We’ve long admired this rather visionary bathroom of some friends. While they were renovating their space, they planned their bathroom to officially accommodate what most bathrooms do in an ad hoc way: house reading material and intellectual pursuits. They had a nook built into a wall that holds books and magazines. And made sure an outlet was placed so a computer could be plugged in. After they moved in, the hung art on the walls.

Drywall lends itself to inserting nooks between the studs. Our friends clad theirs in wood.

Here’s a bathroom with different solutions to the same needs: reading, art, electronics…

We regret we didn’t think to build that into the Laboratory’s bathroom when we tore it apart. No matter. The simple solution we’ve had for years works. We put a small stack of compelling books on a little stool just the right height for reading. Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers is a perfect bathroom read. Our ipad perches on top when we want to look at it…

…In our old bathroom, we stored books on a pipe behind the toilet and used a little folding camp stool picked up at a flea market as a lecturn.