How to child-proof your bathroom: tips from Ideal Standard Every parent knows bathing your little ones can be a great bonding activity, but like everything you do with your child, accidents can also happen too.   Over one million children under the age of 16 attend A & E departments as a result of accidents in the home every year, with over 10% of these accidents occurring in the bathroom, say Ideal Standard. . The great news is that there are lots of quick and easy measures you can put in place to make your bathroom child-friendly. To that end, Ideal Standard and parenting expert Lucy Atkins, author of numerous parenting books including First Time Parent, have teamed up to create some handy tips to show you how to help prevent unnecessary accidents and create a safe environment for family bath time. 1. Avoid scalding. Many bathroom accidents occur from hot taps and water, with over half of all scalds in the UK happening to children less than five years of age. A baby or child's skin is thinner than an adult's and will scald very easily. Always check the temperature by dipping your elbow (not your hand, which may be less temperature sensitive) in the water. The bath should feel the same temperature as your body. Take it one step further knowing your child can play happily with the water as the bath fills up, by fitting an Ideal Standard Thermostatic control tap such as the Thermostatic Shower Mixer, RRP £490. This keeps the brassware cool and safe to touch, whilst the temperature limit stop control allows the water temperature to be set to a certain level. 2. Prevent small fingers getting crushed. Small fingers can be easily trapped by knocking the toilet seat down during active play around the bathroom. An Ideal Standard Concept soft close toilet seat has a resistance function that allows children to feel grown up by putting the seat up and down themselves, closing slowly without slamming shut to avoid any accidents. The Ideal Standard Concept seat and cover (slow close), is available at RRP £100. 3. Be vigilant. Never, ever leave a baby or young child alone in the bath, even if you're using a special baby bath seat and if your baby can sit up alone - even if you're just 'nipping' for a nappy or the phone. Drowning is one of the most common causes of death in babies and young children. A baby or child can drown in just an inch or two of water, so it's best never to take the risk. 4. Make sure dangerous items are out of reach. Storage is really important for keeping all medicines and bathroom cleaning products safely tucked away from inquisitive hands. Seemingly harmless adult items such as razors, scissors and bleach can pose serious safety risks to children and nowadays bathroom storage can be beautiful as well as functional. The Sottini furniture range offers a number of high wall-mounted storage solutions to keep potential hazards safely out of harm's way. Prices start from RRP £320 – what's more, you can get units that don't even look like cupboards! 5. Avoid slip ups. It's fine to put even a small baby in a normal bath as long as you hold them up and support them fully (the water should only be a few centimetres deep) – but put a non-slip mat in the tub to keep your little one securely seated in your grip. For extra safety, the Ideal Standard First bath has a lower step, with a height of just 48cm, 7cms less than an average bath, making it particularly easy for small children to get in and out. The lowered height also allows easier access to the child when bathing them. Paul Frankish, UK Marketing Director for Ideal Standard, commented: "By putting a few simple and easy safety measures in place, parents can have the peace of mind to relax and enjoy bath time play with their children, comfortable in the knowledge their children are protected".   Call 01482 346461 for more information. Website: www.ideal-standard.co.uk/ Bathroom trend predictions for 2010, from Dolphin Dolphin Bathrooms always likes to keep one step ahead – not just with products and service – but also by being the first on the high street with the latest trends. Geoff Wells, bathroom planning expert at Dolphin, looks at the key emerging trends for the bathroom in 2010: A palette of colour Used correctly, colour not only transforms a faceless room into something spectacular but it can also change our perceptions of its actual shape and size. Whilst natural colours are the most versatile colour choice for the bathroom, 2010 will see adventurous homeowners opting for a palette of more decadent coloured tiling. Loved by fashionistas, bright, vivid hues such as red, blue, emerald green, terracotta and rust, which ooze charm, will start to take the centre stage. Bold, inviting and elegant colours can transform a shy flower of a bathroom into a head-turner, so homeowners should choose the colour that suits their own personality but also fits the type of environment they are looking for. Certain colours affect the natural light: others enhance or diminish space, so be guided by the qualities of the room itself. With these considerations in mind you’ll have the confidence to create a truly individual scheme. Modular furniture Modular furniture will play as much a part in the bathroom in 2010 as the bath, basin and toilet, as storage becomes a priority. Bathroom furniture won’t be about cramming as much storage in to the space as possible, it will be about choosing beautiful, practical key pieces and utilising them in a stunning and effective way. Not only do cabinets hide the sink plumbing, but they’re excellent storage spaces and are also another way to bring style and originality to a bathroom. It won’t matter the style of the bathroom, the addition of some well thought out wall-hung furniture is an extremely good way at creating a modern minimalist look, especially where space is limited. With more people choosing mirrors that lay flush on a wall versus traditional-style medicine cabinets, selecting a piece of furniture to house toiletries, cleaning supplies and other items will be the key important factor in 2010. Texture 2010’s all-important look will be sophisticated and more about texture than accessories. As well as colour it will be all about texture and this trend looks set to run and run. Textured bathroom wall tiles will add depth, definition and interest to any room, creating a finish that looks great in either contemporary or traditional settings. With increasingly longer working hours and busy family lives, the bathroom has become an important area to create a relaxing environment and truly enjoy some 'down time'. Moving towards elegance and glamour, inspired by palaces and stately homes, with an emphasis on comfort, Damask designs and floral pattern repeats are currently the most popular look as they can create a boudoir look. Texture for the walls is both bold yet delicate and will create a desire to ‘touch’. Baths The fashion for freestanding baths is one that just keeps on going and going, making it still a hot trend for 2010. The key is to choose one that'll make a stunning statement in the bathroom, as it’ll give any room an incredibly indulgent feel. Bathing has always been about more than just personal hygiene, and the modern bathroom is no exception with a freestanding bath creating the perfect excuse to turn your bathroom into that much craved after spa-style space. If you don’t have the budget for a freestanding bath, why not try and create the look by positioning an inset bath in the middle of the room but add some stunning and eye-catching tiling to the sides to make it standout as a real centrepiece. Wetrooms The hot trend for 2010 is to create an experiential bathroom and at the forefront of this is the wetroom – the ultimate in bathroom opulence and relaxation. With style conscious homeowners increasingly taking the opportunity to pamper in their own pad, luxurious shower fittings and features such as body jets, shower columns and sophisticated showering controls are set to be introduced to create a ‘home spa’. Still best fitted by experts and more versatile than just having a shower tray/enclosure, the wetroom allows the showering area to blend in, creating a feeling of space and openness. Plus, by truly making the most of the room available, wetrooms can often also add value to the home. Call 0800 626 717 for more information. Website: www.myebook.com Joie de vivre from Hansgrohe's new PuraVida range of mixers and showers The renowned design studio Phoenix Design has collaborated with Hansgrohe to develop an entirely new, lively and flowing design language culminating in the innovative PuraVida range of mixers and showers. . The subtle emotionality, soft naturalness and clarity of PuraVida turn the bathroom into a living area that can be enjoyed with every one of the senses: "Bathrooms are increasingly regarded as living areas and individual design ideas will continue to assert themselves", explains Tom Schönherr, co-Managing Partner with Andreas Haug of the award-winning design studio Phoenix Design, which has been enjoying successful collaboration with Hansgrohe for more than twenty years. "More form, more emotion – PuraVida introduces comfort and calm for the senses to the world of bathing. The goal was to design something we can experience and understand with our senses: poetic design full of feeling and joie de vivre". Apart from the comprehensive range of mixers and showers for Hansgrohe, Phoenix Design has also developed a new range of ceramic and bathroom furnishings for Duravit with the aim of consistently integrating the bathroom as a living area. As a result of co-operation by Hansgrohe, Duravit and Phoenix Design, PuraVida now represents a perfectly co-ordinated and exclusive range of bathroom interior based on consistent design principles. "A wonderful challenge for achieving a perfect symbiosis of form and space", is how Tom Schönherr describes the range. A new kind of luxury With a combination of white lacquered surfaces and shiny chrome, the Hansgrohe PuraVida range of mixers and showers introduces the new dual-finish principle to the bathroom, whose elegance and clarity reflect true and subtle luxury. Organically-shaped undersides in clear white interplay with generously-proportioned and shining chrome areas. Thanks to a new manufacturing technique, these two surfaces merge seamlessly, representing a sign of high-quality perfection – and not only as regards the PuraVida basin mixer fashioned as a single piece. The colour white is consciously used for the whole PuraVida range as an image conveying purity, lightness and beauty. There are no aggressive corners or sharp edges. Instead, pleasantly round, soothing shapes radiate comfort and safety, and invite the observer to touch them. The spray former disappears in the underside of the spout, giving the impression that the water appears to come from nowhere, flowing into the basin as a calm and clear laminar jet simply picking up on the overall pure appearance. The jet angle can easily be adapted by just moving it with the finger to the respective basin shape. More form, more emotion and more innovation Harmonious bathroom design through to the shower and bathtub area is assured by the Hansgrohe PuraVida range thanks to the availability of numerous mixer models for both surface-mounted and concealed installation: from thermostats through to 3-hole mixers to projecting, base-mounted mixers for the bathtub. Matching PuraVida accessories and a no less comprehensive shower range offering hand showers, overhead and side showers as well as a new and slim bar-shaped hand-held shower element complete the Hansgrohe PuraVida range. Gently-rounded edges, quality flatness and the combination of bright white and shiny chrome create exciting contrasts and sensual lightness, while the generously-proportioned PuraVida overhead shower provides the ultimate in showering pleasure. Its shower head is produced by merging two high-quality zinc die-cast halves. It appeals for its unusual flat rectangular shape which, with a width of 400 millimetres, perfectly follows the silhouette of the bather. The new EasyClick push-button converter integrated in the hand shower silhouette facilitates intuitive selection of the three different spray types via a simple click feature. Thanks to Hansgrohe AirPower technology which injects the water with air, a soft rain spray and a vitalising mixed spray ensure pure showering pleasure. For the very first time, the Hansgrohe PuraVida hand shower also enables bathers to enjoy a slow yet powerfully caressing massage spray generating finger-like and intensive massaging movements on the skin thanks to five whirl jets. As the technology is integrated in the design, this enables the product to depart from classically rounded shapes. Accordingly, the PuraVida hand shower appears to form a single solid unit representing an emotional and “tangible” design in every sense of the word. These features also convinced the iF Design Award jury who presented awards for the hand shower and overhead shower as well as the Hansgrohe PuraVida basin mixer. Digital showering pleasure Picking up on the clear design language of the PuraVida range of mixers and showers, the new Hansgrohe RainBrain electronic shower control feature also received one of the famous iF design prizes in 2009. Thanks to an innovative coloured touch-screen, it offers digital operating comfort in the shower as well as representing an ideal supplement to the PuraVida shower family and high-end shower systems. Thanks to clear and large-sized pictogrammes, operation is intuitive and practically child’s play. Furthermore, all of the functions can be individually set up and saved for up to five people. As an optional extra, main functions such as water temperature and start/stop can also be set at the rotary knob which is pleasant to the touch. Musical entertainment is provided via Bluetooth from an MP3-player or iPod directly transmitted to the Hansgrohe RainBrain shower controls. The smooth, white mineral glass touch surface has a chrome-coloured frame giving it a light and elegant appearance, thereby enabling the independent and clean design to reflect the shower control concept: high-tech and complex features translate into a digital lifestyle which is easy and convenient to avail of. Call 01372 465655 for more information. Website: www.hansgrohe.co.uk