Livinghouse

Iconic bathroom scenes in movies: how a makeover may have changed the outcome

Google the phrase ‘iconic bathroom scenes in movies’ and you’ll be rewarded with numerous results including Buzzfeed.com and Empireonline.com’s chosen top 10s. Browsing through the choices, we can’t help wondering if the movies’ outcomes may have been slightly different if the bathroom decors were more appealing.

Keep clean and carry on

Take the Bates Motel in Hitchcock’s Psycho, for instance. If bath shower screens adorned the baths instead of curtains, Marion (Janet Leigh) might survive Norman’s (Anthony Perkins) frenzied knife attack. Well maybe not, but she would at least have a fighting chance and a much better shower experience. A large shower head wouldn’t go amiss either.

Shower screens bring a touch of glass, oops, we mean class to any bath, don’t you agree? They’re also knife-proof and easier to clean than curtains.

Blaringly obvious

A simple, water-resistant wall mounted TV would spare us and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) from Vivian Ward’s (Julia Roberts) tuneless rendition of Kiss in Pretty Woman. Surprisingly, Edward doesn’t find her dubious singing a deal-breaker or a turn-off. Neither does it relegate her to the ‘avoid’ category in ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid?’ In fact, she does pretty well out of it as we recall.

Selfishly we would prefer Vivian watched TV rather than sing in the generous bath that accommodates her 44” legs. Granted we’re talking 1990, but surely the esteemed Beverly Wiltshire Hotel would have some kind of TV in the bathroom, even back then? That hideous yellow portable music player would of course now be an iPhone or iPad with an App to take care of Vivian’s tuning issues.

Caught in the act

No wonder Ted (Ben Stiller) gets painfully caught up in his zip in Mary’s (Cameron Diaz) bathroom in There’s Something About Mary. Just look at that wallpaper. Talk about distracting.

Now if you must have wallpaper in the bathroom, make sure it’s waterproof and make sure the pattern doesn’t camouflage the essential fixtures and fittings. Otherwise you could be subjected to more than just the irritation of putting the loo seat down.

Bloodbath

Nothing says you’ve made it quite like a beautiful period-style bathroom with a freestanding roll top bath. However, this doesn’t give others the right to just drop by uninvited and disturb your sacred bath time.

In Fatal Attraction, Beth, the long-suffering wife of Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) has an unexpected bathroom play-date with Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). Well, if you will hook up with a colleague whilst your wife and daughter are away, you’ve only got yourself to blame, Dan. Let’s just say it doesn’t end well and that ultra-white bathroom, complete with shower curtain, sees red. And you know how we feel about shower curtains.

If your bathroom is as dated as these movies, drag it into the 21^st Century with a modern spin on the traditional or an ultra-contemporary bathroom from Livinghouse.