Plain Primary Bathroom Transformed Into a Warm Retreat
A once-bare room gets a standout circular shower, a walnut vanity, sunny yellow wall tile and a mixed marble floor
A couple with a new baby needed the primary bath of their Los Angeles home to be a lot more functional. A friend recommended The Warren Interior Design Studio, and the couple hired the firm to redo the primary bathroom and bedroom. “The original bathroom was an unpermitted addition by the previous owner, and it had little to no real utility,” says designer Christian Warren.
Warren and her team reimagined the room, giving it an eye-catching curved shower, a walnut vanity with ample storage, buttery yellow wall tile and a custom-designed floor with radiant heating. They also brightened and enlarged it by raising the ceiling and adding windows. “They needed the suite to become a real retreat, with a sense of ease, calm and artful intention,” the designer says.
Warren and her team reimagined the room, giving it an eye-catching curved shower, a walnut vanity with ample storage, buttery yellow wall tile and a custom-designed floor with radiant heating. They also brightened and enlarged it by raising the ceiling and adding windows. “They needed the suite to become a real retreat, with a sense of ease, calm and artful intention,” the designer says.
Before Photo
Warren gave the new bath midcentury modern appeal with a custom streamlined walnut vanity, yellow and gold accents in the wall and floor tile, and circular design touches in the lighting, mirrors and glass block windows. Here, a mirrored door to a new closet provides a glimpse of the shower area across the room. “We have the same style mirrored door in the bedroom for wardrobe-style closets,” Warren says.
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After: Warren’s design included new clerestory windows that flood the bathroom with natural light and visually widen the narrow space. The team added 5 feet of ceiling height. The new vanity counter extends into a corner, with room for a stool. New marble tile flooring is a standout feature that anchors the space and coordinates with the butter yellow wall tile.
Floor tile: Artistic Tile, Proper Tile and TileBar; wall tile: Daltile
Floor tile: Artistic Tile, Proper Tile and TileBar; wall tile: Daltile
The floor looks clean and simple, but Warren says sourcing and installing the various tiles was complicated — though well worth the effort. The one-of-a-kind design makes the space pop.
“The floors are a custom mosaic we designed,” Warren says. “The search for each variety of marble was endless, and with multiple vendors providing materials, meant a lot of varied arrival dates and risk of delay should one be backordered unexpectedly.”
“The floors are a custom mosaic we designed,” Warren says. “The search for each variety of marble was endless, and with multiple vendors providing materials, meant a lot of varied arrival dates and risk of delay should one be backordered unexpectedly.”
The custom walnut vanity has plenty of storage and floats against the bath’s sunny tile. Warren kept the midcentury modern look going with a circular motif that includes round mirrors, domed sconces and oval wall-mounted faucets.
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Tucked in the corner at the end of the vanity, the curved walk-in shower is the bath’s standout feature. The circular shape echos the rest of the room’s design and provides privacy. The designers extended the floor tiling into the space and included a tiled bench and niches for bath products.
The open-air shower is bright thanks to the yellow tile and light from the clerestory windows and a vertical stretch of glass blocks on one wall. In keeping with the circular motif, there’s a round pattern in the glass blocks, which refer back to those on the other side of the room.
Here’s a closer look at the tiled niches in the shower, which make the space look seamless. One of the bath’s domed sconces adds ambient light.
Before Photo
Before: Here’s a view down the length of the old bath. The entrance to the bedroom is at the upper left.
After: The designer chose the same walnut as the vanity to panel the opposite wall. A hidden jib door connects the bathroom to the primary bedroom. A new closet is behind the glass door on the right.
Before: The primary suite layout before the remodel consisted of the bedroom (open area at top) and the bathroom (below), with the toilet and sink on one wall, facing a wall of closets.
After: Here’s a detailed look at the new primary bath floor plan. The semicircle at the lower left is the new shower area, with the new two-sink custom vanity next to it. On the opposite wall, the new toilet is in roughly the same location as it was in the old layout. It’s on the same wall as the new walnut paneling with seamless jib door that leads to the primary bedroom (the space at the top of the diagram).
New elevation plan: A side view of the new primary bath shows, from left, the new toilet and paneled wall, new clerestory and glass block windows, and tiling in those areas.
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Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their baby girl
Location: Studio City area of Los Angeles
Size: Primary bath and bedroom suite combined is 300 square feet
Designer: The Warren | Interior Design Studio
Builder: Analog Construction
Before: The toilet, vanity and storage were all lined up on one side of the old bathroom, with a wall of closets on the opposite wall. The pros had the skylight removed during the remodel, when the roof was raised and clerestory windows added. The previous flooring was peel-and-stick vinyl.
“The ceiling height was below 7 feet on the lower side,” Warren says. “There was no shower, one tiny sink vanity and a toilet sitting in the room like an occasional chair. There was a nice amount of space, but it was highly underutilized.”