Inside design: Dee Dee Taylor Hannah

Dee Dee Taylor Hannah is a one-woman design force to be reckoned with. She is arguably one of Toronto's preeminent architects -- her company, Taylor Hannah Architect, designs everything from retail stores to lakeside cottages, leaving no drainpipe or doorknob unconsidered. She's also president and partner in Montclair Construction, a company she often uses to execute her painstaking plans. Finally, Dee Dee, who squeezes in cohosting HGTV's Love By Design, also lends her trademark timeless elegance to her clients' decorative schemes. It's quite a full life, but despite an enormous workload and ambitious expansion plans, she somehow manages to find time for a break, often in her own bathroom retreat. Who better, then, to inform us about the latest trends and how to translate them for our own bathrooms?

S@H: It seems that today we use bathrooms for more than just bathing -- they're more than mere utility rooms. Is that true?
DH: They're used much more for recreation and relaxation. People are looking for restoration and family time. There's so much destruction in the outside world and so many threats to our serenity that we want to protect our families and our health. Bathrooms are a place of indulgence. We're seeing bathrooms made with more room to put a chair or an ottoman. There's a place to sit when you're watching the kids rather than perching on the edge of the bath or toilet. Or you have a glass of wine while your partner's in the bath. You steal away to the bathroom. It's a place of refuge.

S@H: How does this broader use change the look of a bathroom?
DH: In architecture school we were taught that if you had a five- by eight-foot room, you could do a bathroom. Today, that would be considered very utilitarian. We want more space in our bathrooms. Bathtubs are also getting bigger so that families can bathe together. There are now Japanese soaking tubs available that are four feet around and very deep. There are air tubs that create a very sensuous experience with constantly percolating, bubbling water rather than the more direct jets of water in a Jacuzzi. Even showers are getting bigger. I just did one that had a rain shower coming down the middle and multiple jets positioned around the sides. It was big enough to have a bench in the stall so that you could have family shower time, if you wanted.