An en suite bathroom

(Click on gallery images to view larger picture)

Converting a spare bedroom into an en suite bathroom has given Charlotte and Euan Steen a spectacular new, hotel-style private space.

The problem

‘The house needed a total renovation throughout and one of our top priorities was to create a new en suite to go with the master bedroom. The difficult part was deciding how much space we should give this new room, because it would mean sacrificing something else.

‘The house is set over four floors. The top floor had four bedrooms and a family bathroom, so this was the logical place for the children’s rooms, plus one for guests. That left us with the floor below, made up of three more rooms. We could either create another guest room here or really go to town and have our master suite taking up a lot of the space. It was while the initial sale was going through that we tried to come up with the ideal remodelling plan.’

What we did

‘We drew up lots of different plans, which included blocking off doorways, putting in French doors and chopping a room in half. Eventually, though, we came to the realisation that the best use of the space would be to create one large master bedroom suite for us, including a big en suite and a dressing room. As well as being a great luxury, it would also create a real wow factor – a fairly important aspect to consider should we come to sell the property in the future.

‘We designed the entire space to be like a hotel suite – it means we’ve got our big bedroom and a large bathroom, plus a good-sized walk-in dressing room. We could have put the bathroom in the dressing room space, or the little corner where we’ve now got an office area, but all it would have given us was another bedroom – which we really didn’t need. So we went ahead and treated ourselves to a luxurious suite of rooms.

‘We decided to only have access to the en suite from the bedroom, so we can enjoy complete privacy. This is important as our three grown-up children and their friends are in and out of the house all the time.

‘With the overall design of the suite of rooms decided, we had to plan what we wanted in the bathroom. A build team was already in place to tackle the work on the rest of the house, so we were able to liaise with them on what fixtures and fittings would best suit the new space.

‘The basic shape of the room is rectangular, so we played with various options on paper. We already knew we wanted a frameless walk-in shower cubicle with no tray on show. As well as this wetroom area, we decided on a double-ended bath to relax in.

‘The room would have two doors, one leading into the bedroom and one into the dressing room. With this starting point for the layout, we planned in the shower and bath first and then fitted the WC and sink unit around that.

‘I didn’t want the toilet to be seen as soon as you walk into the room, so our builder came up with the idea of constructing a short stud wall to screen it from view. This was then tiled to match the rest of the room, to help it blend in.

‘Our builder designed the double-sink vanity unit because I specifically wanted furniture that would incorporate plenty of storage. It fits perfectly into the space by the window. The builder then fitted a large mirror above, to turn this into a proper vanity area.

‘I’m a big fan of natural stone tiles, so chose honed travertine for the floor and walls. To create a contrast, I went for a small black-marble mosaic design on the sink unit, the shower floor and the side of the bath. Keeping to these tones means I can add accessories in different colours to brighten up the scheme.

‘The finishing touches were simple – a chrome heated towel rail on the wall by the shower and a simple, white curtain for the window. We had the glass in the window changed to an etched design, so privacy is never an issue.

‘The finished room is just what we were after, contemporary and spacious, but also practical. It really fits our hotel-style brief perfectly.’

WORDS STEPHANIE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS COLIN POOLE
Featured in the January 2010 issue of Real Homes