Bathrooms with Blue Tile

Uncovering the original concrete surfacing of the columns, which are unusually thick thanks to the building’s original industrial function, was a major undertaking. Covered in successive layers of white paint, a team worked for over a week to expose the concrete, revealing the space’s gritty character.

The sunken bathtub in George Nakashima’s Sanso Villa mimics the shape of a swimming pool on the grounds. His daughter, Mira Nakashima, took over the studio after his death and now lives and works on the property. “A Japanese garden often has a central pond derived from the character for ‘heart’ or ‘spirit,’ and this may be an abstraction of that character,” she says of the tub’s sculptural form.

The second-floor bathroom includes a washroom that can be closed off from the bathing area with a sliding glass door. Bauer and Magid can supervise the kids’ baths or use it as a steam room.

This bathroom, tiled in bright blue mosaic to offset the home’s limited materials and color palette, calls for a simple vanity. The sinks, toilets, and tubs are by Villeroy & Boch, while the faucets and towel rails are by Grohe and Avenir, respectively.

Japanese showers are usually set low down so the bather can sit on a stool and scrub, then pour cedar buckets of hot water over their heads for a refreshing rinse. This homeowner in Venice, California mounted a handheld shower head on the wall for added flexibility. The drain is under the removable cedar floor slats, keeping the room design uncluttered. Wood tubs are cleaned with a simple rinse and last for decades, as the antiseptic properties of cedar guard against mold and rot. This ofuro was designed by Santiago Ortiz and fabricated by Bartok Design.

Benjamin Moore’s Mustard Field paint adds a vibrant touch to another bathroom in the house.

In the upper-level bathroom, tiles painstakingly fired by DeSimio cover the walls and ceiling.

In the bathroom and throughout the apartment, Ryan kept lines as pure as possible by designing built-in storage alcoves. The cutout space in the white cabinet does double duty as a door pull and a cubby for frequently used items.

Andrew Dunbar describes the bathroom as an outside-in room because it has light, air, and sometimes, when it drizzles and the skylight left open, even rain. Designed for exactly these circumstances, a blue-glass mosaic tile floor is laid at an angle to drain with ease. Photo by: Justin Fantl

The blue-tiled master bathroom stands in contrast to the muted tones of the rest of the house. The tile is recycled glass from China.

Even the laundry hampers, above, are discreetly stowed out of sight.

The bathroom glows with various shades of Turkish-style glass tiles (in Iris) from Galleria Tile in San Francisco; the custom nickel-plated hardware is from Chicago Faucets.