Big new bathroom borrows space from spare bedroom

Sunset, Nov, 1989

Big new bathroom borrows space from spare bedroom A half-bath a stair landing was a long way from the master bath Dorothy Hartley envisioned as she set out to remodel her house. To gain space for more sybaritic pleasures, architect Sigrid Miller Pollin of Riverside, California, annexed a spare bedroom on the same level, boosting the bath's entry from the stairwell to the top-floor master bedroom.

In dealing with the descent from bedroom to bath, the architect played up the level change with a stepped wall that screens the tub area. The step motif is echoed in a single-notched privacy wall that shields the toilet. A sophisticated tile scheme firmly establishes the floor plane and unifies the various levels. (Setting shower tiles on the diagonal made it easier to slope the shower floor toward the drain.)

Although the wall behind the tub holds ductwork, the architect was able to carve out a niche between the ducts, providing an area for plants, toiletries, and towels on glass shelves.

Beyond the stairstepped tub partition, sliding mirror-faced closet doors hide additional storage, while visually expanding and brightening the room.