Room of the Day: A Splash of Turquoise in a Vintage-Inspired Bath

A couple fell in love with a historic Victorian-era home just north of Columbus, Ohio, in spite of the fact that it needed a lot of work. Because the home had just one tiny bathroom, they decided to convert a bedroom into a master bathroom. Now they have a roomy shower, a separate commode room and a beautiful room that mixes classic art deco flavor and modern conveniences. Completing this room early on in their renovation process has given them a peaceful retreat while they work on renovating the rest of the rooms.

Room at a Glance
Location: Delaware, Ohio
Size: 93 square feet (8½ square meters)
Tip: If you invest in tile molding details, you’ll want them to stand out. Use a darker grout with white tile to make sure they don’t get lost.

“I wish I could take full credit for that ceiling, but one of the homeowners suggested making the ceiling wild and everything else white, and then we landed on that turquoise, which was perfect,” says design manager Courtney Burnett, of Dave Fox Design Build Remodelers.

“The homeowners have eclectic taste; they like historical pieces, and they had several art deco pieces around the house,” Burnett says. They chose the art deco light fixtures, appropriate for the home. An art deco bathroom makeover a few decades in would have been common for a Victorian-era house. “The light fixtures are classic with a twist; they are historic but have a modern feel,” the designer says. This mix of historic flair and modern attitude runs through the new room.

This shot was taken from the master bedroom at the entrance to the master bath. The door to the right opens to the commode room. There are storage cabinets in the foreground on the right.


Six-inch by 3-inch subway tiles make up a good portion of the walls. “I usually follow the two-thirds, one-thirds rule, but in this room we had to find the right relationships between where the tile ended and the mirror and windows, so it crept up close to halfway up the wall,” Burnett explains. The mirror conceals a recessed medicine cabinet.

Breaking up all of the white with a medium gray grout accentuated the molding details, like the chair rail and 6-inch by 6-inch beveled baseboard molding. “There was so much subway tile that it needed something extra from the grout; we didn’t want the moldings to disappear,” she says. The grout’s gray also plays off the veins in the lovely hexagonal Venatino marble floor.

Tip: Go for a thicker subway tile when you can. “There are so many versions of subway tiles out there, and many of them are really flat,” Burnett says. “When you find one that’s thicker, it makes the grout line look much better.”

Ceiling paint: Grecian Isle, Porter Paint; sconces, pendant light: Rejuvenation; grout: Platinum, Laticrete; vanity: Sonnet Large Console Lavatory, Porcher; Vintage Recessed Medicine Cabinet: Pottery Barn


A herringbone tile pattern creates a stunning accent wall in the shower stall. “We needed to create a strong focal point to draw the eye straight back,” Burnett says. Its height was determined by the three shower niches on the right.


“The niches had to be narrow, so we stacked three to create a strong vertical line,” the designer says. The niche shelves and the windowsill are Carrara marble.

Faucets: Delta


The hexagonal tile from the main floor continues into the stall but has a border.

Tip: A square drain gives DIYers a geometric advantage. “Most experienced tile cutters don’t care, but if you are doing the tiling yourself, a square drain is much easier to cut around than a round one,” Burnett says.

More:
10 Top Tips for Getting Bathroom Tile Right
Bathroom Workbook: 12 Things to Consider for Your Remodel

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