Belgrave Road

A family bathroom for a young family. The brief was: durable, quietly grown-up, not babyish.

The wall tile is a deep teal ceramic, hand-glazed so each tile sits slightly differently to its neighbours. We laid it in stack-bond — vertical lines straight up, no offset — which makes the cuts unforgiving but the wall feels modern. The grout is a soft cream, slightly contrasting, so the pattern reads.

The shower is in the corner, with a glass screen. The rainfall head is set into the ceiling rather than wall-mounted, so the plumbing runs above the ceiling line and the wall is uninterrupted. The feed had to go in before the ceiling did, in exactly the right place. We laid that out with the client before any tiles went up.

The vanity is a floating oak unit with a moulded basin, hung off the wall on a steel sub-frame so the floor below is uncluttered — easier to mop, and it makes the room feel a bit bigger. Above it, a frameless oval mirror; either side, two designer sconces with cream globes and warm orange backplates. The only colour accent in the room. It works because it is the only one.

The floor is a terrazzo-effect porcelain, with full underfloor heating beneath. The radiator next to the shower is a chrome ladder rail, big enough for a couple of full-size towels.

Three weeks start to finish. The clients moved back in the same evening we cleared the dust sheets.