Bathrooms have a wonderful design irony in that because they are so restricted and tethered to the practicality of bathing solutions, they are often the place in a house where an interior designer often ends up being their most creative.
Nowhere is this more true than in the bathrooms of the rich and famous.
The combination of only having to actually use them for a small part of their year, huge amounts of money and being able to show off in a room typically treated as the most personal sanctuary in the home leads to some truly unique creative expressions.
Here are some of the most fascinating, for better or for worse.
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Jayne Mansfield
A strikingly intelligent woman playing one of the ditziest Hollywood personas ever, Jayne Mansfield’s life is rich in questions, striking imagery and mystery.
All three of these were highly evident in the bathroom of the infamous Pink Palace. Whilst the heart-shaped Jacuzzi at the centre is the centrepiece, the pink marble backsplash, the huge bulbous pink lampshades and the floor-to-ceiling carpets are certainly a unique choice.
It was every bit as lavish as it was completely impractical. Carpet is a very bad choice for bathrooms, especially thick shag carpeting like this, as it can become a haven for damp and mould.
Black, blue and green do not go well with pink in this case, which would mean a lot of extra maintenance, but given that she had managed to get a lot of suppliers to send her furniture and fittings for free by leveraging her immensely popular image, maybe she could afford the added work.
Sadly she would only enjoy the Pink Palace for a decade before dying tragically young in a car accident in 1967.
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Jennifer Aniston
The Friends actor who was part of one of the most famous will-they-won’t-they stories in sitcom history has a beautiful bathroom that is both completely ridiculous and wonderful at the same time.
The bathtub is square, made from marble and features brass fittings, but its biggest selling feature is a giant window overlooking a walled zen garden, complete with plenty of hanging foliage to create a place of quiet, private contemplation and the ultimate luxe spa feel.
It was such a head-turning bathroom that it became the backdrop for the host of The Morning Show to claim a Screen Actor’s Guild Award.
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Drake
One of the greatest uses of monochrome design in a bathroom, Drake’s Toronto home is a symphony of black and white marble patterned floors, black marble walls and vanities and a black marble bath, all accented with gold features and accessories.
It also features a full-length floor-to-ceiling window for gazing out into the beautiful Canadian landscape.
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Sienna Miller
In actress Sienna Miller’s guest house, there is a bathroom that is the definition of claustrophobia. Featuring a cramped shower and unsettlingly uneven green walls alongside traditional rustic shower fittings, it can feel deeply unsettling to be in there.
Given that the purpose of a bathroom is to provide a peaceful sanctuary, this feels like something of a misstep, and one would hope that her main bathroom is far better than this.