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The simple appearance of this bathroom is designed to provide natural comfort for its owners

view of this bathroom featuring stained timber cabinetry architecture, bathroom, daylighting, floor, flooring, home, house, interior design, room, tile, wall, window, wood, brown — view of this bathroom featuring stained timber cabinetry with rock pebbles underneath,stainless faucets, concrete fiish with inset bathtub, raised concrete shower stall

view of this bathroom featuring stained timber cabinetry fireplace, flooring, hearth, heat, interior design, wood burning stove, brown

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Color therapy is based on the premise that everything we see evokes an emotional response. In a similar way, when a designer composes an interior space, it is with the intention of creating a certain atmosphere.

For designer Clodagh, of Clodagh Design, building an understanding of how the owners of this house were to use their bathroom was her first step in developing a space tailored specifically to their needs and tastes. Extensive interviewing and pre-planning was done in order to help the designer visualize a room that would function and appeal to both of them.

"I wanted to create a bathroom that the owners would feel comfortable in from the moment they walked through the door. It was important that they each could feel a sense of connection to the room and that the design spoke to them in an intrinsic way," says Clodagh.

To do this, she fashioned an environment that appealed to the primal senses.

"All design is essentially a form of communication. I use the term silent design' to describe how objects and elements combine to evoke feelings and emotions," the designer says.

Here, it is the use of textured and natural materials that generate the desired aesthetic. A smooth concrete finish around the bathtub, fire surround and vanity top establishes a sense of permanence and immovability to these objects. This creates an established appearance, like something that is drawn directly from nature.

The satin look and feel of the concrete is countered by rounded pebbles lining two troughs that delineate a pathway through the room, and by textured tiles that look like painted brick on the perimeter walls.

Along one side of the bathroom, a vanity is raised on four concrete piles. Rocks placed among the piles are reminiscent of a river bed. The vanity borders an adjacent dressing room that can be closed off completely by drawing a floor-to-ceiling curtain.