Page 605 - Demo

(Michael Cuiccio Photo)Looking at Living from Brown stone BrooklynE T lo a t InBY JEANNETTE WALLSFew people make it the center of a house warming party and you seldom see shots of it on TV, but to many the bathroom is the favorite room in the house.It is also probably the most practical. I came to this conclusion when I was locked in the kitchen for five hours. It made me realize that I%u2019d much more willingly eat in the bathroom than the alternative I was faced with. Traumatic experiences belling us, the bathroom is seeing quite a renaissance, and in the past few decades, has, so to speak, come out of the closet.Reading in the bathroom is a tradition. So is writing. Many famous writers say they do some of their best work there%u2014 literary work that is. In a recent book on graffiti (Handwriting on the Wall by Ernest L. Able and Barbara E. Buckley) it is stated that lavatories are the only places where most people loose the majority of their inhibitions. But in loosing inhibitions, people are vulnerable.Perhaps this is why the image of the old %u201c W .C.%u201d is aspiring to change from chamber pots to plush mirror-covered parlors. If you%u2019re going to be vulnerable, be so where you%u2019re most comfortable with it.Though she%u2019s rather young, a friend of mine says she still remembers using an outhouse. %u201c It was always so cold and dark,%u2019%u2019 she said. Now, in her own Carroll Gardens apartment, she%u2019s pouring quite a bit into her bathroom. %u201c I%u2019m buying a lot of rugs and mirrors and a tapestry to hang in there. It%u2019s so important for me to have a nice looking bathroom. I think they%u2019re great places.%u201dAnd so goes the sentiment of many home decorators. Contractors say that it%u2019s not uncommon for people to put several thousand dollars into a bathroom and a few reported local figures going as high as $10-$12,000. (These figures often mean that the homeowners had fixtures imported from overseas).Mirrors, plants, floor-to-ceiling tiles and huge sliding glass doors are popular, and fairly recent additions to the bathroom. Phone companies report that the number of phones installed in bathrooms has %u201c more than tripled%u201d in the past ten years.Playboy magazine recently carried pictures of bathtubs (though the title hardly fits them) that were glass cylinders complete with infared heat and ultraviolet lighting and ran as much as $6,000.Sunken bathtubs are probably the biggest rage at the present. My guess is because a sunken tub resembles \but the AMA isn%u2019t too pleased with them. The combination of wet feet and slippery soap have led to a large number of bathroom accidents. (So have blow-dryers in water and dancing in the tub. But in defense of the place: I%u2019m told it%u2019s the best place to be in case of an air raid; the pipes keep the roof from coming down.)Other bathroom brainstorms are organizers in the shower (they save messy^-1-------- i:_t %u00ab %u2022 %u25a0 ' iv u iv u tv u iu u c c a u u ic ib / a im one that I%u2019m still marveling at: four infrared lights installed throughout the room to dry off the bather instead of towels. It%u2019s neater, much faster, and pleasantly futuristic.Around Brooklyn, several homeowners showed class with such luxuries as steps leading up to the tub, a wall covered entirely with little mirrors (it does wonderscontinued on page 14Novemoer 9,1978, THE PHOENIX, Page 13