The best in bathrooms
Colour, texture and cunning small-space solutions are standout features in the latest crop of designer bathrooms.
Current trends for bathroom design are all about creating a retreat with an emphasis on calm colours and luxe materials. But we are also seeing splashes of bold colour, and some cunning solutions for small-space apartment bathrooms.
These thoughtfully-designed bathrooms are our latest favourites.
Capturing the Zen feel
Simple, beautiful and restful – what more could you wish for in a bathroom? Starting with a modern, light-filled, architecturally designed space certainly helped to achieve this outcome, says designer Davinia Sutton.
‘‘My client is a busy woman who wanted the design of her new bathroom to reflect the modern form of the architecture, but at the same time be a private zone – a place for respite and restoration.’’ To set the scene, the designer lined the existing walls and floors in calming natural stone.
‘‘The tiling is simple, but the contrast of the size and proportion of the mosaics provides a layered depth of form that enhances the feeling of space,’’ says Davinia. The clear-stained cedar ceiling provides a sense of warmth and volume to this room where clerestory windows let in an everpresent view of the sky. The result of the simple and natural material palette is a bathroom that has a calm, restful ambience that belies its functionality. The layout is supremely practical, with a walk-in shower, sculptural free-standing bath and a large, cantilevered vanity that adds to the sense of spaciousness. Simple, high-quality fittings enhance this effect, giving the room an uncluttered, zen-like atmosphere, making it a very easy space to linger longer in.
Contemporary – but still classic
This soft-toned, luxurious master bathroom is the result of a collaboration between designers Kristen Basra (Spatial Studio) and Emma Kate Bamford (EKB Design), as part of an extensive internal renovation of a 1960s bungalow-style home in Auckland. Their clients, a couple with two young daughters, wanted to create a parents’ retreat in the roof space. ‘‘The project was driven by one of the owners,’’ says Kristen. ‘‘She loves white and asked for clean, straight lines and a minimal look, but nothing too harsh.’’
The designers created a subtle fusion between contemporary and classic design, with rounded classical details and the softness of marble contrasting with the sharp, clean lines of the vanity and bathtub.
The secret to the look lies in creating layers, Kristen explains. ‘‘On the floor we laid a traditional marble mosaic in a delicate woven patter, which grounds the room. This was layered with a sleeklined, his-and-hers vanity that is cantilevered from the wall. On top of the vanity unit we place two semi-traditional sinks – something a little different that would break up the sharp, contemporary lines of the vanity beneath.’’
The introduction of the brush-finished, agedbrass tapware also brought a more traditional feel to this space, so that it didn’t look too clean and modern. A matching pair of brass-rimmed, round mirrors ties in perfectly. The walls are tiled in the same marble as the floor – it’s Alarti, part of the Carrara family of marble, says the designer. ‘‘Its subtle veins are like clouds softening the whole space.’’
Honouring the past
Although modern bathrooms work well in traditional-style homes, nothing beats the timeless
elegance of a pedestal sink, or the luxurious lines of a roll-top, clawfoot bathtub. And that was the exact brief given to Davinia Sutton when she was asked to ‘‘enliven the senses’’ and to ‘‘honour the centuryold architecture’’ of this home.
By limiting the design, materials and hues, Davinia captured a fresh, elegant atmosphere.
Hand-cut, duck-egg blue, glazed tiles – the only colour in the room – play off the custom-made, Shaker-styled mirror and porcelain washstand; crisp white fittings and fixtures, a nod to the architecture, provide freshness. The requested bath is perched beneath shutter-lined windows and is paired with vintage-style chrome taps, again to honour the architecture of the home. The shower zone is at the opposite end of the bathroom, a tileclad partition wall providing privacy, and there are matching chrome shower components.
Going bold with colour
It’s okay to be bold with colour in your bathroom. Not only that, it’s also perfectly fine to use wallpaper in a bathroom insists designer Hayley Rodgers, from Wanaka’s Melanie Craig Design.In this family bathroom in a Dunedin bungalow, Hayley covered two walls with textural wallpaper in deep navy blue. ‘‘The strong blue gives the room a boost, and the fine texture of the paper adds interest.’’
The bathroom, originally three separate spaces, was pulled together to form a single new room. ‘‘There was a small bathroom, a separate toilet, and we also borrowed some space from the hallway,’’ explains Hayley. ‘‘In the design, we wanted to reference the history of the home, but also make it feel up to date. The wallpaper helps make that link.’’ A new window was installed. ‘‘Because there are stained-glass windows in the rest of the home, we decided to make a feature of it by commissioning a pair of panels in the same pattern, then placed a back-to-wall bathtub directly under the window.’’
A pair of white wall sconces adds to the symmetry. These and a round LED-backlit mirror throw light onto the walls and highlight the texture of the wallpaper, giving it a 3D-look. ‘‘The idea was that these lights can be left on and the main ceiling light turned off to give more ambience while bathing.’’
Small-space style
In this compact, two-bedroom apartment, a stone’s throw from Auckland’s Mission Bay, designer Shane George from Kitchens By Design was asked to completely rethink his client’s kitchen and bathrooms – and herein lay his first dilemma: whether to combine the existing small bathroom and toilet into one larger bathroom.
‘‘My client wanted a cool, light and crisp aesthetic throughout her apartment, which meant I had to work hard in this small room [1.6 x 2.7m] to not only fit everything in, but also make it feel fresh and airy.’’
To create more space, Shane took out the original cramped shower and replaced it with a generous walk-in one. A chequer-board-pattern tile defines this area and the same-sized plain white tile used in the rest of the room gives continuity. Large concrete-look floor tiles finish the look.
‘‘For the tapware, shower, fixtures and fittings, and the edging around the shower glass, I went all black,’’ says the designer. ‘‘This not only defined each item, but also pulled them together visually.’’
In such a small room, lighting is superimportant.
‘‘In addition to recessed ceiling lights, a backlit feature mirror and under-lit cantilevered vanity gives the illusion that these two elements are floating.’’