Waterworks: Inventing Bath Style

If you live outside of a major metro, and you're planning a Victorian/Edwardian/thirties period kind of bath, you're pretty much relegated to choosing things online out of Restoration Hardware and other "period" purveyors. Local showrooms focus mostly on newer-build kinds of installations. A book like this is really helpful in that it lets you get a good look at some lovely period bathrooms. There are several groups of multiple photos of the same bathroom so you can see a material like the tile in all the areas of the installation. I admit to really having been grateful to having had this book when the floor tile I had ordered turned out not to be available and I was caught having to quickly choose something else. The author has a strong bias which I mostly agree with, but sometimes questioned. (She says acrylic bathtubs have it all over cast iron -- the one area where new materials have superseded the lovely old authentic ones).

This book gets into the nooks and crannies of bathroom decorating. Details are abound and you end up learning more than you ever thought you would about the bathroom. From tiles to apothecary, nothing is overlooked. The rooms pictured are flawless. This will not disappoint! A+++

Waterworks is one of the best bath books I have ever seen from a teaching standpoint. The book offers great advice about selecting fixtures, a variety of surfaces and adding accessories among others. Every aspect of designing the perfect bathroom is covered in the right amount of detail. I especially loved the section, "finding creative storage solutions" in a bathroom and the images complement each section to truly bring the bathroom descriptions alive. A must have for anyone trying to remodel a bathroom. Also makes for a great "coffee table" book, sure to start an evening of fun conversations.