Interiors: Get inspiration for bathrooms from vintage design

Murals, aged brass, digital control — combining old with new can give your bathroom a fresh yet classic look

Old meets new in this Manhattan washstand from Catchpole and Rye. See below for an expanded view of this stylish retro bathroom washstand.

A deft combination of new fashions and heritage style dubbed Soho is freeing us from expectations of what the classic bathroom should look like. Period bathroom lovers can enjoy sumptuous colour, most new tile collections, plus all the modern bells and whistles of a smart digital bathroom. What we’re avoiding is old fashioned, ie too twee, an effort on Downton glamour — a dire spectacle that nods to the 1980s, not 1880s.

Radical, modernist Bauhaus-style fixtures and tiling was mixed up with polite, Edwardian suites into the 1950s. Today a well-chosen cast-iron bateau can float out on any great floor tile, alongside understated Villeroy and Boch rimless loo. There’s still so much Art Deco in every crisp, new bathroom. If you long for the jazz of the 1920s, you’re closer than you think. Keeping the silhouettes simple, there’s room for easy stylistic marriages. Get it wrong and wall-hang a busy, traditional toilet pan? An unnecessary, aesthetic car crash.