This small bathroom need an updated look, but as it was squeezed between a stair wall and an adjacent bedroom, the remodel had to fit within the existing footprint. Designer Mariette Barsoum of Divine Kitchens in Westborough, Mass., stayed within the 41/2-foot-by-almost-10-foot space and maintained the location of the existing fixtures.
Designer Mariette Barsoum says that frameless glass is the best solution for a smallspace shower. “The less the better,” she says. “There are a lot of other textures in the room, and we did not want the shower to be a focal point.” For the shower floor, she chose smaller 2-inch-square versions of the wall tile, but added bright touches of blue, red, and green using glass tile inserts.
Credit: Loretta Berardinelli, Berardinelli Photography
The rich tones of this custom mahogany vanity add a touch of drama to the guest bath’s otherwise neutral palette. Both the large glass-door storage cabinet and the 6-inch high shelf are mounted on the wall. The cabinet is topped with a Carrera marble countertop set with an undermount stainless steel sink.
Credit: Loretta Berardinelli, Berardinelli Photography
The clients of this whole-house remodel were split on the design of the renovation — the wife leaned toward contemporary while the husband preferred a more traditional style. Barsoum says that they compromised by creating a rustic family room for the husband, which has a rosewood mantel, knotty alder entertainment units, and fieldstone above the fireplace. The new kitchen, master suite, and this guest bath have a modern design.
Barsoum removed the existing heat register under the window and replaced it with electric heat under the diagonally laid porcelain tile floor. A wall-mounted towel warmer in front of the toilet provides additional heat.
Credit: Loretta Berardinelli, Berardinelli Photography
Though the clean, modern lines of this bathroom are suitable for the 1980s house, Barsoum has noticed a general trend toward more modern design, even in the very traditional homes of New England.
The guest bath has simple lines and neutral colors. Barsoum and fellow designer Heidi Marika-Perez covered all the walls with a 12-by-24-inch gray-toned tile, and used similar soft tones on the tile floor. “It was such a small bathroom, it was hard to know where to stop the tile,” Barsoum says, “and we wanted it to be uniform and seamless all the way around.”