Fish Wallpaper Adds Whimsy to a 60-Square-Foot Bathroom
A designer reconfigures space in her home to create a dedicated boys’ bathroom and a separate laundry room
At her family’s home on Washington’s Mercer Island, interior designer Jacqueline Quasney’s washer and dryer were tucked inside a bathroom shared by her two sons. Quasney had long envisioned a new layout that separated the laundry chores from the kids’ morning routine. So, partnering with contractor Andrey Yezgor of Modern Design Construction, she repurposed an adjacent storage closet to create dedicated rooms for each function. The classic style of the remodeled bathroom coordinates with the home’s traditional architecture, and the whimsical wallpaper celebrates her sons’ love of fishing.
Before Photo
After: Quasney replaced some of the lost linen storage with a tall custom alder cabinet in the bathroom. Because a swinging door would have bumped into either the new cabinet or the vanity, she installed a pocket door.
The inspiration for the design arrived while Quasney was sourcing wallpaper for a client. She saw this Schumacher fish motif and was instantly transported to her grandfather’s den. “I knew I had to share it with my oldest son,” she says. “He was at an age where he was becoming curious about what his parents do for a living.” Her son’s immediate response was, “Mom, I want to put that in our bathroom.”
Wallpaper: Jamie’s Trophies Sisal in Sky, Schumacher
The inspiration for the design arrived while Quasney was sourcing wallpaper for a client. She saw this Schumacher fish motif and was instantly transported to her grandfather’s den. “I knew I had to share it with my oldest son,” she says. “He was at an age where he was becoming curious about what his parents do for a living.” Her son’s immediate response was, “Mom, I want to put that in our bathroom.”
Wallpaper: Jamie’s Trophies Sisal in Sky, Schumacher
Though the wallpaper is playful, its beautiful illustrations and framed composition are sophisticated, making it suitable for all ages. With the style set, the rest of the color and material palette fell into place. Quasney chose a watery blue tile for the shower that evokes the feeling of a lake. “The veining in the Carrara marble [on the countertop] has hints of blue and green in it,” she says. The pièce de résistance is a navy pencil tile from Ann Sacks that creates a crisp tailored border around the room.
To keep the cool blues from feeling too chilly, Quasney used alder cabinetry with a clear stain. “I’m so happy that natural wood is back,” she says. “I chose alder because it has light coloring, and it’s less expensive than other species.” While the plumbing fixtures are polished nickel, the cabinetry hardware is warm-toned brass.
How to Remodel a Bathroom
How to Remodel a Bathroom
The shower measures 5¾ by 3½ feet. “The contractor was a huge help when it came to making the shower as big as possible,” Quasney says. “He was a great problem solver when determining the footprints of both rooms.” The right side of the shower bumps in to accommodate a large vintage sink in the adjacent laundry room, while the vanity wall is pushed back to make room for the bathroom’s new linen cabinet.
To lean into the home’s traditional roots, Quasney used classic subway tile as wainscoting. She elevated the look by using the navy pencil tile as an accent around the room, topping it off with a chair rail tile cap. In the shower, she oriented the subway tiles vertically along the bottom, topped them with the pencil tile and arranged the rest in a traditional brick pattern.
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To lean into the home’s traditional roots, Quasney used classic subway tile as wainscoting. She elevated the look by using the navy pencil tile as an accent around the room, topping it off with a chair rail tile cap. In the shower, she oriented the subway tiles vertically along the bottom, topped them with the pencil tile and arranged the rest in a traditional brick pattern.
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The room was originally windowless. Quasney came up with a strategy to capture light from the foyer on the other side of the wall. The bathroom’s new porthole window nods to nautical style, adds a curved element and is an invaluable source of natural light.
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The designer regularly uses images she finds on Houzz for inspiration, and for this project she searched for traditional tile layout ideas. “I also got the idea for the pony wall from looking at images of other bathrooms on Houzz,” she says. “I wanted to give the shower some privacy without having to wall it off.”
The Carrara marble used on the countertop appears on the shower threshold, around the edges of the pony wall and in the shower niche.
The shower door swings both ways, and the temperature control can be reached from outside the shower so the boys can turn on the water and wait for it to warm up without getting wet.
The Carrara marble used on the countertop appears on the shower threshold, around the edges of the pony wall and in the shower niche.
The shower door swings both ways, and the temperature control can be reached from outside the shower so the boys can turn on the water and wait for it to warm up without getting wet.
Quasney also used the navy pencil tile to create decorative box outlines on the shower walls. This is another way to elevate the look of budget-friendly subway tile.
The other half of the renovation resulted in this hardworking laundry room. It features a long counter for clothes folding and a vintage sink that sits just behind the bathroom’s shower wall. Quasney maintained design continuity by carrying the tile wainscoting through both spaces, but she swapped the fish for a botanical wallpaper to give the laundry room its own distinct personality.
See more photos of the laundry room
See more photos of the laundry room
Before: The storage closet is at the top of this plan, and the bathroom-laundry room is beneath it.
After: Two changes were made to the plan during the design process. The bathroom now features a single sink that maximizes countertop space, and the laundry sink was moved to the area beneath the shower to allow more space for folding.
The final floor plan splits the 122-square-foot area almost exactly in half. Though the rooms are long and narrow, bumping walls in and out to accommodate extra space for the linen cabinet and the vintage laundry sink maximized the space.
Though Quasney’s husband was initially skeptical of the bold fish wallpaper, the finished result is a hit with the whole family. “The joy of this project is that my boys absolutely love fishing,” she says.
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The final floor plan splits the 122-square-foot area almost exactly in half. Though the rooms are long and narrow, bumping walls in and out to accommodate extra space for the linen cabinet and the vintage laundry sink maximized the space.
Though Quasney’s husband was initially skeptical of the bold fish wallpaper, the finished result is a hit with the whole family. “The joy of this project is that my boys absolutely love fishing,” she says.
More on Houzz
Read more bathroom stories
Browse bathroom photos for ideas
Find design and remodeling pros
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: Interior designer Jacqueline Quasney, her husband and their two sons, ages 8 and 10
Location: Mercer Island, Washington
Size: 60 square feet (5.6 square meters)
Designer: Q Design Studio
Contractor: Modern Design Construction
Before: Between the existing bathroom-laundry room and the storage closet, Quasney had 122 square feet to divvy up between the new bathroom and laundry room. The new 60-square-foot bathroom encompasses the storage closet space and some of the former bathroom. The laundry room uses the rest of the former bathroom space. (See the floor plans at bottom.)
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