{House and Home Magazine}—In designing a home, the bathroom may get overlooked-or considered as a necessity instead of a commonly used room. However, these designers took a different approach and added unique elements to the bathrooms, just as if it were the living room or kitchen. As designer Ruthie Golden says, "When you really think about it, the bathroom is probably the room used the most in the home, besides the kitchen."
As a realtor, Ruthie knows what it takes to please a client. As business partners, her husband Rusty does most of the designing and decorating, but Ruthie says she adds "the cool factor."
For the bathroom in this showcase home, the Goldens kept with a constant theme that was fluent in the house-going green. Many elements in the bathroom are eco-friendly. They also wanted to keep everything very clean and simple to create a spa-like effect.
"You don't see a lot of fuss," Ruthie says. "Less is more. I think you have to be more creative to do less and still get the same result you were going for."
To create the relaxing atmosphere, Golden chose a Carrera marble for the floor and countertops. The marble was hand-laid with absolute black marble inserts, which also make up the band in the shower.
"Laying out the floor was the biggest challenge," Ruthie says. "I wanted the black strips equally spaced apart, but then wanted them to line up in the shower. The shower alone took four days."
The floor in the shower consists of river rocks similar to the stones used during a hot stone massage-another spa factor. The cabinets are made of quilted maple with a barrel finish, which Ruthie says added "movie star" quality to the room.
The tub is made from a cast-stone material and was purchased from South Africa. The water fixture for the tub, a Kohler Laminar Flow, was installed in the 10ft ceiling to refrain from having any visible fixtures. The flooring surrounding the tub and shower was "scored"-roughed up, to prevent the owner from using rugs and keeping consistent with the clean lines.
"I didn't want to present too much because the owner will add their stuff too," Ruthie says. "We wanted it to look cool, but the owner has to become emotionally connected so they can see themselves there."
The green components of the bathroom include on-demand hot water heaters, a dual flush toilet, and low flow showerheads. The walls are colored with low-VOC paint, which releases less volatile organic compounds in the air. The glass in the windows is made of Low-emittance Glass, glass with special layers to reduce heat flow.
"The entire house is eco friendly. Since it was built a year ago, it's definitely ahead of its time for Baton Rouge," she says. "People are learning new things and trying them. The house did what we wanted it to do, which was teach."
Designer William Evans was also going for spa quality in this master bathroom. A photo of a spa, which the bathroom ended up resembling, inspired the homeowner.
In designing this bathroom, the granite was one of the first materials chosen. The granite, named New Louise Blue, was purchased from Triton Granite Yard.
"The homeowner picked it out and was describing it to me over the phone and I just wasn't sure about it," Evans says. "But after I saw it, I thought it was so beautiful."
The granite pulls in the chocolate painted finish of the vanities and the porcelain white in the tub and bowl sinks. Evans chose a neutral large travertine tile for the flooring, which was set in rows instead of diagonal.
"We didn't want to add another pattern into the mix," Evans says. "We also chose the acrylic chair so we wouldn't have to add upholstery."
The tall mirror came from Z Gallery and the track lighting came from Notoco Electric. All of the faucets and fixtures came from LCR/The Plumbing Warehouse. The shower has a rain head, a square showerhead, a hand held showerhead, and body jets all controlled by preset knobs.
The chandelier over the tub was made to look like a cypress tree branch with icicles coming off it. It's made of steal, with crystal prisms serving as the ice. It's a piece Evans was waiting to use.
"I came across it a year before I met the homeowner," he says. "I just knew there was going to be that perfect project I could use it for. This was it."
The bathroom Bailey Shivers designed in Lafayette is fit for a King and Queen with its gold leaf flaked paint, beated copper sinks, and green olive walls.
Shivers designed his and her closets along with a shallow linen cabinet, which features a pair of rounded doors. The vanity built-in was custom made with maple wood. All of the cabinetry has feet, made to look like pieces of furniture. The countertops are a granite slab and the flooring is a marble travertine.
Shivers says he personally wanted a walk in shower, which he designed. The shower has two showerheads along with body sprays.
All of the faucets and fixtures were purchased from Southern Kitchen and Bath. The crystal chandelier over the tub and the window treatment are from Swags and Tassels.
While Lafayette builders Jodi and Clifton Bolgiano of Bolgiano Custom Homes managed to pull off a signature look in this master bath, they were also faced with a unique challenge: to make everything handicap accessible.
While the current homeowners are not handicap, the couple was looking ahead to their elder years and decided on a bathroom that would accommodate any event in their life together.
To make it happen, the Bolgianos made all the doorways three feet wide. The shower was designed without a curb and a seat was also included. The designers decided to "counter sink" the tub, so it wouldn't come up as high, preventing someone the ability to climb in safely.
"To sink the tub, it created some challenges," Clifton Bolgiano says. "We had to get under the tub deck so it could sit below the floor."
A focal point in the bathroom is the custom built vanity, which was modeled after a stand-alone furniture piece. The cabinetmakers, Blackwater Design, experimented with different finishes to make it look more antique.
The other cabinets in the bathroom are made of mahogany, which are accented with travertine tile as the flooring, Benjamin Moore eggshell paint on the walls, and the granite tub surround-all in earth tones such as cream and rust.
The shower was also custom made which has a frameless glass door and nooks carved from the walls to hold soaps and shampoo. There is a rain head that's set on a pivoting arm, so even the person sitting on the bench can enjoy the water.