Pull Renovation Inspiration From This Sleek and Bubbly Bathroom Reboot

A master bathroom gets a reboot thanks to inspiration from a beautiful bubble chandelier.

We’ve all seen the Kohler commercial in which a woman says to an architect, “Design a house around this,” as she plunks a sleek faucet onto a drawing table. With this master bath in a 1920s Chappaqua home, a lighting fixture — an Oly bubble chandelier — served as the inspiration and starting point. “We always ask clients to send us images of things that appeal to them. This light fixture caught [this client’s] eye, and we thought it was beautiful because it’s airy and there’s something playful about the concept of bubbles in front of a bathtub,” says Scott Hirshson, AIA, of Hirshson Architecture + Design. The fixture was selected before the plans were even drawn, and it influenced the color of the walls, the stone, and the whole palette of the master bath, he says.

His clients, young first-time homeowners who were moving from the city with their two small children, wanted to update and add on to the farmhouse colonial before they moved in. The project called for building a new kitchen and master suite above it, a 1,200 sq. ft. addition, a place that would be durable enough for little kids, but also give the couple a space of their own designed to feel like a hotel suite. That suite is accessed via a wallpapered hallway, for a bit of separation; wide pocket doors between bed and bath can be closed for privacy or opened to let in light from the front to the back of the house.

Inside the bathroom, a Bain Ultra tub set under an eave and in front of a bank of windows serves as the focal point and affords lovely views (the house sits on a hill). The tub was ordered without the apron for a more contemporary look. An oversized shower is tucked into the corner of the bath, next to an enclosed WC with frosted-glass door for additional privacy when the kids are around. Though the whole bath is new construction, it references the older architecture of the home with custom cabinetry, shiplap behind the twin-sink vanity, and framing that alludes to older walls.

Though the original hardware in the house is antique bronze, the new bathroom hardware is oil-rubbed bronze, which ties to the past but doesn’t require polishing to maintain its luster. Alongside these classic fittings, the designers used contemporary sconces that suit the homeowner’s clean aesthetic without being trendy. The sleek, herringbone-tile floor is heated for post-shower comfort as well as when the kids come in and plop down with a board game. This is modern living.

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