Doug’s bathroom

Hello everyone, Doug here.  Several of you have asked to see more of my new place, so I thought I’d give you a glimpse of another room.  This maybe isn’t the most exciting room to feature, but the kitchen and bedroom still are missing a few things that I want to add before I show them to you.

My bathroom is a classic 5×8 all the fixtures on one wall layout.  I’m sure a lot of you have a very similar bathroom in your house.  Because the layout of the room is so ordinary, I wanted to do some things to make the room a little more interesting.  Prior to renovation the room had standard 4×4 white tile and a nondescript 12×12 floor.  All white and all boring.

The design elements of this room are taken from two bathrooms we designed for clients–one at Lake Martin and one here in Mountain Brook.  I think the one thing that makes the biggest difference between my bathroom and the millions of others out there that look just like it is the arched tub surround.  The lower ceiling height over the tub gets rid of that awkward ceiling space above the curtain and it gives the room a focal point.

The tile inside the tub area and on the ceiling of the arch is a mosaic brick joint Carrara marble tile from Akdo.  I had a waterproof recessed can added in ceiling above the tub which is something that we always do–and you should too–bathroom lighting always feels inadequate without a light in the ceiling above a tub or shower.  Ideally you should switch it separately from the other lights (which I did here).

As far as tile goes for the rest of the room, the bath has a wainscot of Cararra marble to match the tub surround.  Little tiles everywhere would have been really busy (and expensive) so one of our favorite tricks is employed here, cutting 12×12 material in half and installing in a brick joint pattern.  12×12 tiles are usually the least expensive way to buy natural stone so this works well no matter which variety of  stone you use.

Above the tile, 1×4 horizontal planking covers the upper walls.  A 3/4″ half-round piece of trim transitions between the two materials.

Last week when we posted about our favorite pedestal sinks, one of the sinks we featured was the Waterworks Exeter, which is what I have in my bathroom.  To make up for the storage space lost by not having a vanity cabinet, the contractor stole some space from the cabinets in my bedroom and snuck some linen storage behind the door.

The cabinet is just big enough for towels and a couple of canvas baskets. 

To add even more storage, an off-the-shelf medicine cabinet from Pottery Barn is recessed in the wall above the sink.

The light above the medicine cabinet is from Urban Archaeology and the faucet is the Dryden from Delta.

I think the only thing I haven’t showed you yet is the floor, which is actually a big part of the room’s design.  Because of all the white marble and China White painted planking above, it was important to introduce something that grounds all the other finishes in the room.  I had a white marble floor in my last bathroom–it was beautiful but it always looked dirty to me.  In this bathroom, 2×2 Lagos Azul tile, also from Akdo, blends really well with the black brown stain I specified for the hardwoods in the rest of the house and it is a really practical choice too.

The tiny vintage oushak rug is from Paige Albright Orientals.  I think it’s the perfect finishing touch.