bathroom
The vanity's two drawers are custom cut to fit around the plumbing parts, allowing the use of every small space inside. Even an electrical outlet is at hand inside the drawers, to keep appliances charged when needed, and out of sight when not in use. Caddies and partitions in the drawers keep everything organized and neat, and easy to find with the LED lights strategically placed inside. Photography by Yerko Pallominy Less
The shower is tiny -- merely 32"x60", taking the exact place of the old bathtub. Yet, with the frameless sliding clear glass door, and floating bench, it feels comfortable and spacious. Hand-held shower, safety bar, and shampoo baskets are at hand for the physically challenged user. LED light under the bench helps orient the aging eyes in this first floor bathroom. Note the flo...More
Inspiration for a contemporary bathroom in New York with flat-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets and an undermount sink. — Houzz Love the veining in counter top. — mrrau6246
Travertine It’s hard not to find a style of travertine you love, whether it’s chiseled, honed, polished or tumbled. This natural stone has the best of earth’s creams, browns, grays and golds packaged into designer tiles that grace homes across the world. Pros: Home buyers love travertine, and not just because of its veins and swirls. They also appreciate the slip resistance it offers, particularly that of tumbled travertine, as well as how long it lasts. Cons: Travertine is porous, so you could find yourself in hot water if you forget to seal it. It is recommended that you seal it every one to two years unless your sealer lasts longer. Other than that, your main concern is staining. Anything other than a mild detergent can affect the stone’s surface. Be careful how you clean it and be careful of the soaps and shampoos you use. Contemporary Bathroom by TG-Studio TG-Studio Save Email You can install travertine on your shower floors in a variety of sizes, including (but certainly not limited to) standard 12-by-12-inch tiles, 4-by-4-inch squares and 2-by-2-inch mosaics.
Glass Cool, clean and contemporary, glass mosaics can insert a pop of color or stroke of glossy white on your shower floor. Pros: Looking for low maintenance? Glass may be the floor for you. It’s super easy to clean. Just grab Windex and a cloth to give it a quick wipe-down. Its translucent surface can keep your shower space light and open. It almost always looks high-end, no matter what you actually paid for it. Cons: The price isn’t always right. Quality glass can take a toll on your wallet. And unfortunately, it feels as sleek as it looks. The slip resistance is minimal, which could be a deal-breaker. Older or very cautious homeowners should seek something with a better grip if they’re set on a glass shower floor. Mediterranean Bathroom by KellyBaron KellyBaron Save Email Glass mosaics can blend colors together with an iridescent, glossy or matte finish. The mosaic in this Mediterranean shower gives the space a designer touch by complementing the soft green wall tile.
orcelain Now here’s a shower floor that just might have it all. Made with a dense clay body, porcelain tile is durable and waterproof, and lasts for decades. Pros: Porcelain tile is highly versatile. It can survive detergents, scratches and long-term water exposure. It can be finished to have an authentic wood, stone or marble appearance. The best part? It accomplishes all of this without being high-maintenance. Expect to enjoy cleaning it (or the lack of cleaning, rather). Cons: Grout can be a problem. Rectified porcelain can keep grout joints small, but grout will no doubt be there for you to clean. It can get slick if it doesn’t have a textured surface.
Lack of storage was a serious problem for the teenage girls and all their makeup and accessories. Ronda found a 7-inch-deep medicine cabinet at ReStore and recessed it into the wall. “Les wanted to cut the back off so it didn’t stick out, but we decided to leave it deeper to have more storage,” she says. She added the trim piece to the top so she could mount a secondhand-store light fixture that stuck out far enough from the wall to provide adequate lighting. She then painted the cabinet an off-the-shelf white. Though it’s hard to tell, Ronda faked the wainscoting to save money. She attached trim pieces to the drywall and painted everything white to create the appearance of raised wainscoting boards. For the walls, she created a special color mixed from leftover paint she had in her garage. “That’s just one of the ways I save money,” she says. “I pulled some gray paint off my shelf and added white until I got what I liked.”
Mirror frames. One area that often gets overlooked where trim is concerned is the bathroom mirror. Simply wrapping the mirror with trim significantly improves the overall look of a bathroom. The trim can be white, a great color or a wood finish complementary to the design.
anity feet. You can also add bun feet to make a bathroom vanity resemble a piece of furniture. If there’s space between the counter and doors, a band of trim will give it extra charm, as inspired by this vintage cabinet.
Custom flat-panel cabinets with brushed bronze hardware have a slightly eased edge that helps reduce dust buildup. The cabinets and center island were painted a wintry white with a cool blue green undertone to match the walls and trim. The sleek stainless hood above the 36-inch range takes center stage in the cooking area, flanked by glass upper cabinets for display and storage of vintage glassware passed down through the family of Williamson’s husband, Mark. The backsplash behind the range features brushed Arabescato marble field tiles, which add beauty and richness. “I wanted something natural with refined texture that was visually interesting without being distracting or too trendy,” Williamson says. The stairs at the left lead to the family’s bedrooms on the upper level of the home; a guest bedroom is located behind the door seen on the right side of the photo. Lighting over island: Manuscript pendants, Currey & Company; sink in island: Blanco; sink faucet: Delta Faucet; range: Sub-Zero and Wolf; hood: Zephyr Ventilation; backsplash:
Shower or tub? When considering a bathtub or a shower-only option, ask yourself how many baths you take a year. I often have to remind my clients that they are not renovating their homes for a future buyer, but rather for themselves. Even if you live in your house only for another five years, it’s worth it to do it for yourself. And besides, there’s no guaranteed way to tell what will appeal to a future buyer.
Drawer storage. Consider installing a vanity with drawer storage rather than doors. Drawers are easier to access and easier to organize. They can be cut out around the plumbing and can be extra large to accommodate large items.
Shower bases. Gone are the days of boring beige prefabricated shower bases. More and more, I’ve been using shower systems that have modern, clean bases made out of acrylic or porcelain. Don’t overlook other options for your shower floor.
lumbing. Residential plumbing typically uses 1½-inch pipes for drains. You’d be surprised how much gunk and hair goes down that drain. The larger the drain, the less likely it is to clog. The cost difference to upgrade to a 2-inch drain is practically negligible, and unless your framing doesn’t allow for it, you should consider increasing the drain in your shower to 2 inches. Also, If you live in a region where temperatures drop below freezing during the winter, it’s important that your water supply lines don’t get routed through an exterior wall.
Here, in the same bathroom, you can see the matching Carrara marble on the countertops. The color of the vanity plays off the veins in the marble.
A space enlarger. If your bathroom is on the small side, go for an all-white palette to make it appear more expansive. An unbroken sweep of color gives a space an open and larger-than-it-is feeling. Keep in mind that cooler colors tend to recede, so if you choose a white that has a touch of gray or blue in it, you’ll get an even more pronounced expanding effect.
A light reflector. If your bathroom is skimpy on natural light, you can fake an abundance of it with an all-white color scheme. You still need ample lighting from ceiling or wall fixtures, but the large amount of white will bounce around the light and brighten the space.
Modern Bathroom by Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects Save Email A Natural Alternative A mixture of baking soda and water makes a scum-fighting scrub that many experts swear by. Measurements for the mixture will vary depending on how much you need. To get started, try using a half-cup of baking soda, then add water as needed to make a thick paste. Using a nonabrasive sponge, scrub the glass and rinse it with vinegar.
She decided to design her new bathroom herself, sourcing all the tile, fixtures and finishes, a task that proved immensely challenging. She scoured local showrooms in search of small sinks, vanities, toilets and more. She played a game of inches, mapping out every decision carefully to get the most storage and counter space in her bathroom. Weingart even showed up at toilet showrooms with a tissue box in hand in search of a flat-topped toilet tank she could put the box on. The dozens of toilets she looked at had either curved tanks or dual-flush buttons in the center. She eventually found a one-piece flat-top model by DXV called the Seagram that supported a tissue box just fine.
Weingart says the hardest decision to make was which vanity to choose. Her previous vanity was 22 inches wide, so she knew she didn’t want to go any wider than that or she wouldn’t be able to fit in the sliding shower door with towel bar that she wanted. The industry standard these days is 24 inches wide for vanities, so she had trouble finding anything smaller than that in her price range. She eventually found a 21-inch Daytona vanity with a 20-inch Tribeca sink from Empire Industries. She put a larger recessed mirror in to make up for any lost countertop space below. The recessed medicine cabinet by Kohler has a sliding interior magnifying mirror that’s adjustable, so Weingart can use it to do her makeup. For the floor tile, she wanted minimal grout lines for easier cleaning. She selected a style with stripes for a personal reason. “When you have long, dark hair, all we do all day long is wipe up our dark hair,” she says. “On the old beige floor, all I’d see was my hair. I found something with more interest so it wouldn’t be popping up as a feature attraction.”
Weingart had additional trouble selecting a toilet because she found that the whites differed from brand to brand. Some brands are more a cottony white while others are a creamier white, and she didn’t want her tub, sink and toilet to all be different whites. “You think white is white, but it’s not,” she says.
For the wall paint, she first picked Silver Fox, a taupey gray by Benjamin Moore, that looked perfect during the day. But at night she walked in and thought, “Why is my room avocado?” A staffer at the paint store suggested she change her lightbulbs, and when that didn’t help she repainted in a lighter gray with blue undertones, Nimbus, also by Benjamin Moore
A Compact Bathroom Recovers From Water Damage Save Email Weingart says this space-saving double niche with white quartz shelves in the shower was the best decision she made. “Neighbors come over and stare at that niche with envy,” she says.
The one room with ultimate privacy is the bathroom. When I was a kid, movies could never make me cry, but books did (think Where the Red Fern Grows or Old Yeller). Because my bedroom door didn’t have a functioning lock, I’d sometimes create a makeshift bed in the bathtub so no one one would walk in on my blubbering. This homeowner took the sanctity of the modern commode to a new level with bookshelves lining the wall near the seat of honor.
J. Carsten Remodeling Save Email There’s always room for something off the beaten path. Jason Myrlie of J. Carsten Remodeling took an unusual approach by hiding this medicine cabinet behind framed artwork. His customer purchased a medicine cabinet with a mirrored door and supplied him with a picture. “I removed the door, marked the picture for the location of the hinges, predrilled the holes and attached the picture using two woods screws per hinge,” Myrlie says. “I was also careful that the wood screws attached to an area that would support the picture and also that the wood screws did not go through the other side.”
Opulence White Marble Porcelain Bathroom
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