Bathroom of the Week: Unusual Vanity Stars in a Serene Room
An interior designer creates a stress-free retreat for a busy North Carolina homeowner
This bathroom remodel began with a vanity with an unconventional finish — it’s wrapped in shagreen-embossed leather. “My client knew she wanted a gray-and-white palette, and she knew she wanted to use this vanity,” interior designer Leslie Williams says. Williams used the vanity as a jumping-off point for a relaxing neutral color palette. “She has a very busy professional life and wanted this room to be serene, light, bright and stress-free,” the designer says.
After: “My client found this vanity and asked me, ‘I have to have this, do you think it would work?’ And she wanted to keep the room calm by minimizing patterns,” Williams says. “We kept the palette neutral and clean to make the vanity the focal point.” The vanity’s chic faux shagreen texture and warm metal hardware make it a stunner.
Williams added two large beveled mirrors and one double sconce between them. “At first my client wanted three sconces — one on each end of the vanity and one between the mirrors. But we found that we would have had to use smaller mirrors and the sconce on the left would have looked cramped into the corner. So we used a double sconce in the center instead,” she says. “With the recessed lighting in the ceiling there’s still plenty of lighting for her.”
Wall color: Agreeable Gray, Sherwin-Williams
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Williams added two large beveled mirrors and one double sconce between them. “At first my client wanted three sconces — one on each end of the vanity and one between the mirrors. But we found that we would have had to use smaller mirrors and the sconce on the left would have looked cramped into the corner. So we used a double sconce in the center instead,” she says. “With the recessed lighting in the ceiling there’s still plenty of lighting for her.”
Wall color: Agreeable Gray, Sherwin-Williams
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The countertop is white quartz. The homeowner was interested in a warmer finish for the faucets, so Williams presented Delta’s champagne bronze for the fixtures. “Because my client wanted something modern, I gave her more streamlined options,” she says. These faucets have blocky modern silhouettes.
Faucet: Vero two-handle widespread, Delta
Shop for faucets with a warm metal finish
Faucet: Vero two-handle widespread, Delta
Shop for faucets with a warm metal finish
To promote a calm vibe, the designer sourced a 12-by-24-inch porcelain tile with a Carrara marble-like veining pattern. She used it on the floor, the shower walls and the walls around the bathtub. “The flooring has a matte finish that’s really gorgeous and has just a little shimmer,” she says. She also notes that the matte finish gives the floor-rated tile some extra grip for safety.
From left to right, the three doors seen toward the back of the room lead to a linen closet, a walk-in closet and a toilet room.
From left to right, the three doors seen toward the back of the room lead to a linen closet, a walk-in closet and a toilet room.
Before: This home is in a community for people age 55 and up, so the existing bathtub was ADA-compliant. This means it’s lower than standard tubs.
After: The homeowner opted to keep the bathtub. Williams had the existing millwork surround painted a light gray to suit the new color palette. She notes that hanging a chandelier over the tub as she did here means it must be hung high enough to meet code.
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Williams edged the large-format tiles around the tub with a bullnose tile edge with mitered corners. The diagonals in the corners play off the beveled frames of the mirrors.
Tub filler: Vero Roman tub trim in champagne bronze, Delta
Tub filler: Vero Roman tub trim in champagne bronze, Delta
Before: The shower stall’s existing tiles made it dark.
After: Now the stall has the same Carrara-like tile on the walls that Williams used on the floor. “I always like to have the tiles laid out on site before installation so that we can get the pattern right,” she says. “In this case a straight stack pattern worked best. Making some of the random veining patterns look good together is always an art in itself.”
The shower floor is a marble mosaic. “This was the one place where we brought in a different pattern,” Williams says. A busier pattern here doesn’t disrupt the calm feel of the room.
The shower floor is a marble mosaic. “This was the one place where we brought in a different pattern,” Williams says. A busier pattern here doesn’t disrupt the calm feel of the room.
Williams specified Starphire glass for the shower enclosure. “The green you see in regular glass would have made the grays in the room look more green,” she says.
Champagne bronze was hard to source for every metal piece in the room, so Williams had to have items like the shower drain, shower glass clamps and shower door handle custom-matched to the finishes on the faucets. The elegant shower door handle is acrylic.
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Champagne bronze was hard to source for every metal piece in the room, so Williams had to have items like the shower drain, shower glass clamps and shower door handle custom-matched to the finishes on the faucets. The elegant shower door handle is acrylic.
More on Houzz
Read more bathroom stories
Browse bathroom photos
Find a design pro on Houzz
Shop for your bathroom
Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: A busy professional
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Size: 150 square feet (14 square meters)
Designer: Leslie Williams
Before: The bathroom had dark finishes and an oppressively hefty vanity. “My client was ready for a change that would make it more modern and bright,” Williams says.
Luckily the existing layout made sense, so Williams was able to keep the tub, shower and vanity in the same locations. Not having to move the plumbing fixtures saved a lot of money. “This is a townhome built on a concrete slab, so it would have cost a lot to move the plumbing,” Williams says.
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