While this house has a lot of contemporary lines (with hits of traditional vibes throughout), it’s still a house for a family with two elementary school-aged kids (6 and 9). They share a hall bathroom that is a nice size and Max and I were able to design it to be happy and playful, and yet use high-quality material that will last (and obviously grow with them). I honestly never pictured this bathroom like this – it’s really sweet and charming and full of layers that are far from “contemporary”. Some of this is in the styling, for sure, but whatever it is I love looking at these photos and every time I walk in I get that surge of, “Oh this is so fun”.
Where Are We In The House?
Ok, we are on the second floor and you can see the kid’s rooms are nearby. The bathroom is pretty big – although I see that the floor plan has changed since this above version to NOT have a separation between the vanity area and the toilet/bath. It’s part of the house that was designed to be vaulted so it has high ceilings. When they did the window plan they chose a huge window in here – so it has a lot of natural light.
Three Different Tiles
Max Humphrey and I chose the tile (we co-designed many of the bathrooms together), but this tile is more him, I’d say (and I love it). That guy is a master at selecting and mixing tiles. He generally takes more risks than me but still stays within a restrained palette which you all know I love. We worked within Ann Sacks Made line (made in Portland, which we are big fans of) which has a huge variety of colors. What I love so much about it is the variation of the color at the edges in both the penny tile on the floor and the shower tile – it gives it a lot of dimension and texture (the outline isn’t the grout, it’s the tile).
Shower Door (custom) | Tub
I should back up and say that my brother and SIL didn’t want a tub in here – their kids take showers so they didn’t see the point of a tub (and thought it would be hard to get in and out of). But as an avid bather, I pushed back hard saying how bad for resale it would be not to have a tub for kids. So they chose the most shallow tub (one that would be easy for the kids to get in and out of as a compromise. At times I feared that it would look too basic and not special enough, but as we built the rest of the design elements now I hardly notice that it’s just an alcove tub. The shower surround that we customized (with much agony, more on that later) really helps it feel more elevated.
Also a huge shout out to Anne Usher, the architect who planned the skylight in here – the light that it brings into the shower is incredible and makes this area of the room come alive.
Tray | Pot | Leave-in Conditioner | Shampoo | Conditioner
We used a leftover Caesarstone slab for the niche (making it as big as possible to be in scale with the shower wall). The tray and little pot are from a local resin maker, Swift and Stone who I found at a market and immediately reached out to for this bathroom (you can see her work on the vanities as well).
Mixing Tiles
We mixed three different scales – the larger blue vanity wall, the medium shower tile and the small penny on the floor. The tones of them all looked really cohesive together and it feels highly customized and yet really cohesive.
Purist Faucet Line FTW
Rite-Temp® Bath and Shower Trim Kit | MasterShower® Transfer Valve Trim | Wall-Mount Handshower Holder | Round Two-Function Handshower | Metal Shower Hose
Always and forever I love the Purist line from Kohler. Of course, you have a variety of finishes (we chose vibrant brushed moderne brass) and different handle profiles (we chose the cross for this bathroom). It’s just simple, modern, streamlined, and timeless. We have this line all over the mountain house. It feels more contemporary there and here it leans more transitional – it’s really easy to mix in most styles, IMHO.
Art | Toilet | Waste Basket | Hooks | Hooded Puppy Towel | Solid Towel | Hamper
The toilet is tucked on the other side of the vanities. We hung embroidery art from the OG Portland project by local artist Annie Odorisio and then styled the opposite wall with robe/towel hooks and a cute wicker hamper to warm it all up. You’ll see in here a circle motif everywhere, which I think really helped it feel more playful and fun for kids.
Sconce | Mirror | Faucet | Sink | Vanity | Wood Handles and Knobs | Flower Jar | Soap Dish | Tray | Pitcher | Bubble Jar | Flower Toothbrush Holder
Alright – a his and hers vanity that I seriously wish we had for our kids (who share and quibble and it’s a thing). These are two Tresham vanities that have a simple (and even shaker) vibe to them and then we made them more modern with the wood handles (from Etsy). If you are wondering why they are so close, we did too. In the plans, they were 18″ apart but the room just didn’t allow it so somewhere something was off. At first, I was like “uhhhh…” and then we just worked with it and now I barely notice that they are so close and I even think it’s really sweet. They both have their own storage and counters.
With the more traditional tilework and vanities, I wanted to finish the room in a way that went more modern and contemporary like the rest of the house. So once I found these sconces from Worsley I showed them to my SIL and we both were like, “these are them.” I love that they are graphic, with these playful round glass shades (which also provide great soft light), and you can choose from a variety of metals and wood tones (we chose brushed brass to match the faucets and cornsilk oak for the wood). The three of them flanking the pill shaped mirrors. I like how they call back to the penny tile, the shower faucet shape, the rug, and even the bench.
The backsplash tile goes from floor to ceiling (although it originally didn’t – it stopped at 7′ which felt weird so we had to order more tile and cross our fingers the color would match perfectly). The pattern and color make this room come alive – it’s a pattern mixed with three different tiles, stacked in a repeat (this is a Max Humphrey move that I am into).
The Tresham vanities also come with an integrated countertop and sink, making it a really easy one-and-done situation. I have this vanity in our mountain house guest room and love the joinery of the base. It comes in a couple of different sizes (I wish it came in 60″ or 72″ TBH – I think it’s awesome.)
If you are opening up the walls and changing plumbing (or in this case, building a new house basically) definitely think about wall mount faucets. They really do free up space and I think give a more custom look (we didn’t do this in every bathroom – I like to mix it up).
Art (vintage) | Woven Basket | Pocket Door (custom) | Rug | Waffle Towel
The room is pretty wide in a great way and we were able to add something opposite the vanities. The pocket door was custom (and white oak) and I hung a piece of art that I’ve had forever that worked perfectly in here. I continued with the circle/scallop motif with the rug (from Etsy), wicker pot (from The Container Store, can also be a cute trash can) and bench (from AllModern).
Pitcher | Tray | Bubble Jar | Flower Toothbrush Holder
We bought a lot of these resin (not pottery, which is nice for kids) bathroom accessories from Swift and Stone which she makes in a variety of colors and sells both locally and on Etsy.
Top Down Bottom Up Window Treatments
Opposite the vanity is this large window with black frames and while I’m so grateful for the natural light, these kids needed some privacy. So we had Decorview make the same shades that we have in our guest room that I love. They are modern Roman shades that as you can see can be used from the top down or bottom up (therefore letting nice light in through the top).
It turned out to be far more of a mix of modern/traditional than I had predicted 3+ years ago, in such a good way. It’s really spacious, airy and bright with playful elements, but executed so well by a great team. Thanks to Max Humphrey, Anne Usher (architect), and JP Macy of Sierra Construction (general contractor). All resources linked below.
Bathroom Resources
Tile: Ann Sacks
Trim Stone: Caesarstone
Wall Color: Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams
Hardware: Kohler and Etsy
Lighting: Worley’s Lighting
Vanity: Kohler
Vanity Accessories: Swift and Stone
Mirror: Kohler
Plumbing: Kohler
Windows: Marvin
Window Treatments: Decorview
*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
This is really lovely for growing children! Beautifully layed out too! I think they will use that tub at some point. I’m wondering why one child is allowed a towel by their sink and the other is not. Small detail, but still curious.
It looks like there is a wooden towel rack for a hand towel on the side of the other vanity near the toilet. But yes, mine would absolutely fight over one getting a towel and the other not.
Are the plugs in the vanity or by the mirrors?
They have to be in the vanity, right? Electric toothbrushes, hair dryers, curling irons … Where are they plugged in?
I have mixed feelings when I see these beautiful styled bathrooms. I mean, looks at the tile, the colors, the decor and the natural light, so delicious!! But towels would dry better if hung on a horizontal rod and there will need to be bath mats that can actually handle water! The coir one in the photo is not going to last, is it? 🙂
That said, I love this blog and read it every morning. 🙂
Okay …It’s beautiful, but am I missing something? How do you open that shower door?
I finally saw the hinges & figured it out.
I thought at first that the grout for the tile behind the bathtub was ombré – with darker grout at the bottom and getting lighter as it goes up. It isn’t, but now I think that could be a cool idea.
I love *everything* about this bathroom–especially that blue tile. Gorgeous!
I would have opted to keep the wall separating the toilet/shower and the vanities. My boy and girl teens share a bathroom, and in the morning rush, it would be great for one of them to be able to use the toilet while the other is brushing teeth.
They did that here in the Portland project house: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/portland-hallway-bathroom-reveal-modern-bathroom-ideas
Wait! Will you tell us more about the shower surround. I went through the rest of the post but couldn’t find the rest of the details on agonizing (and stunning) shower surround. Thx!
“ The shower surround that we customized (with much agony, more on that later) really helps it feel more elevated.”
Seconding, would love more info–my kids are 2 and 8 and I wonder from the resale perspective you mentioned how easily bathing kids would be within the tub with the door in the middle but in the open position? If it works easily, it’s an awesome solution my future kids call bathroom renovation would love the details upon!!
Love it! Love the skylight and I love the Purist line, too. Love those blue tiles especially. Lucky kids to have such a gorgeous bathroom!
One of my favorite bathrooms you’ve ever designed! Perfection!
LOVE the idea of separate vanities. What a great and practical design.
Lovely! We also did white penny tile on our kids’ bathroom floors with white grout – and the grout now looks grey with all the dust. Any tips for keeping white penny tile floors clean!? It must be possible!
Do both sides of the shower door pivot outwards for cleaning or for bathing a small child…? Love the low bath/shower idea – a great way of saving space!
I have thought long and hard about my bathroom remodel that seriously needs to be done. Currently, we have a jet tub/shower combo (with a shower curtain)- it works fine for now, but as we get older I have to wonder about how easy/difficult it will be to climb over the edge of the tub? I do like the compromise of having a regular bathtub and shower combo with glass doors, but (especially seeing this one) I’m concerned that I will feel claustrophobic when I’m in the tub with the glass doors being right there at my side, and I’ve just realized that it also takes away the amount of arm rest space you have. I’m not sure how relaxing a bath would be. Am I overthinking this?
Why’d they go with a pocket door when there’s plenty of room for a hinge door?
This is so cute and classic Emily! I am toying with the idea of doing two single vanities for my kids bath- curious how did you reconcile having them be not symmetrical with handles and cabinets? It looks so good so I’m realizing it might not bother me but my kids bathroom has a door that would view the vanities straight on. But unfortunately i don’t think they give you that option when you buy vanities and maybe they could be switched manually? Anyone know?
The natural light is incredible! And I love the idea of mixing 3 different scales of tile, even if I don’t prefer these particular choices. The shower door, however, is so impractical for kids, and I think it shrinks the room, especially with the shiny brass trim. I’d much prefer it open for a more expansive feel and for ease of bathing kiddos. Not to mention the Herculean effort it will take to keep all that glass clean, cause you know the kids won’t be able to keep their hands off it.
I want this for MY bathroom–I love the colors and feel of it. I’m not usually a fan of gold anything, but it’s perfect here.
A question though: Is is a problem to turn on the water to warm it up? We have a similar set-up in my kids’ bathroom: there’s a fixed glass wall next to the faucets, which means that you have to be in the shower to turn it on. The best option is to turn on the tub, warm up the water, and then brace yourself for the brief (but shocking and horrible!) blast of cold water that precedes the warm. Either that, or you skip the overhead shower altogether and always use the hand-shower, but what a waste! As a result, no one uses this beautiful, brand new shower in our house; instead they all opt for MY old, too-small and dingy shower. (Which means I have to wait to shower every morning!) Have you solved this issue? Or maybe the fixed wall is shallow enough to reach around?
Just so, so lovely ….