Bathroom of the Week: Clean Lines and Beautiful Blue Tiles
A designer uses her client’s vintage Welsh linens and favorite Gaudí tile as starting points for style
When you hate the shower in your primary bathroom so much that you go downstairs to use another one, it’s time to renovate. That was the case for this Seattle homeowner, who hired Jackson Design Build to do just that. Designer Lisa Price adjusted the layout, creating space for a roomy shower stall. And she filled the room with shades of blue the homeowner loved, composing the tile in a pattern inspired by beloved vintage Welsh linens. She also incorporated a special tile her client had spied on the sidewalks of Barcelona. The result is a clean-lined and inviting space where the homeowner is happy to spend time.
After: After removing the tub, Price scooted the vanity and toilet to the left, making room for a new shower stall at the far end of the room. This meant the vanity could enjoy the natural light from the existing window. Note that moving the toilet may not be possible in every project, but in this case Price was able to relocate the toilet stack with relative ease.
Amazingly, the way the large tub had been installed had preserved the original hardwood floors beneath it. Price was able to keep them and had them refinished. While the overall design is very clean-lined in a way that leans modern, Price was careful to preserve the remaining historic details of the 1930s home. These include the window, trim and glass door handles. She played off the two styles with simple vintage-style navy ceiling lights from Schoolhouse Electric.
Amazingly, the way the large tub had been installed had preserved the original hardwood floors beneath it. Price was able to keep them and had them refinished. While the overall design is very clean-lined in a way that leans modern, Price was careful to preserve the remaining historic details of the 1930s home. These include the window, trim and glass door handles. She played off the two styles with simple vintage-style navy ceiling lights from Schoolhouse Electric.
After: To incorporate extra storage space, Price added a cabinet for towels and overflow toiletries on the left. Behind the cabinet doors, she installed rollout drawers for ergonomic efficiency.
Price’s client wanted to keep the same sort of mirrored medicine cabinets the original bathroom had. This was tricky to figure out because they needed to be high enough to reflect the top of her head yet work with the angled ceiling. In addition, Price wanted the neat look of having the bottom of the medicine cabinets meet the top of the tiles. “This required a lot of math,” she says.
Price’s client wanted to keep the same sort of mirrored medicine cabinets the original bathroom had. This was tricky to figure out because they needed to be high enough to reflect the top of her head yet work with the angled ceiling. In addition, Price wanted the neat look of having the bottom of the medicine cabinets meet the top of the tiles. “This required a lot of math,” she says.
This photo shows how the tiles fit right in between the top of the countertop and the bottom of the medicine cabinets. It also shows the beautiful graining in the wood. “We used touch-release hardware to keep everything looking clean,” Price says. “The wood is so gorgeous, and I didn’t want to distract from that with hardware.”
The PaperStone countertop edge reveals the lines of the layers of paper that compose it. “I loved being able to show the interplay between the horizontal lines in the PaperStone and the vertical graining in the oak,” the designer says.
The PaperStone countertop edge reveals the lines of the layers of paper that compose it. “I loved being able to show the interplay between the horizontal lines in the PaperStone and the vertical graining in the oak,” the designer says.
The linens in the homeowner’s bedroom provided the inspiration for the tile colors and layout. “My client’s sister lives in England and helps her collect vintage Welsh linens,” Price says. “I’m also Welsh, and I appreciated the pattern on the bedding. I used it as a starting point for the tile layout.”
The bedding’s pattern inspired the designer to mix narrow and wide pieces of tile in a pleasing composition. Another tricky math problem was fitting the varied tile sizes and grout lines on the walls. “I kept saying, ‘It’s possible, we can do this!’ to the tile installer,” Price says.
This photo also shows the subtle ombre-inspired change in color from the backsplash tiles over the vanity to the tiles over the toilet. There are four shades of blue that gradually go from dark to light in the room. The darkest tile is on the backsplash. The tile over the toilet is lighter, and the tile in the shower is even lighter than that. The lightest shade of blue is on the shower ceiling.
Find the right blue tile for your bathroom
This photo also shows the subtle ombre-inspired change in color from the backsplash tiles over the vanity to the tiles over the toilet. There are four shades of blue that gradually go from dark to light in the room. The darkest tile is on the backsplash. The tile over the toilet is lighter, and the tile in the shower is even lighter than that. The lightest shade of blue is on the shower ceiling.
Find the right blue tile for your bathroom
In the shower, Price used the lightest blue on the walls and ceiling. The shower floor is white hexagonal tile. A clear glass enclosure keeps this part of the palette within view of the rest of the bathroom. Price chose simple, minimalist plumbing fixtures — like she said, it’s all about the tile.
The shower stall measures 5½ by 3 feet. Price made room for it by straightening out an existing angled wall that jutted into the bathroom from the adjacent closet, then stealing a few feet from the closet space. Because of the angled ceiling, this was necessary in order to place the shower head at the correct height.
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Find a local tile professional
Two niches provide an accent in the shower — the upper ledge is for storing toiletries and the lower one serves as a shelf for shaving.
The homeowner had fallen in love with this panot tile used to pave Barcelona’s sidewalks when she saw it during a trip there. Designed by iconic architect Antoni Gaudí in 1904, the 3D pattern depicts a seashell, a starfish and seaweed. Price used it as an eye-catching accent in the shower niches.
The homeowner had fallen in love with this panot tile used to pave Barcelona’s sidewalks when she saw it during a trip there. Designed by iconic architect Antoni Gaudí in 1904, the 3D pattern depicts a seashell, a starfish and seaweed. Price used it as an eye-catching accent in the shower niches.
After: Price echoed the original arched doorway architecture on the bathroom side. “It was a great way to bring the original architectural details of the house into the space,” she says. She also kept the original moldings, as well as the linen closet door and glass handle on the small linen closet seen behind the chair. Renovating the closet to be more efficient with shelving was part of this project.
Price brought the original inspiration, the vintage Welsh linen, into the bathroom in the form of a throw pillow. The chair is a good spot to put on shoes and admire the renovated bathroom. The closet behind it holds extra bed linens and doesn’t need to be opened very often.
Paint: Blustery Sky (trim) and Icicle (walls), Sherwin-Williams
Browse decorative pillows in the Houzz Shop
Price brought the original inspiration, the vintage Welsh linen, into the bathroom in the form of a throw pillow. The chair is a good spot to put on shoes and admire the renovated bathroom. The closet behind it holds extra bed linens and doesn’t need to be opened very often.
Paint: Blustery Sky (trim) and Icicle (walls), Sherwin-Williams
Browse decorative pillows in the Houzz Shop
After: Price moved the vanity and the toilet to the left and straightened out the closet wall to make room for the shower stall on the right side of the room.
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A single woman
Location: Seattle
Size: 117 square feet (11 square meters)
Designer: Lisa Price of Jackson Design Build
“We hemmed and hawed about how to get a lot of color in here, and I finally said, ‘How about we do ombre?’ The color of the tile changes throughout the space, from over the vanity to over the toilet to the shower,” Price says. The tile is by Heath Ceramics. “It is handmade and hand-glazed. I chose tiles with a bullnose edge for the backsplash so that we didn’t have to use any sort of edging above or below it — clean and simple,” she says. “I wanted to keep it all about the tile.”
Another important material in the palette is quartersawn oak in a vertical orientation with a clear matte finish on the vanity. “This is a fabulous finish — it feels almost silky,” Price says. She recommended PaperStone for the countertops. The material is an FSC-certified composite made of postconsumer recycled paper and resin made from industrial byproducts. “I always warn clients that if they don’t wipe up that, much like marble, this material can get watermarks and they need to be comfortable with that,” Price says. “This client was fine with it and the color was perfection.”
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