We’ve long admired this rather visionary bathroom designed by friends. They planned their bathroom to purposefully 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 lectern. Flowers were a pleasing touch.
With all respect, I disagree.
A long box with the door open and a view into the woods and the sea beyond with absolutely no electronics or intellectual distractions is the absolute best place to meditate and clear one’s mind and body of useless thoughts and food wastes, listening to bees bumbling around the wildflowers and birds hoo-hooing at sunrise.
Fie on all that intellectual and electronic claptrap.
We have so few opportunities to grab a moment of peace in our busy lives,
so that when nature forces us, on a daily basis, to sit down quietly, why not embrace that opportunity to both cleanse and recenter our physical and mental selves in order to proceed into the day newborn?
Even sans such an an idyllic outdoor setting, no matter wherever we are,
how much healthier to take a quiet moment to breathe,
meditate or pray in silence than answer emails or check social media?