Japanese flavour

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This bathroom was renovated to unify it with the Asian-style courtyard it overlooks

View of renovated bathroom, featuring bathtub, ceramic tiled architecture, door, glass, home, house, interior design, property, real estate, window, gray, brown — View of renovated bathroom, featuring bathtub, ceramic tiled floors, wall tiling, tapware, vanity, cabinetry, lighting.

View of renovated bathroom, featuring bathtub, ceramic tiled bathroom, floor, flooring, interior design, room, tile, wall, gray, brown

View of renovated bathroom, featuring bathtub, ceramic tiled bathroom, ceramic, floor, flooring, hardwood, interior design, laminate flooring, plumbing fixture, tap, tile, wall, wood flooring, brown, gray

View of bathroom with vanity and toilet, features bathroom, bathroom accessory, floor, interior design, plumbing fixture, product design, room, sink, brown, white

View of bathroom with vanity and toilet, features bathroom, bathroom accessory, bathroom cabinet, floor, flooring, interior design, property, room, sink, tile, brown, gray

View of renovated bathroom, featuring bathtub, ceramic tiled architecture, bathroom, ceiling, door, floor, flooring, interior design, room, tile, wall, gray, brown

When contemplating a renovation, the shape and size of the available space will clearly have a strong influence over the design. However, other features, such as the outlook from the room, also play their part.

Designer Royston Wilson was called in to work with the owner of the bathroom featured here. The owner, who had lived for some time in Japan, had begun renovations to the single-fronted, weather-board Victorian cottage by landscaping a small courtyard and giving it a Japanese feel.

A small, narrow, ground-floor bathroom, which doubled as a guest bathroom, overlooked the courtyard through floor-to-ceiling windows.

"The owner wanted this bathroom to be more functional and to maximise the view into the courtyard. Placement of fittings had been awkward in the original bathroom the outlook was obscured, there was no bath, and when the door was left open the view from the hall was directed towards the toilet," says Wilson.

Wilson redesigned the space so the bath is parallel with one side wall, allowing the bather to look directly onto the courtyard. The shower, in an alcove on the opposite wall, also looks straight out into the courtyard, and the toilet is now tucked away into a space between the shower and hall.

A special design has created a two-way door into the bathroom. Two door frames, one for the bathroom and one for the toilet, and a single door with a rollerball latch, allow the door to have two purposes, either acting as the main door to the bathroom, or as the toilet door, ensuring the toilet is never visible from the hall. And when the main door is open, the view is into the courtyard.

Within the bathroom, a tiled wall on one side of the shower enclosure provides a place to cantilever a slim vanity, while a mirrored cabinet is recessed into the wall space above.