love you FOREVER

How Vancouver-based designer Rebecca Lapres ensured her children’s bathroom stays stylish for the long haul.

Sure, designer and homeowner Rebecca Lapres could have catered to evolving teenage tastes when decorating a bathroom for her 16-year-old twin son and daughter, but that would have gone against her core design philosophy: Anything affixed to the walls or floor needs to be timeless.

That’s why she chose a simple white and grey colour scheme for the tiles and fixtures in the five-by-10-foot bathroom in her Vancouver home. Also, she knew that the space would be challenged for natural light because its window faces a neighbouring house, so soft hues were key to making the room feel bright and

airy. But just because she opted for a conservative base palette doesn’t mean she couldn’t infuse a bright bold hue through accessories.

In fact, she introduced the sunniest of colours (and one of her favourites) – yellow – as an accent via a striking printed shower curtain. Indeed, it feels especially sunny and fresh when placed next to the white subway tiles that cover the walls – a design element that Rebecca uses often because they have both aesthetic and practical purposes: She knows old-school subway tiles will outlast fairweather trends. They’re also affordable, more durable than drywall and easy to wipe clean.

With the “forever” tiles and fixtures skewing neutral and traditional, Rebecca’s polished bathroom can now undergo easy, inexpensive accessory updates whenever the wind, or the designer’s tastes, change. One switch of the shower curtain, and it has a whole new look! DESIGN, Riesco Lapres Interior Design, riescolapres.com; CONTRACTING, Lapres Homes; Titanium OC-49 WALL PAINT, Benjamin Moore; custom VANITY, Capital Millwork; VANITY COUNTERTOP, Paragon Surfacing; WALL TILE, Daltile; FLOOR TILE, Pacific Stonetile; SCONCES, Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.; FAUCETS, VANITY HARDWARE, Cantu Bathrooms & Hardware.