Last week our bathroom renovations for Vanessa Carlton’s NYC loft was featured on Arch Digest did you see? Head over there for the story which is punctuated with a video of her giving a tour of the entire home.
Vanessa’s loft is one of those incredible new york apartments that inhabit an entire floor of a building, the ones where the elevator opens right up into the living room space. When I first arrived I immediately was taken by the 1892 built building and the original architectural features that were still in tact. The living room, kitchen and bedrooms all had the original exposed brick and so much great natural light it was an inspired space with a couple of eye sore bathrooms. We wanted to bring the essence of the building back into the bathrooms in an interesting way… classic and timeless but with the sss touch.
So let’s take a look at what we started with in this principle bath.
I have yet to photograph the #samuelfamilyfixer for myself and to show you guys the full tour (but this image from the shoot for Domino Magazine is still giving me life, as are the nightly baths right in this spot), so in the meantime I wanted to give you a look into what my non negotiables were for my dream master bath and delve into the design and making of it.
When we moved in there was an un-used and unfinished “hot tub room” just off the master bedroom (which you could also access from clover’s bedroom) that I suppose once had a hot tub in it, but by the time we got there it was by name only. Essentially, it was an un-heated and unfinished exterior room with decking for the flooring and plywood walls but it was a good amount of space and it had the best light with all the windows. The master bathroom at the time had almost no natural light and was divided up into two small rooms, one with the sink/vanity and the toilet and the other had an alcove bathtub and closet. Here is a look at the “as-built” floor plans and then what our plans were for the space.
Between the two guest bedrooms in our Moore Residential project is a shared jack & jill bathroom, or as one reader commented, it should be called a Jack & Rebecca bath! No matter what it’s called it sure does have it all. And by all I mean ALL the things I could ever want in a bathroom. Poured terrazzo floors with a custom brass inlay (designed by yours truly), check… a freestanding bathtub with modern lines perfect for a bath caddy, check… gold toned fixtures, check … stunning handmade tile, check… that Mercedes Benz of toilets, check… every single detail in this space was poured over by myself, Emily Farnham (interior Architect), Mandy, Bronstruction (the builders) and Cisneros Terrazzo (the folks that executed my inlay pattern and who made the terrazzo flooring throughout the house.
If I had a nickel for every time I got a “where did that _____ come from” in regards to this bathroom from the sneak peeks on IG, I would have A LOT of nickels. Outside of the custom pieces, the tile (from Fireclay) and the sconces (from Allied Maker), everything in this bathroom came from Wayfair. From the bathtub and faucets, right down to the soap dish and towels… all Wayfair! (All the links are at the bottom of the post). So without further ado, let’s get on to the tour…
We went with poured-on-site terrazzo throughout the entire house but I knew I wanted to do something extra special with the flooring in this centrally located bathroom. I created the geometric pattern to scale and the Cisneros guys painstakingly brought it to life in brass, exactly as I drew it.
Now I want to take you back to what we started with…
BEFORE
AFTER
The previous vanity jutted too far into the space, it not only had a large footprint but it also added so much unnecessary visual weight to the room with all the competing angles, the shelving, and the raised panel doors. Essentially, it had a lot going on and in the interest of opening the space up and bringing it back to its’ modern roots we replaced it with a paired down custom floating vanity.
BEFORE
AFTER
Shot by Trevor Tondro for Architectural Digest
As you can see the vanity no longer takes up heaps of the room. Also a vast improvement is the replacement of the glass block wall with a floor to ceiling window. In the original design, as Harold Zook intended, there was actually an exterior glass door where the glass block window was. Without the need of a door, Emily thought it best to replace it with a single glass window which more closely resembles the original design. Oh and there is an electric roller blind at the top that is on a switch so you can get some privacy at the push of a button (I know you were wondering).
BEFORE
AFTER
The tiny phone booth style shower was nixed and replaced with a glass enclosure, further opening up the space and the freestanding soaker bathtub is a major upgrade from the small alcove tub.
We’re making progress in the A-frame bathroom! Through the designing, demolition and re-building of so many bathrooms, I have learned a thing or two along the way but working with this bathroom proves there are always room for surprises. I’ve also never installed or designed a bathroom with quite so much technology, but that ended up being the easy part. I teamed up with Kohler to share the process and a few do’s and don’ts that I used through this remodel. READ MORE
Happy Monday guys! My excitement this morning is two-fold because #1 I get to introduce you to another SSS product collaboration and #2 share a sneak peak into the almost finished master bathroom from my “Trullbrook Residence” client. You may remember the before photos and the design plan from this post, and it is all coming together. The custom vanity I designed, the basket weave tile pattern, the gorgeous slab… and probably my most loved items in the room are the pendants I designed along with my favorite lighting company Cedar & Moss.
I am always on the hunt for modern mini pendants, which work so well at bathroom vanities, so I wanted to create my own. Cedar and Moss had just come out with their ceramic line and we knew it was a match made in heaven. I worked closely with Michelle, the founder, by passing sketches and going through a first and second prototype before we landed on the final piece that I got to use in my Trullbrook Residence project and that you can purchase through my shop and over on Cedar & Moss now!
If you are familiar with any of my work you will have no doubt seen some Cedar & Moss fixtures. When Michelle first launched her line, I used her Alto Pendants in our kitchen renovation and have become a loyal Cedar & Moss fan from then on. What started as a one woman show has grown in leaps and bounds into a bustling studio, providing the marketplace with modern and midcentury lighting options that are minimal and also affordable and I am SO happy to be able to work with them to create my first light fixture, the Archer pendant.
I’m back at the Trullbrook Residence with their final bathroom design and even though it’s the smallest of the 4, it’s definitely not short on style. For the wallpaper I turned to my fellow marble pattern lover Rebecca Atwood and we created a custom color of one of her patterns.
I chose three pantone colors to create a more natural, terra cotta type color palette and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Just wait to see it on the wall! I love the work Rebecca does in wallpapers and textiles, her pattern based goods are perfect for mixing and matching and you know I love a good pattern play.
Click through for the before photos and our plans! READ MORE
