Is the bathroom one of your favorite rooms in the house? If so, you’re not alone. The primary bathroom is frequently listed among the most important features for homebuyers. Increasingly, many are also interested in designing wellness into their space, creating a private retreat in their home for relaxation and recovery. From custom tile work to freestanding tubs, Dallas-metro custom homebuilder Tony Prutch, owner of Homes by J. Anthony, builds state-of-the-art bathrooms. In 2020, Prutch added MrSteam steam showers to his award-winning showcase home.
“Most of our clients are familiar with steam from their gyms,” Prutch said. “They love the luxury of having it at home and the enhancement options, such as the MrSteam aromatherapy system and towel warmers, really complete that spa-like wellness atmosphere.”
Steam showers have long been amenities at gyms and spas, and with good reason: regular steaming may offer benefits such as soothed airways, better relaxation and sleep, improved physical recovery after exercise and more. While it may be a separate room in a commercial space, Prutch says that having a steam shower demo in his show home has been instrumental for sales, showing buyers firsthand how easy it is to use and how discreet it is in the bathroom shower. In fact, the demo was so persuasive that Prutch installed one in his own home and uses it every night.
While Prutch focuses on large custom homes, a great benefit of steam showers is that they can add luxury wellness to any bathroom shower, big or small. Interested in building your own dream bathroom? Here’s three tips Prutch follows to help his clients.
1. Explore the complementary therapies.
The MrSteam family of products includes wellness upgrades to the steam shower, such as the AromaSteam System, which has an injector pump that electronically atomizes botanical fragrances and infuses them into the steam before it enters the enclosure for the most complete and consistent infusion of delightful essences. With towel warmers, audio systems and color-changing lights, MrSteam offers a range of high-tech, comfort-boosting enhancements to make a complete spa package in your bathroom.
2. Select the right sized generator for the space size and the finish materials for maximum efficiency.
For any steam shower, it's important that the generator chosen will be able to effectively fill the space with the perfect amount of steam, not too little and not too much. MrSteam’s formula for the volume of a steam shower is V=LxWxH, which helps you select the ideally sized steam generator that can fill the volume of the space. Get a size match for your next project with the Virtual Spa.
3. Consider materials for form and function.
Prutch says his customers are interested in marble and porcelain for the shower as they both complement on-trend light gray and bright white color schemes. You always need a non-porous material such as tile and marble for the shower walls rather than porous ones such as slate and mesh-backed mosaics. If you aren't sure, expose your materials to a soak-test. If they absorb water, they are porous and will require a larger steam generator.
One of the most exciting prospects as you research the design of your new home or consider remodeling an existing one may be the possibility of having an up-to-date, spa-inspired bathroom. With a steam shower, you can capture that important “wow!” factor – and resale value – that lasts well into the future.
Ready to learn more about steam? Contact a dealer today.