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A Modern Traditional Green Tiled Bathroom (With A Last Minute Sink Pivot)
Well, well, well…I do believe this is the last bathroom of my brother’s river house, and likely the one that gets seen the most by guests. I have an order of favorites, for sure, but this one seems to be the reigning #1 (I’m partial to the primary myself, but perhaps that’s because I’m middle-aged and love an at-home spa experience – I mean, they have a sauna inside the bathroom). This one has a punch and a pattern, and a lot of green (go Ducks!). Green tiled bathrooms for the win.
We chose the tile back when Max and I were both working on this project, and that man also loves a big green tile moment. I mean who doesn’t love a good green tiled bathroom. We worked with Ann Sacks, which has extremely good colors and really solid tile. Max felt really strongly about this tile and wanted it staggered as a 4″ square. I wanted it stacked as a rectangle, and somewhere along the line, it ended up staggered as a rectangle. I honestly don’t remember who is responsible for what anymore! But it turned out so great, and it’s pretty beloved in the home.
A Big Pivot…
I do remember that at one point, Ken and Max chose this big double faucet-ed wall-hung farm sink from Kohler that I objectively love, but as the house came together, it started to feel like it didn’t belong here. Katie felt the same. So with conflicting design visions, we looked for other options.
We had to make decisions quickly as the subs were working hard on all the bathrooms at the same time. So we played around with what we had on hand, which was a leftover wall-hung drawer vanity (seen above) that felt oddly big. But that’s when Gretchen has the idea of using our leftover tile to tile a smaller version of that wall-hung vanity.
So JP and his crews built a box for an inset sink, with the vision to tile overtop of it, keeping the look of the wall tile and running the same way. We taped it out, making sure that it worked with the plumbing that was already behind the tiled wall, while also ensuring that it was the right scale for this bathroom. It was a risk, and a last-minute one on the bathroom that the most people would see and near the end of a long project…
Tile (color: herbes) | Wallpaper | Faucet | Stone Ledge | Pendants | Mirror | Vase (similar) | Soap Dish | Wood Arch Objects
We ordered the faucet from Kohler, and I was so relieved that it turned out pretty darn great. Still unexpected in the house, but now that it’s fully decorated, the pattern of the wallpaper and the colorful tile work so well together. The pendants were bought from Schoolhouse Electric – modern yet traditional and on the affordable side.
On Choosing The Wallpaper
This bathroom is big for a powder bath and dark (no natural light), and just painting felt a bit dead, so once again I was tasked with finding a wallpaper that was organic and fluid so that it contrasted against the linear brick tile, but not too traditional like most florals. As you know, I’m a massive fan of the Raphael pattern for this exact reason – it has this beautiful movement without it being too busy or bold. The large scale of it works so well with smaller tiles, and the white grout pulled so well with the white background. It also felt very Oregon to me – what with the trees and such. Yes, we see it a lot these days, but I enjoy seeing it every single time.
Switchplate | Hand Towel | Hand Towel Holder | Woven Basket (similar) | Waffle Towel
The variation in the tile color is so pretty (with many shaky edges – so make sure you are up for that look). It’s just such a deep, rich green with a lot of high gloss texture.
Can’t forget the toilet :) There was enough room for a little side table, which I was on the fence about, but the gap was big, so we added it, and it looked cute.
I went to my inventory of art and found that I had two more of these MaryAnn Puls pieces (I had bought and framed a bunch for my team holiday present years ago, and had a couple left over). They felt like a sweet moment in here and brought in that hit of warmth with the wood that was echoed with the stool and the wooden arch sculptures (which I bought on Amazon, last minute, LOL).
She’s pretty dang cute and a fun punch for guests upon arrival. Actually, my whole family is coming over tonight to Ken’s for a BBQ to get a full updated tour now that it’s all decorated, which I’m super excited about. Last bathroom done!!! Don’t worry, we still have like 6 more rooms to reveal (I love them all SOOO MUCH), so stay tuned. The river house project is truly never-ending :)
*Architect: Anne Usher
**General Contractor: JP Macy of Sierra Custom Construction
***Interior Designers: Emily Henderson (me!) and Max Humphrey
****Styling: Emily Henderson (me!)
*****Photos by Kaitlin Green
Is the TP on the wall or a freestanding holder? Just curious.
This bathroom hits just perfectly! Way to go a bit bold on the tile from the start, but then to choose a tiled vanity in the last stages of the house; it’s like a jump heel kick when crossing the finish line! Just love the vibe of this room!!
For anyone interested, I found mirrors similiar to the ones here at Hobby Lobby for a lower price to put in my bathroom, although size is likely different.
Curious, what did you do for the toilet paper holder? The thought of drilling into tile for a wall holder gives me heartburn!
Love the pendants – as I do pretty much everything from Schoolhouse – but the idea that $600+ for task lighting (not counting bulbs or installation or tax or delivery or anything!) in a half bath is “on the affordable side” makes me feel on the “pitchfork rebellion” side!
The River house is a custom built, fully designed luxury home, suitable for entertaining crowds. Positioning the finishes in this home (especially when taken as a whole) as anything other than high end (aka expensive!) rips me out of the otherwise delightful design post. It doesn’t have to be BDDW or Matouk to also be unaffordable for most people!
Let’s enjoy eye candy design while also maybe acknowledging that this particular space was not designed foremost about highlighting “affordable” choices.
That tile is the perfect color of green!
Which Ann Sacks tiles are these? That’s just the color I’m looking for in my kitchen.
I will always love that wallpaper too! What a great bathroom. Unexpected yet not overwhelming. I think it has a good masculine vibe with all the sports green tile and tiled sink, but the organic wallpaper balances it nicely.
Love
Just wondering why a double faucet sink was ever considered in a powder room? Like, when would two people be using that room? Am I missing something? Love the green (I have a green bathroom myself)!
They may be talking about the Kohler Brockway sink. It’s a wallmount with a big trough and two faucets. It has a vintage farmhouse look. I think it was the style and not the function of two users they were after. It does look great and bring a lot of historical references to the situation but I can see why they didn’t use it.
I love the tile and wallpaper, but I’m struggling with the tiled box vanity. It doesn’t look bad, because again, the tile is lovely, but the sharp corners and lack of storage don’t seem all that livable for a high-traffic room in a real home. It looks like a choice to meet a deadline. I’m sure Kohler would have provided any sink and/or vanity you asked for, and imho it would have been worth the wait.
Yeah, I’m very klutzy, I would definitely get in big trouble on those sharp edges. I am always for soft edges for that reason. I also find them easier on the eye.
In a home as spacious as the River House, I doubt there’s much need to maximize storage in the powder room of all places. A couple spare guest towels, an extra roll of TP … that’s really all you need, and those things could easily tuck away in the basket styled in the photos.
I actually love that the team took a risk with an awesome, colorful built-in vs. an ordinary pedestal sink or cabinet. To me, it looks cool and considered and custom, whereas a provided vanity would be fine but a snooze. I see a lot of marble floating sinks in the pages of AD, etc./on instagram, but the tile feels like a fresh, new idea. Kudos to Max and EHD!
Agreed. In my small house every inch of storage needs to be maximised, so my initial reaction was surprise at the waste of a storage opportunity, even though I really like the look; but then I thought they probably have a huge storage cupboard just across the hall or somewhere close as this is a BIG house.
The link for the toilet doesn’t go to any specific model. Any hints on which one it is please?
Looks like the Kohler Reach™ K-3983-S-0
(One-piece compact elongated toilet with skirted trapwway)
I love that you give resources for everything used. I know you generally use fresh branches/flowers in beautiful vases but when you use artificial stems, could you list the procurement source for those as well? Thanks Thanks.
The stems in the vase look like they are possibly from a real Smoke Tree.
it’s gorgeous! I rather like the modern edge of the tiled vanity as an offset to the other features. If I were a guest using this gem, I would want to linger there.
This is absolutely gorgeous, I love the green. Chuckled a little bit when you said that the Schoolhouse lighting was “on the affordable side”. I think I just live in a different universe and have been eyeing their products for some time but just not in my budget right now.
I generally think of Schoolhouse as “good value” fixtures in that they aren’t wildly expensive for the quality, but they are a lot more expensive than they used to be.
One thing I’d love the team to discuss is how much the costs for home decor have increased in recent years. It’s kind of insane. I renovated my kitchen during COVID, and many of the items I used cost 50% more now than when I bought them (for literally the exact same item), and at the time, I thought I was paying pandemic-inflated prices.