Bathroom of the Week: Bold Blue Tile and a Walk-In Shower
A designer helps a Texas couple flip their master suite layout for a better view and a bigger, more spirited bathroom
Before they renovated their master suite, this Dallas couple could see their picturesque backyard only through a small window in the existing bathroom. “They had this beautiful backyard with one teeny, tiny little window in the old bathroom,” designer Amanda Jones Tepper says. “So they had this view that was just not getting utilized, and that was the main catalyst for this project. They wanted to enjoy the view of their gorgeous yard from the bedroom and then update the bathroom.”
The problem called for a new layout that kept the same basic footprint but swapped the existing bedroom and the awkward existing bathroom and made the new bathroom bigger, more functional and more fun.
The problem called for a new layout that kept the same basic footprint but swapped the existing bedroom and the awkward existing bathroom and made the new bathroom bigger, more functional and more fun.
Before: The existing master bath in the back of the 1959 home was choppy, with two separate vanities, a cramped shower-tub and a tiny water closet.
Find a kitchen and bath remodeler near you
Find a kitchen and bath remodeler near you
The remodeled bathroom features two sheet mirrors and a navy double vanity topped with marble and accented with champagne bronze cabinet pulls. Inside, hidden outlets for the couple’s styling tools keep clutter off the countertops. For the floor, they chose a matte silver porcelain tile; for the walls, a soft gray paint and three burnished brass sconces.
Browse bathroom vanities
Browse bathroom vanities
Before: The narrow shower-tub combination was squeezed into a hall separate from the vanities.
The homeowners decided they didn’t need a bathtub in the new bathroom and opted instead for a spacious walk-in shower with a main shower head, a rain shower head and a handheld shower head. With its striking teal geometric tile, the shower is the bathroom’s focal point.
The house is located in a neighborhood of Dallas where the streets are named for Disney characters and movies, such as Pinocchio Drive and Cinderella Lane, so the homeowners wanted to tap into that fanciful spirit in their design.
“They thought that was super cool to play off of that,” Jones Tepper says. “They wanted something kind of whimsical — that was one of the key words that we used — so [they wanted] to be inspired by the Disney theme a little bit and they were open to some playful and whimsical textures and colors. They were not afraid of color.”
Houzz inspiration photos of colorful cement hexagon tile drove the concept for the shower’s bold graphic feel and organic top edge. (In particular, an image with a similar style for a kitchen backsplash figured into the design.) Brushed bronze hardware, a large bench, glass tile on the side walls and Carrara marble hexagon mosaic tile on the shower floor complete the look.
See more walk-in shower inspiration photos
The house is located in a neighborhood of Dallas where the streets are named for Disney characters and movies, such as Pinocchio Drive and Cinderella Lane, so the homeowners wanted to tap into that fanciful spirit in their design.
“They thought that was super cool to play off of that,” Jones Tepper says. “They wanted something kind of whimsical — that was one of the key words that we used — so [they wanted] to be inspired by the Disney theme a little bit and they were open to some playful and whimsical textures and colors. They were not afraid of color.”
Houzz inspiration photos of colorful cement hexagon tile drove the concept for the shower’s bold graphic feel and organic top edge. (In particular, an image with a similar style for a kitchen backsplash figured into the design.) Brushed bronze hardware, a large bench, glass tile on the side walls and Carrara marble hexagon mosaic tile on the shower floor complete the look.
See more walk-in shower inspiration photos
The homeowners got the backyard view and natural light they were looking for in the new bedroom, as Jones Tepper and her team replaced the tiny existing bathroom window with the three large ones seen here. The renovated space also fits in a new walk-in closet that doubles as a laundry room.
The ¾-inch-thick cement shower tile posed a challenge for the team as there wasn’t a trim piece that matched it.
“We had to come up with a way to finish it with something that would hide the thickness of the tile so that we didn’t have exposed cut edges in there,” Jones Tepper says. “We had a little bit of extra [countertop] material, marble that was just gorgeous, and we were like, well, what if we wrap it with that? Then we can control the thickness of how far it comes out to where the tile blends into it really nicely.”
For the homeowners, who were looking to their next chapter as their youngest child prepared to leave home, the bright new spaces Jones Tepper and her team created were just the dose of fun and function they needed. And their willingness to go bold was a dose of energy Jones Tepper was glad to have as well.
“It’s always fun to work with people who are outside of the box a little bit and open to color and shape and just fun, different, unique material,” she says.
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“We had to come up with a way to finish it with something that would hide the thickness of the tile so that we didn’t have exposed cut edges in there,” Jones Tepper says. “We had a little bit of extra [countertop] material, marble that was just gorgeous, and we were like, well, what if we wrap it with that? Then we can control the thickness of how far it comes out to where the tile blends into it really nicely.”
For the homeowners, who were looking to their next chapter as their youngest child prepared to leave home, the bright new spaces Jones Tepper and her team created were just the dose of fun and function they needed. And their willingness to go bold was a dose of energy Jones Tepper was glad to have as well.
“It’s always fun to work with people who are outside of the box a little bit and open to color and shape and just fun, different, unique material,” she says.
More on Houzz
Read more about bathroom makeovers
See more contemporary bathroom inspiration photos
Connect with a local interior designer
Who lives here: A soon-to-be empty-nester couple
Location: Dallas
Size: 140 square feet (13 square meters)
Designer: Amanda Jones Tepper of Hatfield Builders & Remodelers