Chapter 2: The Mermaid Guest Bathroom, a Small Space Design
And so it was done... The Lady of the Lake called once again upon her Design Fairy Godmother.
This time, our Lady wished to create two new bathrooms in her lake condo, one for her mermaid water nature and one for her dragon earth nature.
Our tale is about the mermaid guest bathroom, watery in feeling, and custom designed to the wishes of the lovely Lady of the Lake.
The guest bedroom ensuite, for our Lady’s many guests, was also to be used as the main bathroom for welcomed visitors, as it had a second door conveniently leading to her main living space.
Unfortunately it was long and very narrow with little room to navigate for a magical guest with extra tails, legs or tentacles! The vanity had long oversized doors, which when opened, took up most of the small space. And inside the vanity was the Black Ink Hole of no return – things disappeared into its depths unless you had a flashlight or a deep sea, electric eel’s head. Finding Nemo would have been next to impossible! The shower was very narrow, enclosed by solid walls and built for one slim fish at a time!
Shimmering water, mother of pearl, shells and sand, frothy foam, ocean waves, mermaid tails, and an awesome Lady of the Lake inspired a new serene space and that, dear ones, is a true magical transformation…
The Design Fairy Godmother arrived with her merry mermen this time – contractor, electrician, plumber and carpenters – as much of their work would be done while gurgling bubbles and following the condo rules.
They demolished everything, taking down the walls of the shower too, so they could create the Design Fairy Godmother’s new roomy bath design. They added feature pot lights, shower light, and repositioned a new vanity light. The mer-plumber reconfigured the shower faucets, controls and shower-head to another wall to accommodate the new design, as well as fixing a deep oceanic condo plumbing problem – taming a dripping beast.
The wall tile was artfully placed to create an expansive feeling of more width. Square white tiles were placed from floor to two thirds of the way up the wall, continuing around the room. A small, rectangular, brick style, edge tile of natural shell, white glass, and mother of pearl was inserted at the top of the white tile to further define a horizontal line. Now our space was breathing air and ocean.
The floor tile was a sand-colored rectangular shape with a subtle wavy linear texture. Our contractor merman laid our tiles across the narrow width to give an illusion of more space and also staggered them in brick formation. Ahh... Room to breathe.
A glass shower designed by the Design Fairy Godmother was installed by SHOWER DELUXE to give a larger inner space, using sandblasted glass for privacy. The textural effect was like sea froth, and the color – like the sea. A chrome towel bar/handle was installed on the glass door. Inside the shower a feature wall was finished with combined square white tiles and white glass subway tiles in brick formation. Additionally, a niche was built in, with glass shelves to store shampoo, creams, crustaceans and all things necessary for a clean, happy and presentable mermaid. Placing the glass where a thick wall used to be, gave a good four inches in the width of the new shower – tail and tentacle room to spare!
All faucets, knobs, controls, shower-head, lighting, towel bars, robe hooks and even vanity handles were in a silver chrome finish to create a watery light feeling.
A calming wall color was chosen, by matching a color in our Lady’s seashell art pieces. A warm gray with aquamarine undertones, BM Gray Cashmere #2138-60 was the perfect choice above the white wall tiles to continue the illusion of depth and breath. This color was harmonious in the flow to the guest room and to the hall of the living space. Ceiling, doors and molding were painted in BM Oxford White #CC-30.
A custom vanity, designed by the Design Fairy Godmother created space and order for all the generous and much needed supplies for the Lady of the Lake’s honored guests. Custom built by IGOMATT INDUSTRIES INC., of Toronto, and painted in BM Oxford White #CC-30, with two generous doors, shelves and three drawers, this roomy vanity had a light airy look. An asymmetrical wave pattern was designed for the doors, and accentuated by a wavy vertical handle design from LEE VALLEY TOOLS. A CAESARSTONE custom countertop from ARISTON MARBLE & GRANITE LTD., in “sparkle” white adorned the top of this water fantasy vanity and glittered like a mermaid tail!
A spacious mirror from KOHLER was placed above the vanity strategically to create a window of light and depth. A rectangular mirror from LOWES was hung above the wall tile across from the shower to create an illusion of width in a very tight space.
Two hotel-style towel shelves in chrome were installed over the toilet, so her guests’ towel supply would never run out (and making a great use of small space!).
Decorative seashell embroidered towels hung from the Lady’s towel bars. The Lady of the Lake’s own framed artwork of shells and star fish were placed across from the vanity mirror. Whoever gazes upon them, will be gently reminded of the sea...
And whoever enters the mermaid guest bath will be gently touched by watery memories of the ancestry of the Lady of the Lake...
THE END
AFTER photos by Claire Louise Foster
INTERIOR DESIGN by Andrea Carini for Your Sacred Space Interiors