The bathroom is where you begin and end the day – it’s important that it’s a space where you can feel clean and calm. Personally, I believe that the best bathrooms are ones that feel open and airy, full of light, to start the day with a feeling of a fresh start. Likewise, it’s important that the lighting fixtures are appropriate for a nice atmosphere in the evenings before bed. That’s why this week we’re bringing you a master bathroom transformation – to show you just what a difference design can make!

The Before

The original bathroom was alright. There was nothing wrong with it, so to say. But it was all one-dimensional. Nothing about this bathroom excited me. I really did not like the way that the drapery fell over the windows – there was too much fabric and the color did not really match the general atmosphere. The built-in bathtub was very large, giving a feeling of luxury – but it wasted a lot of space and made the entire bathroom feel smaller. The warm lights combined with the pale yellow wall color made the whole room feel yellow – which is not the ideal color for a bathroom if you ask me. Something about the color scheme made everything feel outdated. One look at this bathroom and I knew that a drastic transformation could take place – and it would be one that would be worth it.

The Design & Process

When first designing this bathroom, I knew I wanted to opt for a more neutral color scheme, focusing on whites and greys – this would look beautiful with natural lighting and feel very clean. To begin, we painted the walls in Farrow & Ball Pavillion Gray #242 as our starting point. The next thing we wanted to tackle were the floors. The bathroom is one of my favorite places to experiment with tiles, because there are so many areas where tiles are appropriate – on the floors, around the shower, etc. I chose an array of tiles for the floor, the shower, and some detail work. I wanted to play with different patterns, to ensure the final design had a lot of texture and dimension, unlike the original. 

Additionally, I wanted to ensure that the whole design featured lots of little details – this would help keep the eye fluttering across the room, while still holding true to a simple and clean design. One of the areas I was able to achieve this was in the shower. I chose a classic white and grey marble tile for the majority of the shower walls. But I wanted to create a little arched wall niche in the shower – the perfect place for soaps and toiletries. This little alcove was such a great opportunity to get patterned tiles in, this time in mosaic, the same as the shower floor. My contractors did a fantastic job creating this arch – truly only a real stone craftsman can produce something this perfect, because it involves cutting and shaping all of the stone/tile manually. I’m always so grateful to have the best team!

I also managed to get a lovely texture incorporated into the custom vanity we had built for this bathroom. I love the diamond shapes in the doors and the way that the drawers are installed – slightly unconventionally. I think there’s little more luxurious than having two bathroom sinks, so that’s what we opted for. We chose to have a freestanding tub to create more floor space and open the bathroom up – additionally, we opted for glass shower doors rather than curtains to keep the space feeling airy. 

We sourced the mirrors and vanity lights from Restoration Hardware, with the vanity lamp shades custom made in my workroom in gray silk by Fabricut. To really tie the entire design together, we chose to use roman shades which really elevates a room. We used linen from Pindler & Pindler and hand-embroidered decorative tape from Samuel & Sons to tie all the patterns together. Unlike the previous shades, I made sure that these were not bulky, but rather lay flat. Lastly, we installed a toilet from Toto (my favorite place to source toilets) and had chrome hardware installed to match the metallic of the mirrors. All of the plumbing supplies, faucets, and fittings were from Rohl in polished chrome.

The Finished Bathroom

I am incredibly proud of how this bathroom turned out. I think it feels elevated, clean, luxurious, and bright…truly the best place to start and end each day. I think the two bathrooms are so radically different, you may not even tell that they were once the same bathroom!

If you are interested in renovating a bathroom in your house – let us help you! Head to our services page to book your free consultation today.