What's more unusual—a shower floor covered with strips of wood flooring or a wood flooring showroom where staff participate in employee dance classes and ping pong matches and are encouraged to use said shower? Oh, and the wood floor climbs up on the wall by the toilet, too. "We wanted a 'wow factor,'" said Charles Lee, president of the company, Lumber Mart Sdn Bhd, based in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The room—which has a shower, sink and toilet complete with bidet head—is intended to show Lee's customers that even in humid Malaysia, wood can be used as a flooring material in bathrooms without decaying. The wood, 2¾-inch-wide Burmese teak with an inverted "T" profile, is glued to the concrete slab. The groove between boards is filled with caulk typically used in the marine industry. Lee used steam to bend the flooring onto a wood frame by the toilet. The frame, 4 feet tall and 8 inches from the wall, hides the toilet's water tank. The floor was sanded with an orbital sander while the wall was sanded by hand, and it was finished with Bona Decking Oil. The end result is coolly modern but warm. To Lee's customers, it's also sometimes unbelievable. The architects and designers who visit his showroom think the bathroom is just a showpiece, so Lee says he often must turn the shower on to prove it's a functional design for a Malaysian home. It's worked, too: He's sold the floor design to a number of customers, who can now take a shower with wood underfoot to cool down after dancing, ping-pong playing or otherwise.
Updated Aug. 17 to clarify that the wood was glued to concrete.
