Touring a Hilton Head home, a local Realtor said he did a double take when he walked into the bathroom.
“It’s a house that’s got two of these bathrooms and showers and sinks in one,” Peter Geary said. “People are calling it a ‘shoilet.’ Shower-toilet.”
In his decades on the island, he said its the first time he’s seen what interior designers call a “wet bath” or a wet room. It incorporates the sink, shower and toilet all in one cozy space. The bathroom style has been popping up over the Lowcountry in the past two years, according to interior designers.
In the past month, Laura Bischofberger at Hilton Head-based J. Banks Design Group said she’s worked on six of the bathrooms, and has one herself.
To those worried about the toilet getting wet, that’s suppose to happen, according to Bischofberger. Wet baths typically have a drain in the middle of the room.
“They’re fixtures that are meant to be wet,” Bischofberger said.
Though, J. Banks Design Group didn’t design the home Geary noticed the wet baths in.
“It helps with housekeeping and clean-ability because it’s easier whenever everything’s just all in one,” she said, explaining that her chocolate Labrador can walk right in to get the Hilton Head sand washed off.
Bischofberger said in addition to Hilton Head Island she’s recently worked with luxury clients in on Johns Island and Kiawah Island in Charleston to install wet baths, and one of the homes is being sold for $9.9 million.
“(We see them) all across the board because in a luxury home it offers that really elegant, sophisticated look,” she said. “I’ve also seen them in bungalows or cottages because it’s a space saver, and you get that updated look.”
When Geary posted the video of the wet bath online, where it has gotten over 850,000 views and over 2,000 comments. They range everything from “Wait, how do you keep the toilet paper dry?” to “This is so normal in other parts of the world.”
“It’s incredibly polarizing,” Geary said. “You love it or you hate it.”
This tale was originally printed March 6, 2023, 9:09 AM.
Mary Dimitrov is an education and true estate reporter for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. A Maryland indigenous, she graduated from the University of Maryland with bachelor’s levels in journalism and community coverage. Previously, she has spent time reporting in the U.S. Senate for McClatchy’s Fort Really worth Star-Telegram.
