THE smallest room is the most important. We enter the bathroom dazed and crumpled each morning, and emerge refreshed, alert and ready to face another day. In this era of power-showers, the bath recalls an age when washing involved daubing oneself with perfumed unguents while having a nice little lie-down. Here’s our guide to top tubs:

TWO IN ONE

Many people, when forced to fork out for a new bath, make a beeline for B&Q (www.diy.com). Its bestseller is the Luxury Curved Showerbath, with a curved shower attachment. The bath alone costs £469 (or £389 for the “petite version”), but double that if you want to add all the extras.

SPACE SAVER

Homebase, the nation’s other Bank Holiday hang-out, is proud of its top-selling D-shaped acrylic bath, which slots neatly against the wall, good for flat-dwellers with limited space (£449.99 not including taps, www.homebase.co.uk).

JET POWERED

The Jacuzzi Morphosis Alpha bath by Ripples (£6,495, www.ripples.ltd.uk) is straight out of a sci-fi film. You climb through a hole in the side and submit yourself to be pummelled by bubble jets, soothed by spotlights and serenaded by the inbuilt radio.

LIGHT ON ITS FEET

If your choice is an old-fashioned freestanding bath but want to add a modern twist, the Essex-based manufacturer B C Designs has just launched a polished aluminium bath with ball and claw feet (£2,295, www.bcdesigns.co.uk).

LEGS WITH LEDGES

A more radical version comes from Roca, a Spanish company founded in 1917. The Eliptico Woodline cast-iron bath has cherry-wood legs with ledges on which to stack lotions (£2,379, www.roca-uk.com).

SLIP INTO A SLIPPER

For a truly feminine look, you can’t beat a slipper-shaped bath. www.bathstore.com does a very reasonable one called the Salisbury (£499), with a roll-top and resin claw feet.

GO TO SOAK IN AN EGG

Top points for design savvy and chic must go to the egg-shaped bath, to be found in absurdly expensive spa-hotels. Bathing in the gorgeously minimalist Po-Fiumi bath from Boffi, designed by Claudio Silvestrin, who has worked for Calvin Klein (£20,060, www.boffi.com), is a bit like washing in half of a giant limestone Easter egg.

DOWN ON THE FARM

Fired Earth does a range of elegant baths that would grace a French farmhouse. For a properly deep soak, opt for Le Bain de Bateau — a huge cast-iron tub weighing 180kg (28st) which comes in five colours The vitreous enamelling is five layers deep, applied by hand; it comes with a 25-year guarantee. (£3,750, or £3,450 unpainted, www.firedearth.com).

FUN AND FANCY

Those who like their baths frivolous (and who employ someone else to do the dusting) will love the Glamour bath with ornate Art Deco mirrored surround by Kallista at Bathrooms International (£12,131, www.bathroomsint.com). For an extra £9,000, they will throw in a matching mirror and vanity unit too.

STRIPPED FOR ACTION

You can turn your bathroom into a futuristic fantasy with the Strip bath, by Aquamass for C.P. Hart. It is made from a single, white, moulded sheet of Cristalplant, a recycled mixture of natural materials and resin (£5,585, www.cphart.co.uk).

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