Song of the tui

Designed by Katie Scott, Sticks+Stones Design

From the designer:

As part of a new build in Mangawhai, Northland, our homeowners asked that each bathroom take its inspiration from a native New Zealand bird. 

For the powder room, they chose the tui. 

We took that brief and shaped it into a compact guest powder room that captures the plumage, colour and movement of the bird, rather than illustrating it literally.

Deep grey-blue tones on the ceiling and walls create a sense of immersion, while the turquoise accents catch the light in the same way the bird's throat feathers shift colour as it moves.

Because this is a beach house, and sandy feet are a fact of life, we incorporated a shower into the powder room itself. 

It sits close to the exterior door, so guests can rinse off sand or salt before coming inside, without tracking it through the rest of the house. 

Alongside it, a small seated area makes it easy to remove footwear, and doubles as hidden storage for towels and extra essentials, keeping the room clutter-free.

To soften the geometry of the space, we curved one of the walls. 

The curve introduces an organic, sweeping line that recalls the movement of a wing, or the rounded fullness of the tui's breast, and it carries the eye through the room rather than stopping it at a hard corner. 

Underfoot, dark grey travertine ties the room back to the other bathrooms in the house, giving the whole home a consistent material language even as each bathroom takes on its own bird-inspired character.

Where the other spaces draw on their respective native birds through different finishing details, the powder room's identity is unmistakably the tui: dark, glossy, and lit with a flash of turquoise.

Story by: Trendsideas