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The (Every) Day Spa
The "dream bathroom" in Paul and Kerry Villella's Fairfax home, where bathing is a whole-family affair, goes way beyond a large whirlpool tub to include a shower with four shower heads, three body sprays and floor-to-ceiling clear glass.
(Photos By James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)
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Ask Stephanie Shea-O'Connor, who is renovating her North Arlington home to include a steam shower in one of her bathrooms.
"Our bodies are in need of a little more TLC now that we're in our 40s and trying to hit it a little hard doing sports," she said.
Manufacturers are expanding options to keep up with the demand.
"It's definitely a major, growing trend," said Sean Ruck, a spokesman for the National Kitchen & Bath Association. "One of the ways you can tell something is becoming popular is when the manufacturers take notice."
A quarter-century ago, the hot tub was about as spalike as most homes got. Now there are whirlpool tubs with "chromatherapy" capabilities, allowing the bather to change the hue of the water with the touch of a button. There are heated towel racks, heated towel drawers, waterfalls and footbaths.
"The home spa in a sense is a bathroom on steroids," said Clodagh Aubry, an interior designer in New York.
Builders, too, are taking notice of the rising demand.
The Metropole condominium building at 15th and P streets near Logan Circle is being built with a 25,000-square-foot spa and fitness center run by Vida Fitness. Residents will have free access to the spa, while outsiders will be able to pay a fee to join. The spa will have Japanese soaking tubs, individual lap pools, a tanning room, steam room and sauna.
Five years ago, Rockville-based Mid-Atlantic Builders began offering spa bath options in its single-family houses. At first, Mid-Atlantic included the large showers with dual heads and benches in its model homes as a memory point, that is, a feature meant to attract attention, rather than something that people would actually buy. "We weren't too sure if it was something that people would invest in," said John Lavery, vice president for sales and marketing at Mid-Atlantic.
So many people bought into it that the company now includes the spa bath in its base price.
The showers have evolved over the years. Now they are larger and have rounder edges. They can also be turned into steam rooms by enclosing them with floor-to-ceiling doors, he said.
Of course, it's not cheap to create such luxurious places.
