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By John Loecke
For a family of five, including three young adults, this bathroom was rather small. “Small is an understatement,” says Tony Hunt of Binns kitchen + bath design in Pickering, Ontario.
“At just barely over 50 square feet, petite is a mush more appropriate description.”
Less-than-accommodating dimensions weren’t the only dilemma, though. The room handled heavy traffic, too. “With three family members using the bathroom on a daily basis and sometimes more when relatives were visiting, it was gridlock,” Hunt says. “The parents had a bath connected to their bedroom but this was the only other bath in the house.”
The family’s wish list broadened the design challenge for Hunt. That list included a 32-inch deep, jetted soaking tub; ample storage for towels and cosmetics; and a counter area where the youngest daughter could spread out makeup and toiletries when getting ready in the morning.
Residential designers who encounter small spaces like this rely on certain room-expanding gambits. “Sometimes you have the option of adding space by annexing part of a hallway or an adjacent closet,” Hunt says. “Here that just wasn’t possible.”
The vanity is smart and attractive, but the most remarkable enhancement may be its color. Light gray cabinets with a white top give the look of much more space than the old, dark vanity. Generous countertop acreage provides room for applying makeup.
In the vanity’s finest detail, designer Tony Hunt eliminated two drawers from the cabinet and replaced the third with a trio of towel bars. Providing generous towel storage may be the key element in a room most frequently populated by three young adults.
Hunt had little choice but to rebuild the room almost the same way it had been – with the tub opposite the sink, and the toilet facing the door. “It was the only logical arrangement,” he says.
Almost the same, however, is not exactly the same. Hunt was able to make a few subtle changes that made significant improvements. First, he shifted the position of the toilet slightly. “Before, you had to lean over the toilet to reach the control valve in the shower,” the homeowner says. “It’s amazing how moving something only a few feet can dramatically alter the functionality of a space.”
Hunt also made the bath feel bigger by replacing the dark vanity with sleek gray cabinets topped in white Corian. To make space for towels, he removed two of the cabinet’s six drawers and outfitted a third with several stainless steel rods. The rods function like traditional towel bars.
To maximize storage, Hunt added two niches to the shower so shampoo and soap wouldn’t have to clutter the tub deck. He also installed a built-in medicine cabinet over the vanity. The shape of the cabinet echoes the curved towel shelf attached to the tub.
“Small places aren’t necessarily more difficult to design,” say Hunt. “Making them work simply requires more imagination.”
A FEW SUBTLE CHANGES MADE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS
-Curved shelves provide bonus storage for bath linens and a spot for toiletries or decorative accents. The shelves also provide aesthetic unity to the space in combination with the mirror and vanity top.
-Two niches were added to the wall to keep toiletries from crowding the tub deck. An even better feature to the new tub area is, oddly enough, the toilet. Because it’s been moved slightly, bathers no longer have to reach over the toilet to turn on the shower.
Floor Plan: Incorporating bonus storage for towels and toiletries into the vanity and tub surround helps this small bathroom perform up to par.
Little Things Mean A lot: you don’t need a big bath in order to have a blissful retreat, says designer Tony Hunt. All you need is resourcefulness and occasional willingness to go against the norm.
Here are some suggestions:
GO TO THE WALL Adding a custom medicine cabinet will provide extra storage for toiletries and other small items that otherwise pile up on counters.
AVOID PEDESTAL SINKS Look for a cabinet that combines doors and drawers. Drawers are perfect for hiding things like hair dryers; undersink cabinets are good places to stash extra rolls of toilet paper.
ADD MIRRORS They not only brighten a room, they also make it feel bigger.
USE WASTED SPACE The area between wall studs can be used to form niches that can easily accommodate a bottle of shampoo or soap. |
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