Here’s Why Genevieve Gorder Has a Bathtub in Her Office
Genevieve Gorder has a lot going on. The TV personality and “Trading Spaces” designer is now the host of a new home makeover show, Nextflix’s “Stay Here,” that’s all about transforming vacation properties. In the future, she wants to create a series of Airbnbs around the world with her husband, designer-builder Christian Dunbar. Oh, and she has a bathtub in her office.
Genevieve chronicled the renovation of her New York apartment in an HGTV show called “Genevieve’s Renovation.” Some of the big changes she made included combining her apartment with the one next door, and, yes, adding a bathtub to her office. The office has a terrace (the dream of every New Yorker, a private outdoor space), and the bathtub is situated next to the terrace.
Speaking to Harper Spero on the Made Visible podcast, Genevieve explained: “I wanted that relationship with nature and water.” A native of Minnesota, she grew up around lots of water, and water has always had a soothing effect on her. When it comes to your home, Genevieve cautions against focusing too much on resale, or on convention or what other people think. “My house, I’m going to do this and it doesn’t make sense for anybody else, but I’m putting a bathtub in my damn office.”
The idea of home-as-retreat became especially important to Genevieve last year, when she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition that causes the body to attack the thyroid. During this time, Genevieve was particularly aware of the need to rest and take care of her body, and she wanted her home to, as she says it, “be like a mom.” She’s put a lot of work into creating the space, and “it feels to me the safest place in the world. When you do that, you know that you’ve been successful with your home.”
To hear more about Genevieve’s home, her struggle with autoimmune diseases, and what it felt like to come back to “Trading Spaces” after all those years, check out her interview with Harper Spero on the most recent episode of the Made Visible podcast.