Tumbled limestone walls in the shower. Large white ceramic tiles on the floor. The latest platinum finish on the faucets. A smoked glass wash basin on a hickory vanity.
Each item could create a stunning focal point in a master bathroom. Put them all together in one room, however, and it could create a design disaster.
Consumers often pour their hearts and souls into their bathrooms. A common mistake some make is to add the wrong combination of products and finishes. “Less is definitely more,” said Michelle Silver Peebles, sales manager for Studio 41, a decorative hardware and bath accessory store in Highland Park. “You don’t want to overcrowd the space.”
Some consumers try to fit all the latest styles into one room or they force a product or fixture into the bathroom design. “You see something you love and have to have it even if it doesn’t work,” said Susan Ferris, president of Susan Ferris Interiors Ltd., in Lake Bluff.
A better approach is to select one component that can be a focal point. “They should find one thing, whether it’s a vanity or floor tile, and have one thing they really want and work the bathroom around that,” Silver Peebles said.
An interesting faucet or lavatory would create a focal point along the vanity space. A mosaic tile design would draw attention to the center of the floor or the perimeter of the room. The mosaic would blend with the pattern, tone or color of the main floor tile. A complementary tile then could be used as a border in the shower or along the wall behind a tub. “Lots of times what happens is people don’t see the entire room when doing a project,” said Lonnie Unger, an interior designer and a principal of Susan Fredman & Associates in Northbrook. “They jump into things and they’ll pick the cabinets or the floor, but everything is like a domino effect.”
A 36-inch-wide hickory cabinet may be stunning, but too large for the space. The green tones in a ceramic tile pattern may be dramatic, but too bold to blend with the wood in the vanity. The list goes on and on.
The best approach is to start with the floor, then select the cabinetry, then blend other selections around them, Unger said.
The design also should reflect the style of the house and the surrounding rooms. “If you have a traditional interior and then you walk into the bathroom and you have contemporary fixtures and a marble floor, it just doesn’t work,” Ferris said. The key is to blend the master bathroom design with the theme and colors found in the rest of the house and particularly with the master bedroom. This can be accomplished through the use of color, texture or furnishings.
“If you’ve got wood floors in the bedroom and want to do marble or ceramic in the bathroom, that’s fine as long as you keep it in the same color family,” Ferris said. “If the bedroom colors are muted and then you come into the bathroom and do something bright, the relationship won’t be there.”
A natural cherry floor in the bedroom would blend well with a light, cream marble floor in the bathroom. By using neutral colors, consumers also are extending the design life of the room. “With something like marble floors, you’re putting a lot of money into it, so when you look at it 10 years from now when you’re ready to redecorate, you want it to be able to work,” Ferris said.
When selecting the toilet, tub and vanity, also consider a neutral color that matches the house’s style. “We’re not going to put a contemporary toilet in a very traditional style house,” said Michael Menn, a partner with Design Construction Concepts, an architectural, building and remodeling firm in Northbrook.
“If we’re using wood cabinets throughout the house, I’m not going to use a laminate cabinet in the bathroom,” Menn said. “Mentally, if you have nice wood throughout and you walk into a bathroom and it’s all white and chrome, it would seem out of place.”
“A lot of people have gone eclectic,” Menn said. “They’re mixing antiques with modern things. That doesn’t bother me as long as they stay within the same color theme throughout the house.”
Another mistake consumers make is in blending finishes. The finishes out there vary so much, you have to be careful when putting them together,” Unger said. “You want to make sure the shower faucet or shower and tub faucet relates to the sink faucet.”
When selecting finishes, consumers should consider the mood they want to create. “If you like warmer colors, stick with warm finishes,” said Laura Wolverton, a product manager for bathroom products at Moen Inc., based in North Olmsted, Ohio. “If you like cooler colors, stick with cooler combinations.”
Taupe and ivory are considered warm, while a bright white is considered cool. A finish with brass tones is considered warm, while a pewter and platinum finish is considered cool, she said. Finishes can be combined, as long as the tones and colors blend together.
The same guidelines should be used for door handles and hinges, towel bars and other small accessories. “Everything in the house is brass and you walk into a beautiful master bathroom and the hinge is chrome,” Unger said.
A better approach is to use the same finish throughout the space. “If it’s brass, keep it all brass,” Ferris said. “If it’s pewter, keep it all pewter instead of having pewter fixtures and a brass mirror.”
While design is important, lifestyle patterns should also be considered. “When designing a master bathroom, the partners have to decide whether they can live with each other with one sink,” Menn said. “We’ve had clients that not only wanted separate sinks, but wanted them in separate areas. One is messy and the other one is clean.”
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Allison E. Beatty is a Chicago-area freelance writer. If you have questions or information to share regarding new home buyers’ product and design choices, write to Choices c/o Chicago Tribune, New Homes Section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611.
