shape an experience around what you need in the moment and create somewhere you genuinely want to linger.