Kitchen & Bath Design News

OCT 2013

Kitchen & Bath Design News is the industry's leading business, design and product resource for the kitchen and bath trade.

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Small Bath Design Ideas Small Baths Designers take to task the challenges of working in small bathroom spaces. S mall bathrooms can present design challenges considering everything that has to go into them…tubs, toilets, showers, sinks, etc. In addition, sufcient storage space is needed for toiletries, towels and other necessary items. And, the fact that the room needs to be beautiful is a given. Designers who rise to the challenge often think beyond the existing space and how it's currently being used to create truly special rooms. Kitchen & Bath Design News asked several designers to share their thoughts on turning small baths into useful, efcient – and beautiful – spaces that can rival their much larger countertparts. Designer: Richard P. Landon, CMKBD; Richard Landon Design, LLC; Bellevue, WA Size of space: 56"x 90" with an alcove for the 4'-long tub. Design theme: This multi-purpose bathroom, which serves as a boys' bath, a guest bath and a powder room, is part of a bungalow with a traditional feeling. "We needed it to be attractive, if the door is left open," Landon says, noting that adding furniture-like elements – the vanity and the vitrine – creates a connection to the adjoining living and dining room areas. "It's a great illustration of how you can take a bath and make it much more. This split-personality room ofers clean, white space on one side and a more formal powder room on the other." Design goal: The room felt cramped and was unappealing as a powder room. "They struggled with limited storage and lots of bathtub toys," he explains. "Plus, what you saw from the kitchen was a whole lot of the toilet bowl. They also needed a foor that could handle a lot of water splashed on it." Design challenges: The previous space included a 5' tub that afected headroom on an adjoining stairway because the former owners' bath/stairway-to-thebasement remodel had passed the stairs under the end of the tub. 'Small space' design solutions: Landon replaced the tub with a 4' model to eliminate the headroom issue. "This size of tub ofers plenty of room for two young boys to bathe," he says. "And adults who are showering don't need that extra space." The additional foot of space in the tub alcove 42 | Kitchen & Bath Design News October 2013 gave the designer the ability to add a linen cabinet, which was then built over the basement stairs to maintain headroom. It is painted white and topped with marble. The latter connects with the marble counter on the vanity. "I created a ledge above the stairs where a blank wall existed previously," he says. "That same shape is echoed on the other side by the sink, so the two sides of the room talk to each other through color, pattern and texture." Instead of using a traditional vanity, Landon designed a cabinet with three drawers that are all usable and ftted around the sink and drain. To gain more foor space, he extended the deeper wall behind the toilet and recessed the vanity into the wall. This gave more wall space for the mirror. A wall-mount faucet adds to the open feeling. The mirror visually expands and unites the space. "Its arched top draws the eye upward and away from the toilet," he says, "and it provides an efective backdrop for the ripple pendant lights." Small bath design tip: Develop the seldom-used storage under the sink. "Have pull-outs shaped to fank a recessed bowl, using extended corbels to support the guides," he says. "Mount your shutof valves above one another, aligned with the drain, and add more pull-outs behind each door, fanking the drain. Add another pull-out behind each door again at the bottom. You can literally have six pull-outs in one sink cabinet!" Photos: Roger Turk, Northlight Photography By Kim Berndtson

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