These photos are not really all that great, but Layla Palmer of The Lettered Cottage did a post about bathroom design inspiration. My bathroom had a toilet (facing you directly as you walked into the bath), a sink (still in the bath) and a claw-foot tub that had been made into a "sunken" tub by cutting a giant hole in the floor of my wonderful old Arts and Crafts bungalow. The toilet was black. The floors were black... glossy black wall tile. No storage... at all. One wall was solid mirrors. The lighting was four black theater lights directed at the tub. Now, can you just imagine struggling to get out of that deep old tub while seeing yourself under spotlights in the wall of mirrors??? Not a pretty sight. Ergonomically a nightmare! The tub only had one leg. I am a shower person. So, the design process began.
I mulled it over. Drew and re-drew on graph paper. Then two carpenters and I spent weeks in this small space. They would try to create what I described. I would have them tear it out and start over. Finally, I was happy. I have a spacious shower and lots of storage.
The chandelier was originally in my kitchen. It was part of the inspiration.
The toilet is now facing away from the entry and modestly surrounded by a little half wall, which gives me a surface to put curling irons, etc. Lots of storage in the over-sized medicine cabinet and cabinet over the toilet. The sink was the one in the bath outfitted with new/old fixtures.
The crown molding we created around the shower gazebo and all cabinets matches the trim throughout the house. I chose cypress hardwood for the floors. I love my sea-colored bath!
4 comments:
One of these days you ought to do a sequence of photos on your bungalow...straight down the page. Your eye for detail is inspiring. I can learn from you.
The black toilet would definitely have been the 1st thing to go! LOL I am in love with your bathroom reno. :) Love the way you incorporated storage outside the shower - and the column and all the crown throughout. The entire room is just wonderful!
You have started a very interesting discussion on bathroom design. I'm a cabinetmaker who really does not want to make kitchens and bathrooms for a living, because the most of what is done in the US is just boxes with a "choice of doors and drawer fronts," the most of which are made in a factory somewhere. Boring. I want to do something else if I can, but what?
European design just absolutely blows my mind, and I find myself reading quite a bit on it, even though these are often modular kitchens and bathrooms that one would simply send away for and have installed by a local craftsman. But what fascinates me is the utter innovation of those designs, so I find myself returning to them quite a bit.
I am also looking to design two bathrooms and a kitchen for my wife in too-small spaces in a tract home, which necessarily lets out those wonderful European designs that excite me so. And whenever I find myself going out on a limb with some idea or another, my wife always grounds me by saying, "If you stick with the classics, you won't grow tired of them."
So, what do you do that is different and yet timeless and practical and stimulating to make if you're a cabinetmaker? Damned if I know, but if I ever figure it out, I mean to make it for us and splash those babies all over the Internet!
What you've written, though, has given me quite a bit to think about, and I thank you for sharing your concepts.
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