Ninety square feet isn’t a pocket-sized bathroom, but that doesn’t mean designer Lindsay Chambers didn’t need to be creative with space, given that homeowner Andrea Harrison wanted a large bathtub, shower and dual vanity in her master bathroom.
As part of an overall remodel of a 1919 Craftsman home in the historic Spaulding Square neighborhood of Los Angeles, the bathroom feels fresh and airy while also checking off every box on Harrison’s wish list.
“She wanted an elegant, cohesive aesthetic that gave a nod to the rural Craftsman look of the exterior of the house while feeling modern and built today,” Chambers says.
Bathroom at a glance
Location: Los Angeles
Year built: House built in 1919; renovated in 2014
Size: 90 square feet (8.4 square meters)
Designer: Lindsay Chambers Design
The bathroom had been renovated several years before homeowner Andrea Harrison moved in. Although the space was in good shape, it didn’t suit Harrison’s style and its Mediterranean look didn’t mesh with the home’s Craftsman architecture.
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The renovated bathroom, along with the rest of the house, is now bright and white with details that complement its age while still feeling decidedly current.
“The client did not want to feel like she was living in 1919, when the house was built,” designer Lindsay Chambers says.
Chambers gutted the bathroom and rebuilt it with a mostly white and gray color palette, contrasted with some rustic modern pieces. Carrara marble tiles on the floor and walls contribute to the clean, spa-like aesthetic Harrison wanted, while still tying in with the home’s history. The arabesque pattern on one wall, running brick on the other and larger-format tile on the floor keep the eye moving through the space but also give each wall a distinct character.
A rustic wood vanity and industrial sconces add a rougher element to the mostly marble room, and the white wood vaulted ceiling adds texture and traditional detailing.
The window was kept off-center because of exterior architectural restrictions that would have required extensive permitting. The eight-block district of Spaulding Square, developed by Albert Starr Spaulding in the 1910s and ’20s and filled with Craftsman homes, Colonial bungalows and other revival-style architecture, was once home to many pioneers of the movie industry. It’s been a historic preservation overlay zone since 1993.
The bathroom’s size and configuration proved to be a challenge, especially given that the homeowner wanted a free-standing tub, a large shower and dual sinks and the existing window needed to stay where it was.
A larger curbless shower visually enlarges the bathroom and also makes room for the tub. “Technically the shower is in the same corner, but the new shower is much bigger,” Chambers says.
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The toilet was tucked behind the vanity, next to the wall, so it wouldn’t be the first thingHarrison saw when she walked in. In its place is the new free-standing bathtub. “We had to place the tub at a very slight angle to make all the space constraints work,” Chambers says.
Now when Harrison walks in from her bedroom, she encounters the sculptural bathtub that connects directly to the open shower.
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