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‘Climbing Out’ of the box takes vision, patience
by Arpi Nalbandian
October 25, 2011

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During the annual Bathroom Blogfest, bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience. Their posts come from a wide range of perspectives that include sociology, marketing, research, psychology, environmental, customer experience, and user-experience design.

The sixth annual Bathroom Blogfest, set for October 24-28, will bring together more than 33 bloggers and 34 blogs from various industries. This year’s theme, “Climbing Out,” will focus on improving the overall bathroom experience for end-users by bringing attention to the various aspects of a bathroom, including the floors, fixtures, design and architectural, the retail experience, and so forth.

You’ll find the list of participating bloggers below. You can also follow along by visiting the Bathroom Blogfest website www.BathroomBlogfest.com, on Twitter @BathroomBlogfes (look for the tag “#BathroomEXP”), and “Like” on Facebook.

The Bathroom Blogfest began in 2006 as the brainchild of Stephanie Weaver, Experienceology author and consultant, and Susan Abbott, a business consultant and consumer researcher in Toronto.


Ever since I found out I would be a participant in this year’s Bathroom Blogfest, intellectual topics sprinkled with well-timed humor were dancing through my head. And then reality set in.
  • Me: What if I talked about the jaw-dropping products and European designs I’ve seen over the last…
  • Brain: Nah. If you’ve seen one bidet, or claustrophobic shower encasement, you’ve seen them all.
  • Me: Alrighty then. How about the technological advancements seen in tile, such as anti-bacterial properties, the blending of various materials, the mind-altering shapes and sizes…
  • Brain: Look, we both know once YOU set foot at any tile show, you turn into the Tasmanian Devil. You’re like a kid in the proverbial candy store with tile.
  • Me: I know.
  • Brain: So explain to your readers why you’re like that. Why you get so revved up at shows or when you visit showrooms. They can handle it.
  • Me: I can’t, that would be too…revealing. I can’t expose myself like that. What would they think of me?
  • Brain: That you’re human. You’re a busy working mom living with two young boys and a husband who can’t put anything in the hamper if his life depended on it (and the hamper is literally two-feet away)? You’re right, they’ll skewer you.
  • Me: Well wait a minute, not so fast. I think you’re right. I think I will expose myself!
Now I’m sure you’re wondering what I’ll be exposing, so…drum roll, please.

Each time I return from a show, laden with beautifully arranged settings, designer fixtures and worldy accessories, imagine my disappointment when I come home to this:
















Sadly, this is our master bathroom. The bathroom the whole family uses to clean up, bathe, shave…well, you get the idea. With two boys under the age of 10 and a husband who, how shall I put this delicately, only cleans up after himself when he knows he’s in trouble, I’ve given up on doing anything remotely decorative in this bathroom. Everything is just functional. If it works, let it be. Actually, the only thing we have changed since we moved here 11 years ago was the floor tile. The floor used to have a hideous bright yellow tile, installed in a herringbone pattern. Each morning after waking up, I would walk in and wonder if it was my turn to see the Wizard.

Did I mention there are two other bathrooms in the house? One is a guest bathroom, which looks good but needs updating. The other is the “boys bathroom,” for the kiddos. Of course they can’t bathe in there because the tub/shower leaks and there’s a door (which leads to the side of the house) that needs replacing. In the summer, it’s blazing hot in there and in the winter, they’re shivering. Hence, any dreams of redoing our master bath have been put on hold.

In essence, this is the box I literally I want to climb out of because I can’t stand to be in here. Where’s my Zen-like retreat, or my modern spa-like room where I can have a moment to myself? Where are my glistening glass tile backsplashes or my ridiculously large shower with mosaic-accented niches? Where is the promised land of self-cleaning toilets and showers?

Watching HGTV or reading decorator and designer blogs doesn’t help my situation either, it further reminds me of the box I’m stuck with until the boys get older or I win the lottery.





Name Blog Name Blog URL
Susan Abbott Customer Experience Crossroads http://www.customercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/ 
Paul Anater Kitchen and Residential Design http://www.kitchenandresidentialdesign.com
Shannon Bilby From the Floors Up http://fromthefloorsup.com/
Toby Bloomberg Diva Marketing http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/
Laurence Borel Blog Till You Drop http://www.laurenceborel.com/
Bill Buyok Avente Tile Talk http://tiletalk.blogspot.com
Jeanne Byington The Importance of Earnest Service http://blog.jmbyington.com/
Becky Carroll Customers Rock! http://customersrock.net
Katie Clark Practical Katie http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/
Nora DePalma O'Reilly DePalma: The Blog http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog/
Paul Friederichsen The BrandBiz Blog http://brandbizblog.com/
Tish Grier The Constant Observer http://spap-oop.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Hise Flooring The Consumer http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com
Emily Hooper Floor Covering News Blog http://www.fcnews.net/category/blog/
Diane Kazan Urban Design Renovation http://blog.urbandesignrenovation.com
Joseph Michelli Dr. Joseph Michelli’s Blog http://www.josephmichelli.com/blog
Veronika Miller Modenus Blog http://www.modenus.com/blog
Arpi Nalbandian Tile Magazine Editors' Blog http://www.tilemagonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian
David Polinchock Polinchock's Ponderings http://blog.polinchock.com/
Professor Toilet American Standard's Professor Toilet http://www.professortoilet.com
David Reich my 2 cents http://reichcomm.typepad.com
Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond Scarlet Opus Trends Blog http://www.trendsblog.co.uk
Sandy Renshaw Purple Wren http://www.PurpleWren.com
Bethany Richmond Carpet and Rug Institute Blog http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/
Bruce D. Sanders RIMtailing http://www.rimtailing.blogspot.com
Paige Smith Neuse Tile Service blog http://neusetile.wordpress.com/
Stephanie Weaver Experienceology http://experienceology.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore Content Talks Business Blog http://simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/
Christine B. Whittemore Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore Simple Marketing Blog http://www.simplemarketingblog.com/
Ted Whittemore Working Computers http://www.kinneloncomputers.com/
Chris Woelfel Artcraft Granite, Marble & Tile Co. http://www.artcraftgmt.com
Patty Woodland Broken Teepee http://www.brokenteepee.com/
Denise Lee Yohn brand as business bites http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites


Arpi Nalbandian
nalbandiana@bnpmedia.com
Arpi Nalbandian is the editor of TILE Magazine. She brings more than 15 years of experience reporting on all aspects of the floor covering industry. She can be reached directly at nalbandiana@bnpmedia.com. Follow TILE Magazine on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

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  Comments (5)Post a Comment
Title: Bathroom Blogfest


Wow, that's a pretty deep bathroom box to climb out of!


Title: Happy Bathroom Blogfest 2011!


Arpi, you are amazing! Thanks for sharing with us what you want to climb out of. I'd love to figure out a way to virtually provide you with the bathroom & tile of your dreams.... Hmmm. Would 3-d glasses work?

Thanks for being part of Bathroom Blogfest 2011!

Best,
CB


Title: Bathroom Blogfest 2011!


Thanks for your support and comments, ladies!

Actually CB, I think rose-colored glasses would work best. ;)

Arpi


Title: Bathroom Blogfest 2011!


I've been going to trade shows (and showrooms) of all kinds for years and I never tire because like you, when I see something fabulous or innovative, I'm in heaven.

I loved reading about your bathroom. I bet you will now get millions of dinner invitations. Why? Because acquaintances who feared that they could never compete with your design standards, given what you do, will realize that you live the way most of us do.


Title: Fly Link Cars


This looks absolutely perfect. All these tinny details are made with lot of background knowledge. I like it a lot. This was a useful post and I think it is rather easy to see from the other comments as well that this post is well written and useful


 

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