Room of the Day: Spa-Like Bathroom With a Healthy Glow
A skylight, a new window, a chandelier and integrated LEDs light up this stylish master bath
BEFORE: The original master bathroom had an interesting sloped ceiling with a skylight but not much else going for it. The homeowners appreciated the skylight so much that they scarcely noticed there was no other natural light coming into the room. “I’m a big fan of natural light,” Herson says. “I think it really affects mood and adds to the feeling of a space, so when I saw that there was no window, I really campaigned for adding one.”
The existing shower occupied the room’s one exterior wall, so the designer’s first step was to relocate that shower to the opposite wall, leaving her free to frame in a tall, narrow window to bring in light and capture the property’s park-like view.
The existing shower occupied the room’s one exterior wall, so the designer’s first step was to relocate that shower to the opposite wall, leaving her free to frame in a tall, narrow window to bring in light and capture the property’s park-like view.
AFTER: Herson arranged the bulk of the floor tiles in a herringbone pattern, but she didn’t want the room’s backdrop to be too dark, so she installed white pebble flooring under the vanities to brighten up the space. Playing around with materials and light were her primary strategies to ensure that the room wouldn’t feel boxed-in. The wall tile is a flat porcelain selected to balance the textured ledgestone in the shower.
One of the homeowners’ early requests was for a separate makeup counter for the wife, so Herson designed a custom makeup station. It occupies a corner opposite the vanities and features a tall mirrored medicine cabinet that hides beauty products while keeping them accessible.
In the shower is what Herson calls a “grazing light” — a light that grazes the ledgestone so you can get a real appreciation for its texture and varying levels. Illuminating the stone in this way almost creates a sense of movement as if from a waterfall; the choice of ledgestone was rooted in the desire to create the feeling of a natural outdoor shower.
Adding yet another dimension to the lighting scheme, the matching lighted mirrors offer a visual break from the room’s many rectangular shapes and surfaces. When it came time to add this final touch, Herson felt a rectangular mirror flanked by sconces would have looked almost cluttered, whereas illuminated round mirrors would please the eye much more and eliminate superfluous wall mounts. She selected a warm color for the LED lights inside the mirror frames that is similar to that of incandescent lights, to ensure they would cast an amber glow.
Herson was originally going to add a pocket door, but installing necessary light controls on the limited wall space didn’t leave enough room for one. Instead, she used a salvaged barn door to create a sliding door for the entrance.
Chandelier: Hubbardton Forge
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Chandelier: Hubbardton Forge
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A young family of four
Location: Pound Ridge, New York
Size: 85 square feet (7.9 square meters)
Designer: Trish Herson Interiors
These suburban New York homeowners wanted their master bathroom to feel like a stylish retreat. Their existing master bathroom was very functional. It had mirrored walls, two sinks and a dark slate floor, but it wasn’t the spa-like space they desired. They called on designer Trish Herson to change that.
Making the space feel modern, light and bright was at the top of Herson’s to-do list. Two modern wall-hung vanities and a wall-hung toilet leave open space underneath, reduce volume and lighten up the overall feel of the room. “Everybody always wants more storage,” Herson says, so she added a tall linen cabinet between the vanities.
Sink faucet: Porcelanosa