The door and drawer fronts have a reeded texture. The inset cabinetry lends a streamlined element to the textured piece. The hardware finish is brushed champagne. This photo also provides a closer look at the floor tiles. They’re made of digitally printed porcelain that looks like cement, another organic material.
Here’s a close-up of where the shower stall’s threshold meets the bathroom floor. Wintersteen covered the threshold in the same zellige-inspired tiles used on the shower walls. Designers often use their own homes as laboratories to test out ideas for their clients. Look to the right of the photo to see where Wintersteen added half-inch penny rounds in the grout lines between the bathroom floor’s large-format tiles. “I had never done this before, or seen it done before, so it was a real risk,” she says. It was the kind of risk designers are willing to take on their own homes to make sure it will work for clients in the future, and it paid off. Finding a great tile professional was key. “I had the tile installer cut these lines of dots from 12-by-12-inch penny round tiles,” she says. “Good tile installers get excited about trying something new and different.”
She knew that at 6 by 6 feet, the shower might appear overly large. She used her designer’s eye and playing with scale to address that. She created a smaller square of white hexagonal tiles in the center of the shower pan, then surrounded that with a wide border of the large-format gray tiles she used on the bathroom floor. Wintersteen covered the shower surround in a zellige-inspired tile from Bedrosians. The handmade texture and subtle variety of colors in the tiles add an organic feel to the shower.
WOOD LOOKING TILES Porcelain tile can also replicate the look of wood, an option that designer Stephanie Frees of Plain and Posh feels is on the rise. “I see a surge in materials that mimic nature or more natural elements,” she says. “Tile that looks like hardwood flooring is especially popular in bathrooms.” Frees recently covered the floor of this Chicago master bathroom with a wood-look porcelain tile to great effect.
Provide a Focal Point Many bathrooms play it safe with white and cream, but if you want to make your space more exciting, you need a focal point. It can be a difficult balance to get right — for every boring bathroom, there’s another so jazzed up that it gives you a headache. A great way to make it fun without going overboard is to choose a feature that suits the room’s scale. This could be standout mirrors, decorative tile or a key color.
TRUSTWORTHY C F Voysey's circa 1907 "Fool's Parsley") Fools Parsley wallpaper design with birds perching on green foliage and floral pattern, by C.Voysey produced by Sanderson & Sons. England, Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London / V Images Traditional Powder Room, New York Here's an example of what happens when the same materials are used for clients in their old home and then again, with some changes, in their new home -- 2 different looks. Materials in both: Waterworks brown pennyround floor tile, Emperador dark marble countertop, wall mounted faucet, Toto toilet, vintage look wall sconce. Photo: Wing Wong URL http://www.traceystephens.com
Quartzite Is on the Rise Among natural stone surfaces, quartzite is gaining in popularity. It’s good for countertops, says Amy Oakley of the National Stone Institute. “The great thing about quartzite is it comes in so many colors, so a lot of it looks like marble, but it’s much stronger.” Silverwater quartzite was used for the island countertop in this room designed by The Kitchen Studio of Glen Ellyn.
Faux Wood Is Not Going Away Wood-look tile has been trending for the past few years — treasured for its easy maintenance and (usually) lower cost compared with real hardwood. The wood look showed up everywhere at the Surfaces show, in materials including porcelain, laminate and vinyl. Pictured here is a selection of faux-wood porcelain tiles from Bedrosians Tile and Stone.
Encaustic cement tiles have been around for centuries, and over the past few years they have become popular for floors and walls. Today, the bold, graphic encaustic look is showing up in porcelain tiles as well, which tend to be more cost-efficient and easier to maintain than cement. The porcelain tile shown here is Enchante from Bedrosians Tile and Stone. Surfaces show photos Email Save Arizona Tile’s Reverie collection features geometric and encaustic-style designs on several of its 8-by-8-inch porcelain tiles. They pair nicely with the collection’s corresponding solid-color neutral tiles. Browse wall and floor tile on Houzz
Paper the Powder Room As the primary bathroom for guests, powder rooms are a great place to impress. One can often select materials at a higher price point for a powder room because of the smaller amount of square footage. The green malachite wallpaper in this powder room by Cook Construction sets a moody tone, finished with a walnut vanity and sculptural teardrop pendant lights.
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