One of the most striking aspects of Emerald’s luxurious villas are their sumptuously ornate and expansive bathroom mirrors. Great for that Instagram snap after you’ve just finished getting ready to enjoy the day in your fashionable resort wear.
Best of the Maldives: Curvy Sink – LUX North Male Atoll
World Sculpture Day today. In the Maldives, one of the most common places for sculptural aesthetic are the luxurious bathrooms in the super premium properties. I’m a bit of a sink aficionado, so I was immediately enchanted by LUX North Male Atoll’s sink which combined a long, sinewy faucet over an elegantly carved wooden basin.
Slinky sink.
Best of the Maldives: Water Closet – Joali
Bathrooms are so critical to buyer appeal that they are the number one room in the house for remodelling return on investment. Maldives bathrooms in the top properties have become quite lavish affairs with sculpted tubs set in pride of place with stunning views. But even the most lavish still sequester the toilet, affectionately known as the “water closet”, in pretty non-descript cells. Joali has gone to unmatched extents to model their WCs with striking style. The lavish loos are lined floor to ceiling with green Norwegian marble. And the light turns on automatically when you open the door so there is no fumbling around for the light switch in the middle of the night.
Bodacious bog!
Best of the Maldives: Glass Sink – Cocoon
The bathrooms in Cocoon come with a different type of view. The design is really enchanting and in a way is its own variation of “floating furniture” with the water seeming to hover over the floor below.
Best of the Maldives: Bathroom Sink Stand – Drift Thelu Veliga
A mixture of whimsy gives Drift Thelu Veliga’s sink stands a natural outdoor look indoors by dressing up their plumbing with roughhewn woodwork to give the impression of a Hobbit powder room. Adventure and imagination in every nook and cranny.
Best of the Maldives: Kids Bathroom – JA Manafaru
Maldives kids clubs are packed with miniature versions of the amenities their grown-up parents enjoy during their stay. One of the focal points of luxury in the resort villas are the lavish bathrooms. And JA Manafaru is no less accommodating to its kids club patrons with a restroom designed with their pint-sized scale in mind. A great example of knowing your customer and optimising the customer experience. I bet the kids feel like great big boys and girls when they use the Manafaru loo (and I felt like the Jolly Green Giant).
Best of the Maldives: Over Water Bathrooms – Kandolhu
Kandolhu puts the water in the “water closet”.
During the past couple of decades that we have been visiting the Maldives, the tubs have gotten larger and the showers more decadent. The bathrooms have emerged from being tucked away to standing out with al fresco opulence. These days villa bathrooms have become almost mini private spas with their lavish design, bountiful space, and luxury fittings. Kandolhu resort exemplifies this trend with their over water villas whose bathrooms exemplify the flair of the resort’s contemporary design with its soaring airy motif, clean lines and crisp styling.
Best of the Maldives: Drench Sink – Shangri-La Villingili
What I get to uncover on my Maldives tours are the smaller details that really give a resort distinction. While the resort PR departments are all keen to promote their latest Michelin star chef or butler concierge service, these smaller touches are just as likely to impress the guest with a bit of “wow” factor. As any designer will appreciate, it’s the fixtures and fittings which set a property apart.
If imitation is the best form of flattery, then Shangri-La Villingili’s drench sinks get that highest praise. Lori and I have just sold our house and we are about to embark on building our next dream home. Of all the creative and extravagant features we have found in the luxurious world of the Maldives resorts, the one I am going to steal for our next house is Villingili’s sinks.
Drench showers are starting to make their way to the top resorts. They are the latest in the evolution of a sybaritic soaking that started with the introduction of power massage showers and then moved onto rain showers. I’ve seen several of the drench showers, but Villingili was the first drench sink I’ve come across. There is something deliciously sensual about a wafer thin sheet of water cascading silkily over your hands. An unsung water feature in the land of exceptional water spectacles.
Best of the Maldives: Elegant Jacuzzi – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru
The Queen’s Birthday today. Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru’s palatial Landaa Estate features a truly regal Jacuzzi fit for a visiting queens with its Aegean brown marble. I also love the disappearing wall French doors to give bathing Maldivian monarchs a maritime view.
Best of the Maldives: Wood Sink – Soneva Fushi
No wood week can go without a nod to Soneva Fushi and its all natural aesthetic. One of my favourite features was this ligneous lave at its main restaurant restrooms.