Designing for Art: A Picture-Perfect Bathroom

AFTER

Sometimes designing a room will build upon one inspiration as the room begins to take shape. That is how this particular bathroom came to be.

AFTER

The new owners of this home in Freeland, Washington had a master bathroom with a lot of funky angles and only 2 feet between the shower/bath and the vanity. Although they are currently in good health, they wanted to make the bathroom more handicap accessible to be able to age in place. They wanted to enlarge the bathroom by relocating the small walk-in closet and combine the two rooms into one large master suite.

There were a few things to keep in mind while laying out the new bathroom.

1.     The attic access in the closet needed to remain where it was and we needed it to remain easily accessible.

2.     There was a skylight in the bathroom that was located over the existing shower/tub combination. This needed to remain where it was.

3.     The water closet housing the toilet was to remain where it was as it was accessible, functional, and to move it would cost more money.

Once I entered all the measurements into the computer and started constructing a new layout a few different elements came into play.

1.     Double Sink Vanity:  I wanted the couple to still have a double vanity and it was not going to be possible with the existing angles if we put it on the north/entry wall of the bathroom. The double sinks either needed to stay where they were on the east wall of the bathroom, or they needed to move over to the west wall of the bathroom.

2.     Handicap Accessible Shower: This also needed to be located on the east wall or the west wall. There simply wasn’t enough room to put this on the north wall without making the bathroom seem a lot smaller and chopped up.

3.     If the east wall and west wall were taken up with the usual focal points of the bathroom (shower & vanity), what would we do with the north wall, which was what you see when you enter the space?

It became apparent that the best place for the double vanity would be underneath the attic access. This way a door could still be pulled down and clear the countertop. I also liked the idea of centering the new walk-in shower on the skylight. The only remaining question was what to do with the big, angled north entry wall.

I always try to design a room based on what a person sees when they first enter a space. In this case, the client would see a large, blank wall with an angle in it. We needed to add something to enhance the wall. I asked them if they had a piece of art they would like to showcase and it turns out, they did!

They walked me into a room and showed me a piece that they were trying to figure out where to place in their new home. It was perfect for the new bathroom. Looking at it I was reminded of a tile I had seen a few months previous in Bellevue at Dwellings Tile & Stone. It was a large format called Mojave Blue by Artistic Tile. The homeowners loved the tile and it worked perfectly with the painting. Now this is a tile that is a focal point all on its own and we didn’t want to go overboard with it. We placed it on the east wall behind the vanity and the west wall where you enter into the shower. The rest of the bathroom walls and floor were tiled in soft, neutral colors that subtly compliment the Mojave Blue and showcases the painting, bringing a visual balance to the bathroom. What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER