Marble Tile Brings Spa-Like Luxury to a Master Bath
A designer liberally uses the stone to deliver bright, refreshing style to a once-dark California bathroom
What do you do when your client requests something elegant, spa-like, calming, bright and white to update a dark and dated master bathroom? Designer Samatha Crow turned to timeless marble and a breezy tone-on-tone color palette to achieve the look. To keep things from being too boring, she played with tile size, material and pattern to create lots of style and character.
After: Whites and grays played a major role in brightening the bathroom, while playing with pattern, texture and finishes kept it from looking too sterile.
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Marble and marble-look tile helped bring a luxurious, classic look. On the floor, large-format ceramic tile that looks like marble was a way to deliver style while keeping costs down substantially, Crow says. A 3-by-5-foot basket-weave inlay of marble helped break up the main floor area and add interest. “That part turned out amazing,” Crow says.
Lucite handles on the marble-topped double vanity “add that extra touch,” Crow says.
Lucite handles on the marble-topped double vanity “add that extra touch,” Crow says.
Honed Carrara marble tile wraps the shower walls and curb and extends to the lower walls surrounding a new standalone bathtub. To mix things up, Crow added honed marble set in a herringbone pattern on the shower floor.
The toilet sits inside a water closet to the left of the shower.
The toilet sits inside a water closet to the left of the shower.
A close-up of the shower niche shows the elegant detailing of the marble tile and its subtle, nuanced coloring of golds, grays and whites.
The project wasn’t without its “uh-oh” moment. Through some miscommunication, the tile got over-installed, leaving just a small hole for the bathtub connection. After some head-scratching on how to install the tub without damaging or ripping up the tile, a plumber cut a hole in the ceiling below this second-floor bathroom and created enough room to connect the tub. The homeowners luckily were repainting the downstairs ceilings anyway, but they had to pay for the drywall repair. “ It was pretty intense, but what I have learned from my years of remodels is there is almost always a way to work around a problem,” Crow says. “You just need to stop and take time to think about it and work through it and it all works out in the end.”
A gray ottoman with a silver tray adds a finishing touch to round out the spa-like feel.
A gray ottoman with a silver tray adds a finishing touch to round out the spa-like feel.
While the floor plan of the bathroom comes across as super simple, it shows how far the right mix of materials, pattern and color can go to create a rich design.
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Get bathroom design ideas
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A young couple who both work in finance
Location: El Dorado Hills, California
Size: 100 square feet (9.3 square meters)
Designer: Samantha Crow of Juxtaposed Interiors
Before: The homeowners felt the existing bathroom, with its dark cabinetry and dark tile, was out of date. Plus the gold finishes and built-in tub didn’t provide the bright, spa-like feeling they were going for. “When looking at the space, I saw quickly the potential that could happen and knew I could bring her vision to life,” Crow says.
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