Sandy Toes - Ask Angela
ASK ANGELA ~ Angela Goodall
Sandy Toes
From Beach to Bath, planning a traffic pattern for guests enjoying the waterfront into your home is an important part of design in Northern Michigan. These rooms are often not on the main floor of the home but are vital in keeping sand from traveling in and across surfaces that may not withstand its gritty nature.
Labeled on the Architectural Print as Beach Entrance, Lake Room or Beach Bath, this is the room designated for people using the outdoors to enter the house. Typically, there is a spot to change clothing and perhaps shower off, a station to drop beach clothes and towels for laundering or for using the facilities throughout the day. In the past few years, many of my clients have designed the door from the outside into a fully tiled room that has a bench with cubbies and shelving. This area is meant to store a change of clothes as well as beach towels and baskets for outdoor needs (i.e. suntan lotion, bug spray, etc.). The next room this one opens into is a well-utilized bathroom space with a water closet, vanity, and shower. Many residents are also incorporating a washer/dryer and hamper/sorting station to handle the used towels and wet clothing. This approach keeps the bathing suits, towels, sandals, and such in an area set up to handle sand and damp clothing. Guiding your family and guests to enter through this space will save the wood flooring or carpet you may have installed in other rooms of the home.
It also encourages wet bottoms only to sit on the outdoor furniture and not the pieces with more delicate fabrics and finishes used inside. When selecting materials for this room, have some fun. Use pebbles for the floor, teak for the bench and perhaps some fun hooks for towels. Select materials that are water and scratch resistant, such as tile, stone countertops and cabinets floating above the floor. So, enjoy the beach and water knowing you have just the right room to define how far it is welcome into your home.
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