Bathroom of the Week: A Wet-Room Strategy and Nods to Retro Style
A designer creates a playful room with geometric tile patterns, a minimalist tub and a wood-look shower wall
These Southern California homeowners hired interior designer Heather Bull to lighten up their dark and dated bathroom. “These clients are young and fun,” the designer says. “I could also see from things they had around the house, such as a vintage camera collection, that they liked style that was a little bit retro. So I wanted to give them a current look with a hint of nostalgic flair.” She accomplished this by mixing a geometric tile pattern on the main bathroom walls with a wood-like tile in the shower and using light maple on the vanity.
Bull also expanded the room’s footprint and changed the layout to make room for a double vanity and the homeowners’ biggest must-have, a soaking tub. Taking a few square feet from an adjacent closet and employing a wet-room strategy helped her fit a separate tub and shower into the space while maintaining a light and airy feel.
Bull also expanded the room’s footprint and changed the layout to make room for a double vanity and the homeowners’ biggest must-have, a soaking tub. Taking a few square feet from an adjacent closet and employing a wet-room strategy helped her fit a separate tub and shower into the space while maintaining a light and airy feel.
After: Bull used a wet-room strategy to fit a freestanding tub and shower stall in the room. Both are behind a clear glass shower enclosure. She also played with geometric forms, contrast and wood tones to come up with a pleasing palette. She grounded the room with a dark natural stone floor tile and created a focal wall with wood-like porcelain tiles at the back of the shower. Then she covered the rest of the walls in white trapezoidal tiles arranged in a geometric pattern. The way she balanced light and dark in the color palette created an airy feel.
Browse white freestanding bathtubs
Browse white freestanding bathtubs
Raising the wet-room area was necessary to create the required drainage slope for the shower. “You either have to dig down or build up to get those inches, and in this case we couldn’t dig down,” Bull says. This slight slope in the floor ensures that water moves toward the drain.
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Hire a local tile professional
The bathtub has a minimalist form that adds soft curves to the straight lines of the tile patterns. Bull selected black grout to make the geometric pattern on the walls stand out. For the same reason, she chose white grout to emphasize the herringbone pattern on the floor.
Before: The existing shower had a window, but it wasn’t enough to brighten up all the dark finishes in the space.
After: Because Bull used a clear glass shower enclosure, the whole room benefits from the natural light the window lets in. This is a new window that’s operable for ventilation. Also seen in this photo is the shower niche. The designer used the same tile in the niche that she used on the floor.
Porcelain tile planks digitally printed to look like wood add a hint of retro style to the room, recalling midcentury modern paneling. “I love to use pretty wood tile like this in a bathroom. It adds softness,” Bull says. Covering the shower bench in the same tile integrates it into the wall.
Porcelain tile planks digitally printed to look like wood add a hint of retro style to the room, recalling midcentury modern paneling. “I love to use pretty wood tile like this in a bathroom. It adds softness,” Bull says. Covering the shower bench in the same tile integrates it into the wall.
Before: The bathroom had a single vanity. A partition wall between it and the toilet made the space feel cramped.
After: Bull designed a custom double vanity for the couple. (There’s another sink just out of view to the left.) The wood is maple and the hardware and faucets are matte black. The faucets, hardware, large mirror, countertop edge and Shaker-style cabinetry maintain a clean-lined, modern look. The vanity’s feet contribute to the open feel, and their angled shape is another nod to retro style.
The mirror’s reflection shows two things that weren’t otherwise photographed. The door to the bathroom is on the right and the toilet area is on the left. A partition wall between the two provides some privacy for the toilet.
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The mirror’s reflection shows two things that weren’t otherwise photographed. The door to the bathroom is on the right and the toilet area is on the left. A partition wall between the two provides some privacy for the toilet.
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The countertop is a durable white quartz. Undermount sinks maintain its clean lines.
This floor plan shows the location of the toilet, at the bottom left, and the entry door next to it.
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple
Location: Newport Beach, California
Size: 100 square feet (9.3 square meters)
Designer: Heather Bull of Vision Interiors
Before: The bathroom was dated, with a lot of dark finishes. “My clients didn’t think we’d be able to fit a bathtub in the room. But we were able to borrow space from a closet,” Bull says. Another part of the home renovation provided additional closet space to make up for the loss.
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