Bathroom Design: Scheming and Planning for Three Spaces

Creating a space is much like composing a symphony – all the parts must come together to form the melodious whole. This is certainly the case when it comes to bathroom design. We recently put our composition skills to the test while designing and renovating three bathrooms for wonderful longtime clients. Here, we’re sharing insight into the selections process and design phase for each of the spaces – a guest en-suite, an upstairs hall bath, and a lower-level bath.

Design Inspiration and Project Brief

Our Arlington clients live in a brick Colonial built in the early ‘90s. Over the years, A. Houck Designs has reimagined most of the spaces in their home, from the living and family rooms to the owners’ bedroom and study. We even designed their screened porch. Suffice it to say, we know the couple and their tastes well. That familiarity came in handy as we developed schemes for their bathroom renovations.

After meeting with the owners to discuss their functional and aesthetic goals, we kicked off the design phase of the three-leg project by developing an inspiration board. Here are some of the images we gathered for these bathroom re-dos:

Two of the bathrooms hadn’t been remodeled in decades; all three needed updating. The owners requested a fresh yet traditional look in keeping with the home’s architectural style. Given their plans to stay in the house for some time, they wanted beautiful, functional spaces that they would enjoy using for years to come. But they also asked us to consider the home’s resale value throughout the bathroom design process. Their other request: easy-to-clean materials.

Bathroom Design Phase

There are several steps in the bathroom design phase. First, we evaluate the physical space. Does the layout need to be tweaked to improve functionality? Are there thoughtful features we can add to enhance the experience?

Then we shift through a myriad of materials and fixtures. After narrowing down the choices, we put together cohesive, harmonious schemes to present to our clients. For these bathrooms, we turned to some of our go-to brands and sources — plumbing by Kohler, tile from Lunada Bay (available locally through B&F Ceramics), and lighting by Visual Comfort. We then created 3D perspectives to help the clients visualize the final spaces.

Design for Guest En-Suite Bath

Our clients wanted to keep the layout of the en-suite guest bathroom intact, while upgrading the materials and overall look. Still, we were able to increase functionality and ease-of-use by adding a niche in the shower to keep shampoo, soap and other products close at hand. We also selected an ADA-compliant, comfort-height toilet with future aging-in-place needs in mind (we actually installed this toilet in all three baths). Small details can make a big difference in how a space lives.

Take a look at the pretty and practical selections we chose for the guest bathroom:

Next, a 3D perspective drawing shows how the new selections will look in the space.

The drawing helps provide peace of mind to the owners, so we don’t skip over this important step.

Hall Bathroom Design

While we didn’t change the layout of the hall bathroom, we tweaked the design for enhanced functionality. Here are the before and after floorplans:

For one, we added a shower bench, which is a thoughtful, universal-design feature and also can display a plethora of products (not to mention that women find it helpful when shaving legs). We added a convenient shower niche too. You’ll also notice that we specified a longer vanity, which fits the space better and provides a little more elbow room.

For the hall bathroom design, we presented our clients with two schemes. A neutral option mixing earth tones…

And a second option with hints of blue mixed in…

Our client chose the more neutral option — because they love earth tones but also with future resale in mind.

Here are some of the other hall-bath selections, including the spacious vanity we ultimately selected:

This 3D perspective gives you a sneak peek at what the final product will look like:

Note the interesting tile treatment on the shower walls, which we’ll share more about in a future post.

Lower-Level Bathroom Design

In the lower-level bathroom, we changed the floorplan a bit more than we did in the other two spaces. See the before and after:

We converted the tub to a luxurious, spa-like shower. At the wife’s request, we closed off a door that previously connected to an adjoining bedroom. This move improved privacy in the bathroom, which serves the lower-level communal spaces too. A double vanity replaced the more limited single-sink version.

We developed two shimmering tile schemes (the plumbing fixtures remained constant). Either option would take a mundane, lower-level bathroom to the next level.

And here’s a preview of the other elements in the lower-level bathroom design:

The couple prefers polished nickel, so we specified that gleaming finish for plumbing and accessories in all three bathrooms. Here’s a preliminary 3D perspective (spoiler alert: we didn’t end up going with the vessel sinks shown below):

Renovating three bathrooms is a big investment, and we’re honored that our dear, repeat clients trusted us to get the job(s) done. We can’t wait to show you the finished spaces, so stayed tuned for the big reveal coming soon.