Bathroom Balances Classic Style With Sparkle and Stripes
A designer outfits 2 sisters’ new bathroom with timeless tile and cabinetry plus some glamorous and preppy touches
Another decision left up to the girls was the wallpaper. Verga proposed 12 options that she thought would work well, and the girls picked their favorite, a fresh botanical floral print from Brooklyn, New York, designer Rebecca Atwood. They also chose the sparkly light over the vanity. “This light adds some glam,” she says. “We downplayed it with the more modern sconce, which has a matte brass finish.”
Hardware is another element that would be easy to replace in the future. “This hardware is so cool,” Verga says of the brass pulls and oversize Lucite knobs. “We mixed metals by using chrome faucets. Metal is for shine, and we balanced polished and matte finishes.”
Expanding the Room and Shower Stall
She borrowed about 10 square feet from an adjacent bonus room to accommodate a generous double vanity. The wallpapered beam over the vanity area marks where the wall used to be.
Browse blue botanical wallpapers in the Houzz Shop
Hardware is another element that would be easy to replace in the future. “This hardware is so cool,” Verga says of the brass pulls and oversize Lucite knobs. “We mixed metals by using chrome faucets. Metal is for shine, and we balanced polished and matte finishes.”
Expanding the Room and Shower Stall
She borrowed about 10 square feet from an adjacent bonus room to accommodate a generous double vanity. The wallpapered beam over the vanity area marks where the wall used to be.
Browse blue botanical wallpapers in the Houzz Shop
Verga replaced the existing tub-shower combo with a roomy shower with a frameless clear glass enclosure. The floor tile in the shower is a smaller version of the oversize Calacatta marble hexagonal tiles on the bathroom floor. This mixes things up yet maintains continuity.
“While they wanted neutral, this family is also kind of preppy. So we created oversized stripes in the shower using tile in a way that wasn’t too bold,” Verga says. They used a combination of small hexagonal tiles and elongated subway tiles, both in white for a subtle effect.
Shop for hexagonal tile
“While they wanted neutral, this family is also kind of preppy. So we created oversized stripes in the shower using tile in a way that wasn’t too bold,” Verga says. They used a combination of small hexagonal tiles and elongated subway tiles, both in white for a subtle effect.
Shop for hexagonal tile
To preserve the integrity of the stripes, the designers used a vertical shower niche instead of a horizontal one. Verga made sure that there was plenty of space for two young girls to store everything they’d need in the shower. Beneath the niche is a Calacatta marble bench that matches the vanity top.
Takeaways
Takeaways
- For a bathroom’s longevity, add personality with art, wallpaper, lighting and hardware while keeping more permanent elements, such as tile, classic.
- Use the same tile material in different scales to maintain a cohesive look.
- Talk to your designers about sizing the shower niche and show them all the things you’ll need to store there.
- Consider replacing a tub-shower combo with a roomy shower — it may keep the kids out of the master bathroom.
Read more about making the decision to ditch the tub
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who uses it: Two sisters
Location: New Jersey
Size: 72 square feet (6.7 square meters)
Designer: Mimi & Hill
Their bathroom was a tight squeeze for these two tween girls, which drove them into their parents’ master bathroom all the time. “My clients were not having it anymore with that, so they decided to renovate the girls’ bathroom,” says interior designer Miriam Silver Verga.
The parents wanted to keep the bathroom classic and timeless so that it would fit in with their Victorian-era home in New Jersey. But the girls wanted to add some sparkle and fun. The designers at Mimi & Hill happily stepped in to help bridge the goals in the full renovation.
A Versatile Style Balance
“It was important to their dad to keep the house true to its 1800s Victorian architecture. But we knew that things like wallpaper, lighting, hardware and art would be easy to swap out if they should ever want to sell the house. We chose a calm, neutral and classic palette for things that would be harder to replace, like the tile, vanity and countertops,” the designer says.
The vanity has Shaker-style doors and a Calacatta marble countertop and backsplash. The tile is a mix of Calacatta marble on the floor and white in the shower.
“In order to make things not so neutral, I presented this flamingo photo by Gray Malin early on in the process,” she says. “We needed to make the room young and fresh and relevant to the girls.”
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