Bathroom of the Week: A Blend of Modern and Classic Style
This New Jersey master bath features a wet room area, a steel-framed glass shower enclosure and traditional touches
Before: The bathtub was hemmed in by the vanity and shower stall, making it difficult to access. “The bathroom was outdated and the shower was small. The bathtub was in an awkward corner and the overall layout just did not work,” Gockeler says. “And when you walked into the room, the toilet was the first thing you saw.”
Tired of having the toilet front and center, the homeowners had installation of a separate water closet high on their wish list. Also on the list were a spacious shower, a separate soaking tub, a double vanity and an open and airy feel.
It was a tall order, and extra space was going to have to come from somewhere to make everything fit in a pleasing way. So the couple decided to give up some space in a large adjacent master closet. This added about 19 square feet for the new water closet.
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Tired of having the toilet front and center, the homeowners had installation of a separate water closet high on their wish list. Also on the list were a spacious shower, a separate soaking tub, a double vanity and an open and airy feel.
It was a tall order, and extra space was going to have to come from somewhere to make everything fit in a pleasing way. So the couple decided to give up some space in a large adjacent master closet. This added about 19 square feet for the new water closet.
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Wet Room Area
Gockeler knew a wet room layout would be a good and practical way to incorporate the open feel his clients wanted. “We had completed several wet rooms in the past, so we were able to speak to them from experience,” he says. And the clients had traveled in Europe, where wet rooms are more common, so they were familiar with how such a layout would work for them. The wet room portion of this space is located behind a steel-framed shower enclosure.
Windowpane door: Metropolis Series, GlassCrafters
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Gockeler knew a wet room layout would be a good and practical way to incorporate the open feel his clients wanted. “We had completed several wet rooms in the past, so we were able to speak to them from experience,” he says. And the clients had traveled in Europe, where wet rooms are more common, so they were familiar with how such a layout would work for them. The wet room portion of this space is located behind a steel-framed shower enclosure.
Windowpane door: Metropolis Series, GlassCrafters
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The enclosure keeps the water from the shower contained within the wet room while letting in natural light from the windows and providing an open view. And Gockeler and in-house interior designer Kim Platt made it a beautiful view with an accent tile niche that serves as a focal point.
Tip: Instead of using an actual paned enclosure, apply the metal grid on top of the glass on the outside of the stall. This way, it’s easy to squeegee the shower-facing side.
Tip: Instead of using an actual paned enclosure, apply the metal grid on top of the glass on the outside of the stall. This way, it’s easy to squeegee the shower-facing side.
Thoughtful Details
The large soaking tub the homeowners dreamed of is an undermount style, surrounded by a Calacatta marble deck and bench. The accent tile niche breaks up the strong lines of the oversize (5-by-16-inch) subway tile surround and has subtle glints of gold that pick up on the finish of the brass faucets and the hints of gold in the marble.
The large soaking tub the homeowners dreamed of is an undermount style, surrounded by a Calacatta marble deck and bench. The accent tile niche breaks up the strong lines of the oversize (5-by-16-inch) subway tile surround and has subtle glints of gold that pick up on the finish of the brass faucets and the hints of gold in the marble.
Note how the nook’s edges line up perfectly with the tile and the way the hexagonal pattern is centered. This did not happen by accident — Gockeler is a stickler for these kinds of details. “A lot of math was done in advance,” he says. Another nice detail is the marble trim around the window that matches the marble on the tub deck and bench.
The window is tempered glass for safety and has obscure glass on the bottom portion for privacy.
8 Tips for Creating Your Own Wet Room
The window is tempered glass for safety and has obscure glass on the bottom portion for privacy.
8 Tips for Creating Your Own Wet Room
The beautiful focal point nook isn’t meant to be cluttered up with a jumble of plastic shampoo and body wash bottles, so Gockeler built in a niche next to the shower heads to keep them out of sight.
Shower and tub fixtures: Newport Brass
Shower and tub fixtures: Newport Brass
New floor plan: The original footprint included the wet room (left) and the vanity area (center). The water closet (right) used to be part of a large walk-in closet and has a pocket door for privacy. This new portion of the bathroom measures 39 inches by 69 inches. The door into the bathroom is located opposite the vanity (center bottom) and the towel rack is located to the right of the door.
Classic-Meets-Modern Style
A classic black-and-white basketweave tile on the floor, satin brass finishes and Shaker-style vanity doors are traditional elements in the room. The grid on the enclosure, streamlined faucet silhouettes and the straight-edged quartz countertop mix in modern elements. Modern functions include a docking drawer pullout, outlets for electric toothbrushes and rollout trays inside the vanity, and heated floors.
Floor heat: WarmlyYours Radiant
A classic black-and-white basketweave tile on the floor, satin brass finishes and Shaker-style vanity doors are traditional elements in the room. The grid on the enclosure, streamlined faucet silhouettes and the straight-edged quartz countertop mix in modern elements. Modern functions include a docking drawer pullout, outlets for electric toothbrushes and rollout trays inside the vanity, and heated floors.
Floor heat: WarmlyYours Radiant
A long expanse of mirror makes the room feel more open and bright but needed some interest to break it up and make it feel up-to-date. Gockeler had the sconces and a brass shelf integrated into the mirror wall. This was his first time attempting to mount a shelf onto a mirror and he admits the process was tricky and required meticulous cutting — but he reports that no glass was injured in the process.
Takeaways
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Takeaways
- To make the most of a bathroom’s footprint, consider a wet room strategy.
- Keep the glass on the shower-facing side of an enclosure clear of applied muntins for easy cleaning.
- Talk to your contractor and tile installer very specifically about how different tiles and edges will meet and line up.
- If you’re not a fan of visual clutter, try to have a shower niche tucked out of sight.
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who uses it: This is a couple’s master bathroom
Location: Summit, New Jersey
Size: 20 feet by 7 feet; 140 square feet (13 square meters)
Designers: Bob Gockeler and Kim Platt
of KraftMaster Renovations
This New Jersey couple’s master bathroom was pretty roomy, but the layout was so awkward that a toilet served as a focal point. While they desired an open and updated space, need was a more compelling renovation factor — the uneven floors had major water damage from leaks and the placement of the plumbing in an exterior wall was causing frequent pipe freezes in winter. They called upon design-build firm KraftMaster Renovations to completely renovate the space.
“We always have clients create ideabooks for each project and ask them to describe what they like in each photo they add,” says the firm’s owner, Bob Gockeler. He and his team then collaborate with the homeowners by adding their own suggestions to the comments as well as additional inspiration photos.
Sharing photos and comments revealed the couple’s vision. “The wife had awesome taste and worked really well with Houzz ideabooks. They had a unique contemporary style mixed with some traditional accents, and ideabooks gave us ideas about the layouts and finishes that they liked,” Gockeler says.
How to create and use ideabooks