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34 | Kitchen & Bath Design News | October 2015 Designer's Notebook An of-the-foor vanity always in- creases the visual size of the space. » » The repetitive use of both mate- rial and color, with an interesting artistic tile insert pattern on the back wall, makes this small space pretty dramatic while looking as big as possible. CASE STUDY #4 Defnitely consider your options! The designers and clients considered fve diferent solutions to this particular space – several of them involved repurposing anywhere from 9" to 24" of space in the bedroom backing up to the toilet and bathtub wall. The end solution did incorporate 12" of new space. Become familiar with the small- est fxtures that will meet the goals of the consumer. For example, this is a great, high-quality, efervescent, air-jetting bathtub top-mounted in the space. The top-mounted installa- tion was because the client wanted to enjoy the edge detail of the bathtub. Quite frankly, I prefer to undermount bathtubs to allow easy entry and exit access. I also prefer to of-center the fxtures – not possible with this par- ticular bathtub design. Even in a small bathroom, safety should be top-of-mind. This shower includes a bench that is an extension of the bathtub deck, with a grab bar immediately adjacent to the seated space, as well as hand-held for the lady of the house. Grab bars are also placed on the showerhead wall. Rather than any surface-mounted storage shelving, a niche provides safe, out- of-the-way storage – that is also out of the path of the water from the shower! To make a small bathroom bigger, here are physical and visual space management strategies to consider: PHYSICAL SPACE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 1. Use products that meet their func- tional requirements while taking up a minimal amount of f loor space. 2. For a small vanity, ofset the lava- tory so you can maximize the cabinet storage and provide one large, uninterrupted counter. CASE STUDY #3 In this home, the designer was faced with the consumer's desire for a much larger bathroom, no reduction of closet space, a much more functional shower and a dramatic vanity – whew! The before bathroom was a typical 'tiny separate room' approach to bathroom design. The solution revolves around the designer increasing the bathroom size by incorporating unused bedroom foor space in front of the bathroom door into the bathroom. Compare the existing to the solution plan – this type of change makes sense in that no furniture in the bedroom could be easily accommodated in the open space that was repurposed into the bathroom Images courtesy of Barbara Murphy-Johnson, CKD, CBD, CGR, CAPS, Neil Kelly Company, Portland, OR, www.neilkelly.com