Small Bathroom Remodel Adds Unique Surprises to a Luxury Condominium

powder-roomStyle and functionality transform this tiny powder room into a sumptuous space. Packed full of design detail and decadent, natural textures this swanky room evokes the feeling of stepping into a five star hotel spa rather than a small, high-rise bathroom.

Viridis Design Studio employed an extensive use of natural elements mixed with uncommon, modern features that leave guests pleasantly surprised. Read this interview with Tanya Campbell, lead designer at Viridis Design Studio, to get bathroom ideas for your next bathroom remodel project.

Describe the Homeowner’s needs for the bathroom remodel

The homeowner lives in an upscale condominium building in Downtown Denver. Although the building has all of the chic amenities of a high-end downtown high-rise, the individual living spaces lack in uniqueness and glamour. Overall, the homeowner desired a luxurious space rich in materials and textures that blended the interior with the downtown scapes and mountain views. The powder room remodel needed to reflect the design theme I had already executed throughout the rest of the space: Organic Chic – a design style that infuses natural elements with a modern look and feel.

What was your biggest challenge in this space?

I really had to muddle over different bathroom ideas for this project. The space is very narrow – it’s barely 36 inches wide. The room is very tight. The floors are concrete so we couldn’t use a ground plumbing system. In fact, the bathroom sink model required a wall drain instead of a floor drain. The bathroom faucet spout attaches to the ceiling and the water flows down it. So I reframed the ceiling and braced the faucet spout to keep it from moving if people bumped it.

Because of the layout of the rest of the home, we couldn’t move the walls and I had to create a bathroom remodel that was unique and different without moving the location of the sink or the toilet. The bathroom backsplash is backlit behind the mirror which required an LED strip. With this small bathroom space, finding a solution for the soap dish and hand towel rack was also a challenge. I customized a shelf that holds both the soap and hand towel. Even though the space is small, it still required a whole team of hands including a plumper, an electrician, a dry wall repair specialist, a tile guy, and a painter. It was still a complex project.

How did you grow as a designer after this project?

I like doing new things and I never worked with this kind of bathroom sink or ceiling-mount facet spout. The sink itself sort of looks like a narrow planter, square at the base that widens as it rises, and it stands alone without the spout and faucet handles attached. I made sure everything was structured properly so that it came out right – the ceiling spout had to be sturdy and align perfectly with the sink, and the faucet paddle handle attached to the wall. The faucet spout comes in a standard size, but I customized the length, due to the height of the ceiling, to ensure that water didn’t spray everywhere when guests turned it on.

This project afforded me the opportunity to become acquainted with some really uncommon products that not a lot of designers have the opportunity to use. In fact, because of the floor drain, a sink like this could be placed in the center of a room with the spout coming down from the ceiling. It could be really dramatic in a simple and sleek way. I appreciate when my clients are more open to the design process and they are open to me creating something more unique. I feel more inspired when I get to create something distinctive.

How does the final design work with your original vision?

The natural stone that we liked came in a light to dark color variation, but I wasn’t able to order it in one color. Originally, I expected the stone to create a sort of wavy strip across the walls. So we had to arrange the stone really carefully to get the stripe effect that I was looking for. This was one of the best bathroom tile ideas rather than just using common black and white bathroom tiles. The natural stone added an organic feel in space that is overall very modern.

What are the “hidden surprises”?

The backlit mirror attracts a lot of attention. It’s a nice touch for a bathroom backsplash. The metal detail between the tiles breaks up the pattern and adds a point of interest. Almost no one has seen a faucet in a home where the water descends from the ceiling. Guests are usually happily surprised when they turn it on to wash their hands.

The contrast between the natural stone and the sink is an unexpected design that people expect to see in a luxury hotel, but not in a home. The bathroom floor is sheathed in tile that flows seamlessly up the walls and then wraps up the back of the mirror for a richer more luxurious feel.