2022 Bathroom Design Tip 4: Balance Bold Patterns with Quieter Materials

While this bathroom on the main floor of a Vancouver home serves mainly as a powder room, it's also equipped with an accessible shower—part of a city requirement, but also a great set-up for aging in place down the road. The addition of a shower also brought in room for a few bolder design elements, like that herringbone tile that runs from the floor and on up the wall. “It's playful,” says designer Denise Ashmore of Project 22 Design.

Janis Nicolay

“The rest of the house is very light and airy, and in this space we had fun with the dark tile and making it feel a bit more moody.” The Mutina tile comes in 16 different shades of rich navy-blue-brown-grey—the official colour palette is “ink”—which allows for some texture and play. But it's kept from being too busy thanks to the vanity, and those quietly patterned honed marble tiles on the opposite walls. “It's really about simple classic materials,” says Ashmore.

The black metal frame on the shower separation brings another element of pattern into the space, but it also incorporates a design seen elsewhere in the home: a similar style of door separates the dining room from the living room. Photo by Janis Nicolay.

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