Designers: Sarah Smith and Ian Butcher of Best Practice Architecture
Location: Seattle
Size: 68 square feet (6.3 square meters); 5 feet, 3 inches by 13 feet
Homeowners’ request. A second-floor addition is devoted entirely to a new primary suite. The design team created a private retreat that reflects the character of the original house, maximizes views into the surrounding trees and helps address the lack of natural light in the existing home.
“By building up, designing vaulted ceilings and strategically placing new glazing, we were able to introduce more natural light into the new primary suite,” says designer Sarah Smith. “In particular, a paired window and skylight in the corner of the shower, placed at the peak point of the ceiling, washes the floor-to-ceiling tiled wall with gentle daylight and illuminates the entire space with diffuse light.”
Special features. “Taking a cue from the treehouse inspiration, we knew early on in the interior design process that the homeowners wanted to use the color green in their primary bathroom — the 3-by-3-inch square from Fireclay Tile in color Manzanita — but they also didn’t want to play it too safe or boring,” Smith says. “We showed them the Mint Retro Mix terrazzo countertop from Concrete Collaborative, and they really gravitated to how it both read as abstract and graphic as well as something handcrafted.
“The terrazzo bridged the divide between the neutral-leaning light green tile and white oak finishes with the boldness of the black plumbing fixtures and hardware. And even though this is the parents’ retreat, this is the home of a growing family. Crocodiles, dinosaurs and other indications of a kid-friendly life abound.”
Space-saving strategies. “The second-story addition was not a large footprint, so we needed to design a bathroom with an efficient floor plan that still felt relatively gracious and uncramped,” Smith says. “There’s a tub in the main-floor bathroom, so eschewing a second tub in the primary bathroom was a huge space saver, enabling us to design a large — for Seattle standards — 7-foot-wide custom rift white oak vanity with ample storage and a roomy shower. Additional storage was built into the custom mirror wall with an integrated recessed medicine cabinet and a floating shelf.
“The vaulted ceiling and the skylight lend height, while the window and skylight provide views to the tree canopy, assisting in a more expansive sense of space. To further unencumber the room, we kept the shower partition very simple with a curb and a single piece of glass — no solid wall, no shower door.”
Designer tip. “I think the best way to elevate a space without a lot of gratuitous cost is to showcase purposeful design decisions,” Smith says. “It’s often the hallmark of a thoughtfully designed space as opposed to just a built space. Tile is a great place to do this.”
4 Designer Secrets to a Luxurious Bathroom Look
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After: Without changing the size or layout, Galle dramatically upgraded the space’s look and functionality. As the adjacent kids’ bathroom had a tub, she replaced the one here with a low-curb shower. Fixed glass at the entry creates a more open look and ease of entry, while playful green-and-gray geometric tile runs from the main floor to the shower curb and then up the back wall, drawing the eye through the space.
The bathroom is awash in energizing midcentury modern style, not just with the statement geometric tile but with matte black rectangular wall tile and a ceiling clad in knotty cedar. A walnut double vanity with integrated walnut drawer pulls and straight legs is a star in its own right. Globe vanity lights, circular ceiling lights and a skylight ensure plenty of illumination for tasks and taking in all the beautiful details.
Floor and shower back wall tile: Brando Green, 8 by 8 inches, TileBar; black tile: Makoto in Kuroi Black, Bedrosians; vanity: Draftwood Design; vanity lights: Linear Globe in natural brass, Shades of Light
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