Southampton Spa Bathroom

This ‘spa’ bathroom is one you could live in.

The client bought a house with an ugly builder’s bathroom – preprinted tile, shiny brass fixtures and trim, off-white plastic laminate cabinetry, all in a room with no architectural features whatsoever. The couple wanted a spa bathroom that would be comfortable for hanging out in. With two busy business lives, often their only time together is on weekends. This bathroom provides a great refuge for them to relax or hang out while getting ready for the evening.

Upon entering the bathroom through an existing arched opening with beautiful pocket doors, you encountered a bare wall before choosing to enter the closet or bathroom area. This was the perfect place to initiate a change by installing a full-length mirror which also reflects the view outside, and makes the wall transparent.

Inside the bathroom, I organized the space so that the steam shower, bathtub, and the individual sink areas form part of the visual notion of the room’s perimeter and seating area. Since this spa bathroom is in Southampton, I brought the sensibility of water and beach into the bathroom. I used aquamarine hand-cut glass tiles in the floor’s center with the surrounding floor in a tumbled, honed, travertine marble. We echoed the floor area in the ceiling by dropping in soffits which defined the perimeters and scaled down the cavernous feeling of the original bathroom. The new soffits also housed much-needed lighting, which before had been extremely poor. We painted the ceiling a high-gloss blue to mimic the lustrous depth of the glass tile. The high gloss acts like a mirror, or in this case, water, which creates a reflection of the new glamorous crystal chandelier.

The bench at the end of the bathroom is a great place to sit with a glass of wine and chat while the other person is getting ready. The wood is stained to look like wenge (pronounced wen-gay, a tropical timber, very dark-brown finish) with Caesarstone counter tops and vessel sinks mounted on top of the counters for a more spa-like feeling. The center towel-storage cabinet serves to separate the two sinks and was made higher to create interesting topography in the room. It also serves as a pedestal for flowers or sculpture.

I had a great time creating this spa retreat!