5 out-of-the-box bathroom designs to inspire and delight

As part of a whole house renovation in Auckland, these homeowners were able to add an en suite for themselves and wanted it to be special.

“They wanted something luxurious,” says Pip Maxwell of Pip Maxwell Interior Design. “And while luxury is great, it also needs to be functional. We achieved that by using porcelain tiles and they’ve come up really well. Porcelain isn’t porous and it doesn’t need the care the natural stone needs. I’m mad about marble but it’s not always ideal.”

Those tiles are Marvel Agata from Tile Space. “I absolutely love it. I suggested it to the homeowners with a lot of passion and enthusiasm,” says Pip.

The en suite didn’t get a lot of natural light so Pip embraced that by painting it dark, which highlights the movement in the tile without allowing it to overwhelm. “It's not contrived. We have a chrome tap, which is timeless. For me, a timeless quality is always an important part of the aesthetic.”

The rainhead adds to the feeling of a hotel or resort, says Pip. “You can just immerse yourself.”

Even if it is a tiny space, says Pip, you have to make sure it is going to meet your needs before you go ahead with the build phase. “It’s about slowing down and ensuring you make clever use of the space.”

The homeowners are thrilled, and so is Pip. “They were incredibly trusting of me as a designer.”

Ben Gommers of Gommers Construction says he has worked with homeowners Maria Konings and Hugo Ellis on their Auckland villa several times. “This bathroom was always something they’d wanted to do. When the time came, Maria decided she wanted these specific tiles so we waited a few months for them to come into the country. And when they arrived, I could see why.”

Those tiles are Bisazza Primule 2 from Tile Space, and they complement similar tiles, Pratoline, in a downstairs bathroom in the house. “It has attracted a lot of attention,” Maria says. “People love it, but this one is an upstairs bathroom, so it’s not the one that guests use. It’s a private space just for the family.”

This is the second time this bathroom has been renovated, as Maria and Hugo have been in the house for 28 years. “It’s a beautiful villa with all the mouldings and archways and we’ve worked on it continuously.”

Maria is pleased with the result. “Ben has done this work for us for years and is a real craftsman.”

Ben enjoyed the process of working with Maria. “She designed it all and selected everything herself, which is different for a client. She really knew what she wanted. It’s a statement bathroom and the quality of finish on it is awesome. It looks amazing and they absolutely love it.”

Candice Van Dyk of Mooi Design in Christchurch says she and her client worked well together when it came to this powder room. “We were very much on the same page. She definitely liked to be involved and she liked to do some research. She was very easy to work with.”

Candice worked on the house in Mosgiel, owned by a couple with adult children and grandchildren. “It’s the two of them but they’ve got quite an extended family.”

Candice says the homeowner loves texture and colour. “There are a lot of rich, muted colours throughout the house: deep golden mustard, blue-green velvet and burnt orange. The colour palette in the bathroom really does connect to the rest of the house.”

But Candice took the opportunity to push the design further. “We wanted it to be moody but not too heavy.”

She says a powder room is the ideal space to turn into a feature. “It's a way to make a small space a little bit fun and interesting. You can have fun. It’s an area you’re not in for very long but that you know that guests will go to.”

The client loves it, says Candice. “She sent me photos on Instagram throughout the whole build.”

This bathroom had to be many things, say Juliette and Rose Schwarz of Schwarz Design in Auckland. It’s the only bathroom in a home owned by a professional couple. “So it’s a powder room when they’re entertaining,” says Rose. “It’s the functional bathroom in the mornings while getting ready for work. It’s also a laundry, cleverly disguised in a cupboard.”

Most importantly it’s a sanctuary, with a bath, a double rainhead shower and places for candles. That cosy feeling is why the glossy dark tile was chosen. “It’s actually a graphite grey,” says Rose. “They reflect each other and intensify and the colour changes depending on the time of day.”

Lighting for so many different uses is crucial. “We considered details like the beautiful wall lights. There’s one not only beside the vanity, where you’d expect, we brought it in again on the opposite side by the bath to give a feeling of enclosure and to add ambience,” says Rose.

The room has a very high stud, says Juliette, so the walls are tiled three quarters of the way up with a high-contrast soft white paint to emphasise that. “The house is 1920s era with a chocolate-box front and the homeowners are big entertainers and love to have people over, so a wow factor was important.”

This is a bathroom to put a smile on your face, says Sally Lines of Urban Lounge Interiors in Mt Maunganui. “They’re quite a fun family.”

The bathroom is used by the family’s teenage boys so during a whole house renovation, Sally took a few opportunities to make better use of the space and introduce some personality.

“They had nice timber features and flooring as an existing part of the house, but the mum loves colour,” says Sally, so she used a terracotta tone in the Concrete Nation Arc basin from Plumbline. The wallpaper then steps it up a notch. “It has really great colours in it. It has quite complex bricks, oranges and golds and quite a soft almost licorice background.”

The family loved it. “They were quite decisive,” says Sally.

A bathroom for teenage boys had to be hardy as well. “We went with cost-effective tapware, something that’s going to give them longevity.” A concrete bath ties into the grey shower tiles, and the mirror with LED light can swivel.

The homeowner styled the finished bathroom herself, adding the rug and colourful accessories. “Where possible she reused things that she had. It’s super cute,” says Sally.

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