Cool and calm

A second bathroom within a home can afford to focus more on a feeling of serenity than on a plethora of practical needs. One way to achieve this calming ambience is by working with a limited material palette and a minimalist design.

This was the case when David Howell Design created this pared-back bathroom.

"The owners wanted a sense of Zen-like retreat for this space, and we addressed this through a simple, monochromatic material palette," Howell says. "All the surfaces are in Jerusalem Gold limestone, but the stone is presented in varying sizes and textures to provide subtle interest."

The majority of the walls are in over-sized limestone wall tiles, with their rusticated finish creating a tumbled, slightly worn look. At one end of the room, polished mosaic tiles are introduced in the same stone. Continuing in the same material, the bathtub surround and step are in honed slabs, and the limestone floor tiles are also honed. To complete the picture, the basins are carved out of solid blocks of the same limestone.

"As well as being presented in several formats, the sheer mass of the limestone is underscored in different ways," says Howell. "For example, a cutout alongside the bathtub step provides a useful shelf and emphasises the stone's solid presence."

The designer created a negative detail along the bottom of the bathtub step. This gives the impression that the step is floating, again letting the viewer consider the weight of the material. Using a negative detail in this way also avoids the two surfaces abutting, and encourages them to be seen as separate entities an important distinction given the blanket use of the limestone.

While the room exudes serenity, practicalities are never far away. Cantilevering the basins emphasises again the use of solid stone but at the same time it makes efficient use of limited space.

Story by: Trendsideas