Bathroom Design
Bathroom of the Week
Bathroom of the Week: Bright White Style With a Spa-Like Wet Room
A designer creates a cottage retreat with light finishes, warm wood-look flooring and a large shower with a soaking tub
When you’ve got a 50-acre Texas ranch, you’re likely to find yourself hosting lots of friends and family. That was the case for the owners of this property in the small rural town of Burton, about an hour and a half outside Houston.
With frequent guests and extended stays in mind, they set out to build two cottages on their land and hired designer Aurora Fain, who had helped design spaces in their main house. For the bathroom in a one-bedroom cottage, they wanted to create a bright modern farmhouse style with clean lines. Fain employed a white-on-white color scheme that enhances light and makes the long and narrow 120-square-foot bathroom feel spacious. Black details add some drama, wood-look luxury vinyl flooring a touch of warmth. And a glass-enclosed wet room with a freestanding soaking tub gives visitors a spa-like getaway feel.
With frequent guests and extended stays in mind, they set out to build two cottages on their land and hired designer Aurora Fain, who had helped design spaces in their main house. For the bathroom in a one-bedroom cottage, they wanted to create a bright modern farmhouse style with clean lines. Fain employed a white-on-white color scheme that enhances light and makes the long and narrow 120-square-foot bathroom feel spacious. Black details add some drama, wood-look luxury vinyl flooring a touch of warmth. And a glass-enclosed wet room with a freestanding soaking tub gives visitors a spa-like getaway feel.
The double vanity features Shaker-style door and drawer fronts, black steel pulls and specialized storage components. “Under each sink is a cabinet with a fixed shelf that has an outlet where the couple can charge razors or connect hair dryers,” Fain says. “This way they don’t have to have clutter on the countertop.”
A black-and-ivory loomed area rug adds a graphic element that coordinates with the room’s color scheme.
Hardware: Flat black Euro bar pull, Cosmas; towel rings: Trinsic in matte black, Delta Faucet
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A black-and-ivory loomed area rug adds a graphic element that coordinates with the room’s color scheme.
Hardware: Flat black Euro bar pull, Cosmas; towel rings: Trinsic in matte black, Delta Faucet
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Widespread faucets with a high arc spout feature a matte black finish that coordinates with other black details, including the 30-by-40-inch matte black powder-coated mirrors and black-and-glass vanity lights.
White marble-look quartz countertops add another light-enhancing surface. Subtle brown and gray veining complements the undertones in the wall paint.
Mirrors: Raizel in matte black, 30 by 40 inches, Renwil; light fixture: Octave in black, Savoy House
White marble-look quartz countertops add another light-enhancing surface. Subtle brown and gray veining complements the undertones in the wall paint.
Mirrors: Raizel in matte black, 30 by 40 inches, Renwil; light fixture: Octave in black, Savoy House
A wet-room setup with a 32-by-63-inch white acrylic soaking tub within a large shower gives the room a spa-like feel. A frameless glass divider allows virtually unobstructed views into the wet room that help highlight the length of the bathroom, giving it a more spacious appearance.
Glossy 4-by-12-inch white ceramic tiles in a vertical brick pattern help accentuate the height of the room and enhance light to maximize the airy look. Gray porcelain penny tile flooring provides a nonslip surface, grounds the space and complements the matte black shower and bath plumbing.
A fixed-pane window inside the wet room lets in natural light and frames a canopy of oak trees in a pasture. “The sill height for that window is 6 feet, so it provides lots of privacy,” Fain says. “Because it’s facing east, you also get lots of sunlight.”
Bathtub: Juno, Wyndham Collection; shower system: Monitor 14 series in matte black, Delta Faucet; shower wall tiles: Santa Monica ceramic in white, 4 by 12 inches, Tile Bar
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Glossy 4-by-12-inch white ceramic tiles in a vertical brick pattern help accentuate the height of the room and enhance light to maximize the airy look. Gray porcelain penny tile flooring provides a nonslip surface, grounds the space and complements the matte black shower and bath plumbing.
A fixed-pane window inside the wet room lets in natural light and frames a canopy of oak trees in a pasture. “The sill height for that window is 6 feet, so it provides lots of privacy,” Fain says. “Because it’s facing east, you also get lots of sunlight.”
Bathtub: Juno, Wyndham Collection; shower system: Monitor 14 series in matte black, Delta Faucet; shower wall tiles: Santa Monica ceramic in white, 4 by 12 inches, Tile Bar
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This floor plan shows the long and narrow layout of the bathroom, with the entrance at the left and the wet room at the end of the room to the right. “This bathroom is effortless and easy to maintain,” Fain says. “It’s an affordable space with an elevated design.”
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: This is a guest cottage for family and friends
Location: Burton, Texas
Size: 120 square feet (11 square meters)
Designer: Aurora Fain of Studio Fain
Builder: Skidder Construction
A white double vanity (Simply White by Benjamin Moore), white walls and ceiling with beige undertones (Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams) and other white finishes give the 120-square-foot bathroom a bright look and the appearance of more space. “I wanted the vanity to be crisp and the same crisp white as the subway tile we used for the shower,” Fain says. “This provides contrast for the soft alabaster walls.”
Wood-look luxury vinyl flooring softens and warms the mostly white palette. “This floor looks just like wood but performs like a tile,” Fain says. “It brings all the organic warmth that wood provides, but it’s not slippery and it’s also affordable and extremely durable.”
Floor: Rigidcore Bighorn, Regal Hardwoods
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