When you ask folks what luxury in the home means to them, they tend to respond with the usual suspects: marble countertops, designer chandeliers, or even a six-burner gas range. (For me, there is nothing luxurious about a kitchen, but that’s a story for a different blog.) 

 

Glossy magazine covers and celebrity home tours set the bar for luxurious aspiration, from regal furnishings to custom closet designs. However, I’d like to suggest a different candidate for the most luxurious feature in your home.

 

Plumbing.

 

Yes, the unglamorous network of pipes, valves, faucets, drains, and tanks all quietly working behind your walls and under your foundation. Without it, your marble-clad bathroom would be just a room full of stone (at least we can hope). Plumbing is the backbone of comfort and health in the home, and the fact that we barely notice it is the very definition of quiet luxury.

 

A Cold Dose of Reality: The 2021 Texas Power Crisis

If, like me, you lived in Austin during the 2021 Texas power crisis, you know what it’s like to lose the necessities we take for granted. After severe winter storms, millions of Texans lost electricity, heat, and running water. It wasn’t just uncomfortable. It was dangerous. There were injuries and even deaths. Political arguments are still smoldering about it years later. But amid all the chaos, we all got a sobering reality check.

 

We live in an age where modern home systems, especially plumbing, have made our lives lavishly luxurious. When those systems go down, the gap between what’s “normal” and “primitive” becomes shockingly clear.

 

A Short History of Modern Plumbing

If you are reading this, it’s safe to assume you have showers and tubs in your home, multiple sinks, and flushing toilets. While the idea of not having running water in your home feels like something from a primitive century long ago, the luxury of plumbing is historically very, very new, even here in the United States.

 

For thousands of years, the idea of any form of indoor plumbing was a luxury reserved only for royalty. The first known flushing toilet belonged to King Minos of Crete more than 2,800 years ago, complete with a wooden seat. The idea disappeared for centuries, until Sir John Harington built a “privy in perfection” in 1594 for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I, and another for himself. Unfortunately for him, he also wrote a pompous book of off-color jokes about the invention. The ridicule that followed meant he never built another one. Even more unfortunately for everyone else, it would take a few more centuries for the concept to catch on. 

 

In the early 1900s, plumbing in America was undergoing big changes. Indoor plumbing was spreading in cities, but not everyone had it. By the 1920s and ’30s, toilets, bathtubs, and sinks were becoming more affordable and standardized, but they were still special features, and many homes still had outhouses. In rural areas, it would take decades before plumbing became the norm. It’s wild to think that just 100 years later, we can’t imagine a world without the convenience. 

 

My Own Plumbing Appreciation

I was born in 1970, so I’ve lived entirely in the age of modern plumbing. As a result, I haven’t seen seismic changes in the technology itself, at least not compared to the leaps from outhouses to indoor flush toilets. Things like lighting and textiles, on the other hand, are evolving at rapid paces. 

 

During my years in New York City in the mid-1990s, I lived in apartments built between the 1890s and the 1930s. The most updated building I lived in was built just after World War II. The best I could hope for plumbing-wise was a tub-shower combination and a single sink that may or may not drain properly.

 

While my plumbing situation was adequate, I spent my days working as an interior designer in homes with grand bathrooms complete with walk-in showers outfitted with built-in benches, steam generators, rain heads, body sprayers, and heated floors. Toilets in their own private rooms. Soaking tubs were large enough to swim laps in. 

 

Since, I have designed even more grand and elaborate bathrooms (many of which are larger than my old New York apartment). I, however, still live in an old ranch-style house with original 1970s tile, fixtures, and fittings. 

Do I pine for more? Sometimes, especially when working within these beautiful bathrooms. I’d happily have an outdoor shower or a steam bath in my own home. But when I look at the history of plumbing, I’m grateful for what I have. It’s still a massive improvement over the recent past. A luxury even. 

 

Bathroom Design Priorities

Many of the items we should prioritize in the bathroom, like a flushing toilet or running sink, have been cemented as the status quo. So, we tend to spend a great time searching elsewhere for even more luxuries to prioritize. 

 

During the 1900s, wealthy households were the first to install showers, marketed as health-promoting devices (mainly for men). They were something to show off as much as enjoy. Today’s luxury bathroom upgrades, like saunas, steam rooms, and rain heads, play a similar role. Just as showers became common over time, I imagine that one day, heated toilet seats and steam showers might be as ubiquitous as a standard sink.

 

The decorative side of bathroom design changes in subtle cycles. Sometimes the focus is on storage, large vanities, built-in niches, clean white tile, and slab walls. Then the pendulum swings toward openness, pedestal sinks, colorful and patterned tile, boldly veined marble.

But through all the trends, one priority stays the same: a focus on comfort.

 

Why do we like to spend so much time in the bathroom anyway? 

 

The Bathroom is a Private Sanctuary 

The bathroom is our most private room, the one place in the house where lingering is socially acceptable. This makes them more than just a functional space. They’re our little sanctuaries. 

 

My father used to retreat to the bathroom with a book and a pack of cigarettes. For me, a long shower is the perfect place to let my mind wander, solve design problems, or simply listen to a good podcast.

 

Like plumbing itself, privacy is not just a luxury. It’s essential to social health. Relationships thrive when individuals have space to themselves. Bathrooms give us that space. They allow us to step away, regroup, and return to our daily lives more present, more patient, and more ready to connect. It’s a space to take a long shower and fully appreciate the gift of modern plumbing. 

 

Plumbing: The Real Luxury

I like to poke fun at the over-the-top bathrooms some clients covet, but in truth, the bathroom’s role in our lives is profound. Even the most basic plumbing setup is a monumental improvement over what humans lived with for most of history. It supports hygiene, but it also provides a dedicated space for self-care. 

 

The next time you admire a beautiful bathroom, remember that its truest luxury isn’t the marble or the chandelier. It’s the running water, the flushing toilet, and the hot shower that make the room.

 

So before you splurge on a bathroom design, thank your toilet.