Bright and Shiny
Baths Return
Bright is back. After years of
matte bathroom fixture finishes,
the bright and shiny bathroom
fixture has returned in all its
gleaming glory. No longer passé,
polished chrome denotes a definitive
turn for bathrooms -- and using
chrome in the bathroom again can
create just the right statement for
your bath retreat.
Selecting finishes
Choosing the right fixture for your
bathroom usually starts with finding
the finish that’s right for your home.
The starting point at selecting a
finish is with the style of the fixture,
whether that’s contemporary or traditional. If you have an old-fashioned claw foot tub, you’d want to select a finish that looks appropriate for a vintage style bath. Accessories are another guiding element in selecting finish. If the lighting and towel bars are brushed nickel, then brushed nickel fixtures make sense. But when it comes to plated chrome finishes, some bathroom styles are natural choices for shiny fixtures.
Design drivers
Bright and shiny finishes are becoming the finish of choice since the introduction of the spa bath. These bathrooms have the feel and appeal of a spa and brightly polished fixtures look terrific here. Likewise, polished fixtures look beautiful in vintage bathrooms and art deco baths. Contemporary bathrooms also are complemented by polished fixtures.
Shiny chrome fixtures have an ageless appeal and this could be the driving factor in its resurgence in popularity. It’s also less expensive than bronze, brass, or nickel fixtures. I think there might be another reason, too: it’s clean-looking. More and more people are looking for that clean feeling in their baths. What’s the drawback to gleaming chrome fixtures? The reason for the appeal – cleaning.
American Standard has introduced a new faucet finish called the EverClean™ Faucet Finish that only requires one wipe and no cleaner according to American Standard. They claim the finish doesn’t require abrasives and resists soap and water from adhering to the surface, making them easier to clean without using an abrasive. If you’re thinking of replacing your faucets or selecting a chrome finish, this new faucet finish just might make your cleaning easier. Polished chrome is a beautiful finish but it does require the extra step in cleaning and that’s the step many homeowner’s neglect but that five star hotels get right.
Final cleaning step
I’d always wondered what it is about a hotel kind of clean that’s so appealing and why a hotel often looks so sparkling clean as opposed to a typical home. The first thing that came to mind is that hotels know all about cleaning. Unlike most homeowners, cleaning is what hotels do every single day. Besides the usual making of beds, vacuuming, scrubbing, and dusting, there’s one final thing that hotels do that most homeowners don’t think about and that’s polishing.
Yes, polishing is the often overlooked “final act” in cleaning. For instance, a tub faucet might be scrubbed with cleaner, then rinsed, and then forgotten during the typical home style cleaning. However, a hotel maid would take the final step and wipe the faucet off with a soft, dry cloth and polish it to make it spot-free. If you have polished chrome fixtures, this small extra step is all you need to keep your chrome looking good and make the finish last longer – and make the whole bathroom look and feel cleaner. My cleaning cloth of choice for this is microfiber because of its polishing ability and because it can take dried splatters, like toothpaste, off easily.
Polished chrome fixtures are beautiful – and with American Standard’s new EverClean™ finishes and wonderful microfiber cleaning cloths – keeping those fixtures gleaming might not be as difficult as it once was.
These resources can help you find more polished chrome bath fixtures and help you keep them looking good.
American Standard’s EverClean™ Faucet Finish
Information on the new finish as well as fixture styles
Restoration Hardware Bed and Bath Catalog
They carry an extensive line of microfiber towels and mops. Their 8-pack of towels has a variety of microfiber towels and includes specialized glass and suede polishing towels.
© 2007 Kathryn Weber, all rights reserved
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender, that calender that puts you in control of your home by ending the power struggle. For more information log on to http://tinyurl.com/d9rh5.
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©2001-2007 Kathryn Weber
All rights reserved.
