Bold Industrial Style in a 49-Square-Foot Bathroom
The striking black-and-white decor in this renovated Virginia bath nods to the railroad tracks nearby
Layout. By using a pocket door and measuring carefully, Schmauder took advantage of the expansion to upgrade from a single vanity to a double vanity. Because the homeowners do not have children, they were willing to give up the tub-shower combo for a more luxurious shower stall. The toilet is located at the far end of the room. “Everything fit in within an inch or two of building code minimums,” Schmauder says. “And now one of them can walk past when the other is brushing their teeth.”
Vanity. Schmauder is a fan of using unexpected pieces for vanities; in this case she found a TV console. “This piece was easier to convert into a vanity in terms of plumbing, because we didn’t have to cut around drawers like we would have had to with a dresser,” she says. “And the storage it offers makes up for the loss of the linen closet.”
The TV console is made of reclaimed fir with an antique gray finish and a black iron frame. It is 30 inches high. By using vessel sinks that are 5 inches high, Schmauder brought the total height up to 35 inches. She then mounted the faucets at 42 inches off the floor, leaving a comfortable amount of space for hand-washing.
Vanity: Romaine TV console, Wayfair; vessel sinks: CB-013, Decor Star; lights: Vista 2, Cedar & Moss; tile: 3-by-6-inch subway tile in Bright Ice White gloss, United States Ceramic Tile; paint: Snowbound, Sherwin-Williams
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Vanity. Schmauder is a fan of using unexpected pieces for vanities; in this case she found a TV console. “This piece was easier to convert into a vanity in terms of plumbing, because we didn’t have to cut around drawers like we would have had to with a dresser,” she says. “And the storage it offers makes up for the loss of the linen closet.”
The TV console is made of reclaimed fir with an antique gray finish and a black iron frame. It is 30 inches high. By using vessel sinks that are 5 inches high, Schmauder brought the total height up to 35 inches. She then mounted the faucets at 42 inches off the floor, leaving a comfortable amount of space for hand-washing.
Vanity: Romaine TV console, Wayfair; vessel sinks: CB-013, Decor Star; lights: Vista 2, Cedar & Moss; tile: 3-by-6-inch subway tile in Bright Ice White gloss, United States Ceramic Tile; paint: Snowbound, Sherwin-Williams
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Faucets. “I was so excited to find these faucets, because they echo the look of the wheels of a train,” Schmauder says. She repeated their circles via the mirrors and sconces. Her clients were on board with matte black, which she used throughout the space, including on the Schluter strip that tops the subway tile on the wall.
Mirrors. “The visual weight of the mirror frames is about the same as that of the Schluter strips,” Schmauder says. This creates a nice balance throughout the room, as the Schluter strips also appear in the shower.
Faucets: Brooklyn collection, Watermark Designs; mirrors: Infinity black round wall mirror, 24 inches, CB2; hooks: Lawrel series, Marmolux Acc; Schluter strips in matte black: Floor & Decor
Mirrors. “The visual weight of the mirror frames is about the same as that of the Schluter strips,” Schmauder says. This creates a nice balance throughout the room, as the Schluter strips also appear in the shower.
Faucets: Brooklyn collection, Watermark Designs; mirrors: Infinity black round wall mirror, 24 inches, CB2; hooks: Lawrel series, Marmolux Acc; Schluter strips in matte black: Floor & Decor
P-traps. Another key detail to note in the vanity is one that’s often an afterthought — the P-traps (pipes underneath the sinks). Schmauder made sure to find matte black P-traps that are a design asset; if you fail to pay attention to P-traps when designing a space, they can be an eyesore.
P-traps: Build.com; toilet paper holder: Align, Moen
P-traps: Build.com; toilet paper holder: Align, Moen
Flooring. This encaustic cement tile was exactly what the homeowners were looking for. It grounds the graphic black-and-white room with an eye-catching pattern.
Floor tile: Bristol, Cement Tile Shop; browse cement floor tile
Floor tile: Bristol, Cement Tile Shop; browse cement floor tile
Shower Stall
The shower stall measures 30 by 60 inches. The divider is a fixed glass partition that has the look of divided panes. The pane dividers are on the outside, leaving the inside clear and easy to clean.
Shower door partition: Gridscape series, Coastal Shower Doors; find glass shower doors and partitions with black accents
The shower stall measures 30 by 60 inches. The divider is a fixed glass partition that has the look of divided panes. The pane dividers are on the outside, leaving the inside clear and easy to clean.
Shower door partition: Gridscape series, Coastal Shower Doors; find glass shower doors and partitions with black accents
By using a fixed partition and not a shower door, Schmauder created a more open feeling around the toilet. The shower spray does not reach all the way to the back wall of the shower stall, so any small splashes are handled with ease by a bath mat.
Fixtures. The faucets add another graphic black touch and industrial train-like wheels in the shower stall.
Shower tile. Schmauder chose a double-hexagon ceramic tile for the shower floor. While picking a shower floor pattern to go with the floor tile in the rest of the bathroom, she mocked them both up side by side to make sure they would work together.
Tip: To choose patterns that work together, she advises, find a common element that is echoed in some way, such as color or shape. Here the black-and-white and diamondesque shapes around the circles in the main floor tile play off the hexagons on the shower floor. The shower floor tiles “are rounded a bit, which also works well with the floor tile,” Schmauder says. She repeated the use of black Schluter strips in the shower to outline the floor tile and the niche, and in the corners of the shower walls.
Drain. Schmauder recommends paying attention to the apparatus that goes around the shower drain (commonly chrome), in addition to the shower drain itself. “Unlike drains, they don’t seem to come in matte black yet, but I realized the plain white of PVC would work well with the double-hexagon tile,” she says.
Shower floor tile: double hexagon, Floor & Decor
Tip: To choose patterns that work together, she advises, find a common element that is echoed in some way, such as color or shape. Here the black-and-white and diamondesque shapes around the circles in the main floor tile play off the hexagons on the shower floor. The shower floor tiles “are rounded a bit, which also works well with the floor tile,” Schmauder says. She repeated the use of black Schluter strips in the shower to outline the floor tile and the niche, and in the corners of the shower walls.
Drain. Schmauder recommends paying attention to the apparatus that goes around the shower drain (commonly chrome), in addition to the shower drain itself. “Unlike drains, they don’t seem to come in matte black yet, but I realized the plain white of PVC would work well with the double-hexagon tile,” she says.
Shower floor tile: double hexagon, Floor & Decor
Niche. An extra-long niche has plenty of room for both of the homeowners’ bottles and other shower items.
Takeaways
Where to Begin: Using Black and White in the Bathroom
Before and After: 6 Bathrooms That Said Goodbye to the Tub
Takeaways
- Save space with a pocket door.
- If you’re looking for something outside of the ready-made vanity selections, open your mind to other types of furniture. In addition to TV consoles, Schmauder also likes dressers and console tables.
- Schluter strips are a fresh alternative to bullnose or pencil tile at the edge of a tile wall.
- Use wall-mounted faucets to save space.
- If you like the look of a shower partition with divided panes, consider an option with the grid applied on the outside for easy cleaning.
- If you’re trying to mix tile patterns, find options in different scales but that have commonalities in color or shape.
- Measure all of the things you’ll want to have handy in the shower before you size your shower niche. For most couples, the typical 12-by-12-inch niche would not suffice.
- Pay attention to small details like exposed P-traps and the material around your shower drain.
Where to Begin: Using Black and White in the Bathroom
Before and After: 6 Bathrooms That Said Goodbye to the Tub
Bathroom at a Glance
Who uses it: A young military couple
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Size: 49 square feet (4.5 square meters)
Designer: Schmauder Group
With just 32½ square feet, a swinging door and a single vanity in the upstairs bathroom of their 1940s row house, these homeowners in Alexandria, Virginia, found it impossible to even brush their teeth at the same time. By expanding into an adjacent linen closet and reconfiguring the space, designer Michelle Schmauder gave them some breathing room. The military couple were stationed in Latvia during almost all of the design and construction process, so the designer communicated with them via inspiration photos and design boards over the internet. When they finally arrived home, they told her they were thrilled with the results.
Style. “My clients were drawn to industrial style, black and white, and patterned floor tiles mixed with reclaimed wood,” Schmauder says. “And their row house is right next to the railroad tracks — you can feel the train in the house when it goes by.” The nearby train tracks inspired part of the bath as well.
Scope of work. This was a full renovation. The Schmauder Group completed the design and construction. By taking over a linen closet in the hallway, the designer could expand the footprint of the bath from just shy of 5 feet by 6½ feet (33 square feet) to 6½ by 7½ feet (49 square feet).