Moody and masculine was the brief given for this master suite

Sitting pride of place on the third floor of an impressive Auckland home, this moody master suite feels like its own private retreat.

The client, a single businessman with grown-up children, approached designer Angelique Armstrong of Armstrong Interiors to transform his large home from four bedrooms to three. The vision was to increase the size of the rooms, add a powder room and create a large master bedroom.

A generous 8m x 3m ensuite – or rather bathing room – runs the full length of the bedroom and enjoys all of the windows and views. At one end of the ensuite, a freestanding bathtub sits on a heated pedestal floor and on the other is a double shower with gunmetal accessories.

This layout allows the bedroom to maintain an ambient vibe, with the vanity wall also providing the ideal backdrop for the cinema-size TV. 

Then through a gabled arch, flanked on either side by brown leather Barcelona chairs, is the separate toilet room. Featuring a solid trough basin designed using the same materials as the ensuite, the toilet room feels just as grand as the main bathing space.

The brief Armstrong was given called for this use of robust materials. “The requested colour palette from the homeowner was dark and masculine,” says Armstrong. 

The walls have an indestructible look, wrapped in volcanic bluestone with a honed leather finish. The double vanity and shower are both fabricated from large Neolith ceramic panels, which complement the walls and certainly achieve the desired effect.

Lighting also plays an important role throughout this suite. A combination of task lighting and spotlights create a peaceful atmosphere in the bedroom, while strategically placed LEDs add a sense of lightness to the bulletproof bathroom spaces.

The sink space is a great example of the effects that can be achieved when a gap of 50mm is left behind the vanity to allow lights to wash down the wall. Armstrong says this gap creates a “floating feeling when the LED lights are back lit down the blue stone walls”.

In such a generously sized space, connection and consistency can be hard to achieve. Along with the moody material palette, Armstrong has managed to seamlessly tie the design concept together by running 150-year-old reclaimed French oak flooring throughout each zone.

This ability to carefully consider every detail has resulted in an interesting space filled with thoughtful design touches – it's the ultimate bachelor pad.

Designed by: Armstrong Interiors

Story by: Lakshmi Krishnasamy

Photography by: Eddison Te Reo