3 Interior Designers Transform The Same Small Apartment Bathroom

[Narrator] These three interior designers

have been given a photograph

of an empty apartment bathroom.

They have free reign to design it in any way they please.

My name's Laura

and my design style is modern, tailored, and classic.

My name is Patrick

and my design style is exuberant, charismatic, and colorful.

I'm Xavier and my design style is lively,

narrative, and purposeful.

[Narrator] No clients, no restrictions, just blank space.

So at first glance,

this bathroom feels pretty sad and ordinary.

Yes, it's small,

but you know there's a lot of usable space.

This is the size of a lot of bathrooms

that I've had in my life.

I feel like I've seen a million of these in my life.

It's lacking a design perspective completely.

There's no color, there's no texture,

there's nothing beautiful about it.

[gentle jazz music]

So in looking at this original bathroom, it has no window

and it just feels enclosed and small.

So I'd love to create a bathroom

that feels like it takes me away,

the feeling that you're in

a completely different kind of natural environment.

This wallpaper by artist Carla Tapo

for Pierre Frey is incredible.

It just feels really spa-like and serene.

And what better feeling can there be in a bathroom?

When you have a small space like this

taking one design idea

and just really going all in and covering the whole space,

it just feels very dynamic.

So I would love to cover all of these walls in a plaster.

And this is a Tadelakt plaster

which is a Moroccan waterproof plaster

that we can actually take all the way into the shower.

In the shower, I am gonna create

a really beautiful portrait of a standing man.

So I was taking a lot of inspiration

from Italian modernist pools from the '60s and '70s.

One of the most beautiful examples of these pools

is a pool called the Foro Olimpico outside of Rome,

and it has these incredible mosaicked walls.

This is a sample that I actually made, which was really fun

because I could not order a sample of Roman mosaic.

All these pieces are actually marble,

and so each one is different

and it creates this incredibly rich

and very sort of beautiful surface texture.

So for the walls on the vanity side,

I actually want to be able to build in some cabinets

into the wall, fairly minimalist

and it doesn't need to look like cabinetry.

I'm thinking that it's the kind of cabinet

where you just push on it and it springs right open.

[gentle jazz music]

So I'd love to keep this Tadelakt plaster

actually moving straight up onto the ceiling as well.

And that same design element

continuing from one surface to the next.

So it looks like they have a parquet flooring here.

Wood in a bathroom is not really a great idea for the floor.

It can get wet, it can get moldy.

So on the floor,

I'd love to do this honed travertine

and honed just means that it's a natural finish

that isn't polished.

Like if it gets wet, it's not gonna be as slick

and it also just feels really soft and warm

or is much more functional.

And I think if we do a pattern

that it can actually bring a lot of personality

to the space as well.

So after looking at this wallpaper

with this beautiful brush strokes

of different blues and greens,

the tile company Pewabic

that are handmade outside of Detroit

for nearly 100 years,

make some of the most beautiful blues and greens

that I know of.

So I wrapped the floor

and thought that it would be great

to also create a detail on the ceiling using the same tile.

So the other type of tile

I'm gonna bring into this space

is this really beautiful light blue.

It's actually a pool tile.

They use this to make public pools.

I think that's amazing material

to kind of bring out of its context

and into this small bathroom.

So I'm gonna kind of create a pool floor

over in the entire bathroom with this pool tile.

And then I'm also gonna use that tile

to tile the whole ceiling.

[pencil scratching] [gentle jazz music]

So here we have this wall to wall tub

and very standard sort of a layout for a lot of bathrooms.

The problem that I'm having with this one

is because it's a small space,

it is sort of visually stopping you when you walk in

unless you really need a bathtub.

Showers really just make the space feel more open.

They're also easier to access.

You can just walk straight in.

It's gonna make it feel visually bigger

especially if we continue that same style of tile

across the floor and into the shower.

In a shower you can't really do

like a big sort of format tile.

It's too slippery and there's not enough grout lines

to kinda give you that traction.

In this case, if we choose a smaller tile

that can go from the main floor into the shower,

we can address both the design

while it stays safe and functional too.

I'd love to frame out this entire shower enclosure

with an antique brass frame

and we can put trance and windows across the top.

We can actually make this a steam shower.

Basically creating like a little bit of a spa moment here.

That automatically feels much more luxurious,

especially in a small space.

You have to have a shower, you have to have a sink,

you have to have a toilet.

But why not have a little bit of fun with those pieces?

This is a very small bathroom

so I'm actually not gonna put in a shower door.

I'm gonna make sure that the glass wall

that divides the shower from the sink

extends far enough over

that there's not gonna be that much splashing of water

that comes outta the shower.

I'm a big bathtub guy.

I thought it made sense

to incorporate just a big luxurious bathtub.

The Water Monopoly makes the Rockwell collection

of sinks, toilets, and tubs that are all beautiful.

The plumbing fixtures that they produce too

have weight and heft that is fantastic.

So I chose their unlacquered brass.

I think when you can, go for the best hardware possible.

It's something that you touch

and work with every day and that will reward you.

Instead of just getting

like a standard off the rack kind of vanity,

I would love to get a vintage dresser

and we can simply just cut out the top.

You can put in a stone sink on top.

Then you still have all the functionality

of the two drawers below.

I also love that when you have a vintage piece,

it's going to be something unique and special

that you're not gonna see in anybody else's house.

So for the sink,

I found this like really beautiful

black porcelain vintage sink

and I'm gonna create a metal tube base for that sink

that is very evocative of a pool ladder.

I'm also going to use a really beautiful

Gio Ponti designed faucet in that sink, which speaks

to this kind of Italian modernist era pool thing.

I think that it's really nice

to actually have a wall-mounted toilet when possible.

I love wall-mounted toilets.

They free up the visual space on the floor

and in the same way as removing the tub

removes that barricade for you on the floor,

the base of the toilet kind of going away

just opens up more of that beautiful floor tile

and it makes the space feel more open.

The toilet is a very special toilet designed by Gio Ponti.

I think it's just a really beautiful design piece.

[pencil scratching] [gentle jazz music]

In general, I really think that it's better

to have eye level lighting in any space

but really definitely in a bathroom.

When you're only under overhead lighting,

it casts you in shadow.

It's harder to see if you're shaving,

if you're doing your makeup and you're doing your hair

and you just don't really look as good.

I don't know about you

but I love to look my best when I'm doing my makeup.

I definitely think that we should have sconces,

one on each side of the mirror.

Even in a small space,

it's better to have a slightly narrower mirror

so that you can fit sconces.

It's definitely gonna be worth it.

So with this feeling of verdant nature around,

I love the use of bamboo.

So the mirror I sourced on 1st Dibs

it's a French bamboo, 1930s.

Overhead is a beautiful woven fixture from Atelier Vime.

They produce the most beautiful wicker.

I was excited when I found these Polici 1950s green sconces

and I like their simplicity.

When paired next to all that brush stroke of the wallpaper.

I'm gonna make sure that the lighting

on either side of the mirror is eye level.

It's lighting you from the front.

You look good when you look in the mirror.

And then I'm gonna do a nice little complimentary fixture

in the ceiling of the shower

so you get some nice bright light in the shower.

[pencil scratching] [gentle jazz music]

You can create the most beautiful space.

And then if there's no place to put anything, guess what?

It's all gonna sit on the edge of the bathtub

it's gonna be on the floor, it's gonna be in weird places.

So I love to make sure

that there's enough storage in the shower

and in this space,

I would actually love to do a really long niche

that goes almost wall to wall.

My vision for this bathroom was this verdant spa oasis.

I love bathrooms that feel a little bit

like mini collected rooms

rather than everything coming out of a new modern line.

So I looked to 1st Dibs,

found this wonderful bamboo ladder,

and I think next to every tub belongs a little petite chair.

I love these brass chairs by Chiavari.

They're sort of Italian mid-century.

So within this verdant, lush surrounding,

I thought that why not bring in a peacock?

I feel like it's just beautiful,

somebody to talk to while you're taking a bath.

I'm gonna add a heated towel rack.

I think it's one of the nicest things

to get out of the shower

and grab your warm, nice toasty towel.

It's kind of a standard silver chrome towel rack

and I'm gonna powder coat it in a bright lifeguard red

which is kind of my last like little homage

to the public pool.

So I'm not gonna over decorate this space at all.

I think that the main focal point

is already there with the mosaic.

And I think the finishes are so beautiful

that I don't really feel the need to, you know,

add anything else.

I'm gonna practice some restraint here.

[pencil scratching] [gentle jazz music]

So I think that the best designs

are both functional and beautiful.

And in this space, the beauty comes from the materials,

it comes from the spaciousness

and then the functionality is really integrated so well

that you don't even realize how much storage we have.

I think what's great about this bathroom

is that it is total escapism.

It's like a journey outside of the everyday.

It feels exciting and fresh and luxurious.

I think when I enter this bathroom,

I immediately feel

like I'm in this kind of a utilitarian, monumental space.

There's moments that speak to the future

and there's moments that speak to the past

and why shouldn't we have that in a small bathroom?

I also love that every morning I'm gonna come take a shower

with this incredible Roman mosaicked God

'cause that's gonna be fun for me every morning.

[pencil scratching] [gentle jazz music]

Wow. Oh my gosh.

[Laura chuckles]

Wow. Amazing.

I feel like they could not be any more different.

I love that.

Look at him in that shower.

Oh yeah.

Who is he?

It's such a small space, right?

So I was thinking that it would be kind of fun

to like take inspiration

from a very large expansive space

showering with this big Roman guy

who's like holding up your shower pipe.

I want that. Yeah, why not, right?

Wow. It's really fun.

I am dying to hear about,

it's like a crazy, like jungle of-

It's like a crazy, it's sort of a crazy jungle.

And the fact that there's no window in this bathroom,

you know, you sort of- You need that.

You want to escape.

You want to have a view to the outside

and what better view than this?

I feel like so minimal in comparison to you guys

but I was embracing the small space.

I just feel an immediate sense of calm in this space.

Thank you.

That's kind of my general vibe is warm, but calm.

Yeah. You nailed it.

I get that.