Of course, with modernity comes innovation: bathrooms are now better ventilated, which allows more fragile furnishings to survive the humidity. A rattan side table will no longer rot and curtains round a bath, backed with showerproof fabric, can be magical rather than mildewed. But the intimacy of an interior in which we are naked and at our most vulnerable has never changed, nor has the human craving for privacy and warmth.

‘Thankfully, bathrooms are now less pared back,’ says interior designer Caroline Riddell. ‘They are central to a house’s design scheme as a place of retreat and indulgence.’ Bright downlighters have made way for kinder, more diffused light provided by wall-mounted reeded-glass lamps and, these days, dimmer switches are increasingly the norm. Caroline sees a clear feminisation in style, particularly now that the loo is more frequently being housed in a separate room (again, just like its previous incarnation as the water closet). ‘We are dealing in mood, in pleasure, in the joy of a long, hot soak,’ explains Caroline. ‘And the experience is a whole lot nicer.’

mamedovaite.com | carolineriddellinteriors.co.uk