Bathroom of the Week: Haunted-Mansion Vibe in a Historic Home
Black-and-white tile, lace curtains and moody forest green walls create a spookily sophisticated bath in Seattle
Mitchell Parker
July 23, 2019
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
Not every designer gets a request to make a home look like a haunted mansion. But designer Michelle Dirkse just rolled with it for this master bathroom inside the historic Judge James T. Ronald House in Seattle. Dirkse interpreted the request with lacy curtains, a converted vanity, classic black-and-white tile and a forest green paint color based on a Victorian pigment known for having arsenic in it. The result is a sophisticated design with a playfully spooky undercurrent.
Before Photo
“After” photos by Aaron Leitz
Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple who work in creative fields
Location: Seattle
Size: 168 square feet (16 square meters), including a water closet. There’s also a separate attached bathing area that’s 70 square feet (6.5 square meters)
Designer: Michelle Dirkse
Before: The house is the historic Neoclassical-style Judge James T. Ronald House, which was built in the late 1800s and eventually received landmark status. The house had been remodeled and renovated over the years and used as boarding houses and treatment facilities, among other things. “It was choppy and didn’t look historic on the inside because it had been turned into all these different things,” Dirkse says.
A previous owner had done a lot of work on the first floor, so Dirkse and the new homeowners focused mostly on the second floor, including converting a former bedroom (shown here) into a new master bathroom.
Dirkse ripped up the carpet, took the walls down to the studs and removed a wall to expand the new bathroom into a former hallway. Luckily this room sits right above the kitchen, which made routing in plumbing relatively easy.
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple who work in creative fields
Location: Seattle
Size: 168 square feet (16 square meters), including a water closet. There’s also a separate attached bathing area that’s 70 square feet (6.5 square meters)
Designer: Michelle Dirkse
Before: The house is the historic Neoclassical-style Judge James T. Ronald House, which was built in the late 1800s and eventually received landmark status. The house had been remodeled and renovated over the years and used as boarding houses and treatment facilities, among other things. “It was choppy and didn’t look historic on the inside because it had been turned into all these different things,” Dirkse says.
A previous owner had done a lot of work on the first floor, so Dirkse and the new homeowners focused mostly on the second floor, including converting a former bedroom (shown here) into a new master bathroom.
Dirkse ripped up the carpet, took the walls down to the studs and removed a wall to expand the new bathroom into a former hallway. Luckily this room sits right above the kitchen, which made routing in plumbing relatively easy.
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After: Here’s the new bathroom shown from the same general direction as the previous photo. The shower takes the place of what was the area to the right of the window that included the sofa and bookshelf.
Dirkse used affordable tile to keep the budget in check, but she spent a lot of time creating a layout that makes a big design statement. The floor features white hex tile punctuated with black hex tiles and a black hex tile border.
Dirkse drew out each tile by hand in her designs to create the right pattern, and to make sure the rows of single black hex tiles lined up with the center of the vanity and the vanity legs.
During Dirkse’s design research for the home, she found a Victorian green color that had a reputation for being poisonous because it contained arsenic. The color and its somewhat macabre origins felt just right for the haunted-mansion vibe, so she used that color as inspiration when choosing Dakota Shadow by Benjamin Moore for the wall area above the tile wainscoting. “It’s historic but unexpected,” Dirkse says.
Paint colors: Dakota Shadow (walls), Decorator’s White (ceiling) and Black Panther (trim), all by Benjamin Moore
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Dirkse used affordable tile to keep the budget in check, but she spent a lot of time creating a layout that makes a big design statement. The floor features white hex tile punctuated with black hex tiles and a black hex tile border.
Dirkse drew out each tile by hand in her designs to create the right pattern, and to make sure the rows of single black hex tiles lined up with the center of the vanity and the vanity legs.
During Dirkse’s design research for the home, she found a Victorian green color that had a reputation for being poisonous because it contained arsenic. The color and its somewhat macabre origins felt just right for the haunted-mansion vibe, so she used that color as inspiration when choosing Dakota Shadow by Benjamin Moore for the wall area above the tile wainscoting. “It’s historic but unexpected,” Dirkse says.
Paint colors: Dakota Shadow (walls), Decorator’s White (ceiling) and Black Panther (trim), all by Benjamin Moore
Shop for bathroom vanities
A generously sized (7-by-4-foot) shower is the star of the bathroom. It features exposed black wall-mounted fixtures and a large custom steel-and-glass enclosure with a rectangular portion above the door that pivots to let steam out.
Dirkse carried over the black-and-white hex tile to the shower floor, which she angled to a linear drain at the back wall for an unbroken layout. Subway tile with black grout was an affordable design choice that added another big graphic element.
The shower door handle is in keeping with the historic feel of the design.
Dirkse left room between the bench and glass enclosure for easier cleaning.
Dirkse carried over the black-and-white hex tile to the shower floor, which she angled to a linear drain at the back wall for an unbroken layout. Subway tile with black grout was an affordable design choice that added another big graphic element.
The shower door handle is in keeping with the historic feel of the design.
Dirkse left room between the bench and glass enclosure for easier cleaning.
The vanity is a converted antique buffet. Above it, recessed medicine cabinets provide additional storage.
A towel holder that looks vintage adds a fun little surprise on the side of the vanity.
A vintage bench features an original worn green velvet top.
Dirkse spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect lace to make the custom curtains. She wanted new material that looked like something you might find in an old haunted mansion.
This wasn’t the first time Dirkse got an out-of-the-ordinary request from these homeowners, a couple who both work in creative fields. Years ago the couple fell in love with the 1990s TV series Twin Peaks, a surreal mystery horror drama series co-created by the eccentric David Lynch. The couple were so hooked on the show that they decided to buy a log cabin in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, where many of the scenes from Twin Peaks were filmed, and create an eerie-cool home that mixes Victorian, modern and industrial styles worthy of Lynch himself.
A vintage bench features an original worn green velvet top.
Dirkse spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect lace to make the custom curtains. She wanted new material that looked like something you might find in an old haunted mansion.
This wasn’t the first time Dirkse got an out-of-the-ordinary request from these homeowners, a couple who both work in creative fields. Years ago the couple fell in love with the 1990s TV series Twin Peaks, a surreal mystery horror drama series co-created by the eccentric David Lynch. The couple were so hooked on the show that they decided to buy a log cabin in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, where many of the scenes from Twin Peaks were filmed, and create an eerie-cool home that mixes Victorian, modern and industrial styles worthy of Lynch himself.
Off the main bathroom, Dirkse created a bathing room in the former master bathroom. She added three new windows to flood the area with natural light. A vintage claw-foot tub with a rusted exterior is the main attraction. The tub interior was refinished and the exterior sealed to protect from further rusting.
Light green wall paint, lots of plants and a bench reupholstered in floral fabric give the area a conservatory feel.
Wall paint: Greenwich Village, Benjamin Moore
Wall paint: Greenwich Village, Benjamin Moore
Before Photo
Before: This floor plan shows a section of the second floor before the extensive renovation. The original bedroom that Dirkse converted sits in the upper left corner. Below that, you can see a wall that Dirkse removed to expand into a hallway. The portion on the left that sticks out in the floor plan was the existing chopped-up bathroom, which Dirkse turned into the bathing room.
After: Here you can see the new bathroom layout in the former bedroom. Dirkse added walls to create a water closet next to the shower. You can also see how she added the three windows to surround the bathtub.
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See more Bathrooms of the Week
See How 8 Bathrooms Fit Everything Into About 100 Square Feet
Get more bathroom design ideas
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You say the towel holder "looks vintage". Is it actually new? If so, can you please provide the source (or a similar alternate)? It's truly quite charming. Also- love the buffet makeover! I'm still searching for a dresser or bachelor chest to convert into a vanity for my small bathroom- love the look. Your use of inset sinks, versus the popular dresser turned vanity topmount vessel sinks was spot on. Good choice! Can you tell me what you did to preserve the top from water stains? Product name?? The patterned hex tile floor is just beautiful. It adds so much character and elegance, with its black and white color scheme. Nicely done! The curbless shower is also so nicely done, it doesn't stick out visually, like many of them do. Very nice job in keeping the room cohesive, in a kind of Victorian bygone era yet still modern look. You've provided inspiration for my new bath design!
Thanks! We found the hand towel holder on Etsy or Ebay years ago. If you Google "Victorian Figure Hand Towel" a few resources should pop up. We used a marine varnish to protect the vanity, knowing that the wood countertop would still age and patina overtime due to water use.
Could you please share where you found your beautiful antique vanity for the bathroom with green walls and black and white hex tile?