Bathroom Finishes

We've already discussed some features of the bathrooms. The materials and colors were covered when we originally chose them. The master bath design was detailed when we finalized that. So the question is, how did everything turn out?

Radiant Heat (230)

• Problem: This pattern is a biologically precise formulation of the intuition that sunlight and a hot blazing fire are the best kinds of heat.
• Therefore: Choose a way of heating your space—especially those rooms where people are going to gather when it is cold—that is essentially a radiative process, where the heat comes more from radiation than convection.
• In our home: Both bathrooms have radiant heat in the floor. This gives extra warmth and comfort to these rooms. This type of heat works best with hard surfaces, especially tiles. It would not work for the carpeted rooms at all, and special care would need to be taken under wood flooring. Additionally, radiant floor heat has a fairly slow temperature adjustment for heating a space. A warm floor feels great on bare feet, but isn't as practical for full space heating.

The master bath turned out pretty much exactly as we imagined it. The sinks and counter spans less than the full width, but still gives us plenty of room. Next to that, we have a nice bench made out of a piece of live-edge maple. This provides a perfect space on the wall to hang towels above.

Built-In Seats (202)

• Problem: Built-in seats are great. Everybody loves them. They make a building feel comfortable and luxurious. But most often they do not actually work. They are placed wrong, or too narrow, or the back does not slope, or the view is wrong, or the seat is too hard. This pattern tells you what to do to make a built-in seat that really works.
• Therefore: Before you build a seat, get hold of an old arm chair or a sofa, and put it into the position where you intend to build a seat. Move it until you really like it. Leave it there for a few days. See if you enjoy sitting in it. Move it if you don't. When you have got it into a position which you like, and where you often find yourself sitting, you know it is a good position. Now build a seat that is just as wide, and just as well padded—and your built-in seat will work.
• In our home: The idea of built-in seats was used for the benches in the bathroom; however, the details of the solution were completely at odds with the seats in the bathroom (padding isn't as good an idea in moist space). We plan to eventually add ones elsewhere that fit this pattern a bit more closely, such as in the office or stair landings.

The mirrors were custom-built to fit the space just right. The boxes were made out of white oak to match wood elsewhere in the house. Two mirrors were put in, separated by a gap in the middle. This was given a piece of frosted glass, backlit by LEDs, and then some small shelves were put in front of it. It is a very elegant detail, and really helps to define the space.

Bathing Room (144)

• Problem: "The motions we call bathing are mere ablutions which formerly preceded the bath. The place where they are performed, though adequate for the routine, does not deserve to be called a bathroom." --Bernard Rudosfsky
• Therefore: Concentrate the bathing room, toilets, showers, and basins of the house in a single tiled area. Locate this bathing room beside the couple's realm—with private access—in a position half-way between the private secluded parts of the house and the common areas; if possible, give it access to the outdoors; perhaps a tiny balcony or walled garden. Put in a large bath—large enough for at least two people to get completely immersed in water; an efficiency shower and basins for the actual business of cleaning; and two or three racks for huge towels—one by the door, one by the shower, one by the sink.
• In our home: This pattern was definitely not used in our home. However, it is a very interesting pattern, and worth a bit of discussion. The detailed discussion in A Pattern Language provides more context around the social experience of bathing, and the bathing room. In many cultures outside the United States, communal bathing is much more common, even with mixed genders. The pattern makes a lot of sense, and could result in a nice result. In the end, though, we are not familiar or comfortable enough with the use of communal bathing to integrate it into our house. It would also be a fairly large deviation from social norms in this country, which would've presented difficulties during design, construction, and permitting; and probably beyond.

Our countertop material ended up being another challenge. When we chose the materials, Deep Ocean CaesarStone was the preferred material — a nice dark blue. When it came time to order the countertops for cutting and installation, we were informed that the color had been discontinued, and there was no more stock available in the US! We looked at some alternative brands, and also considered a color in a new line from CaesarStone: Ocean Palace. This had some similar blues in it, but a very different look. It is made to look more like a natural stone, with cells of different color abutting each other. However, this material was significantly more expensive than their basic line. Since we had gotten no warning at all about this switch of materials, Yuval was able to negotiate a nice discount on the new material, and we ended up with Ocean Palace for our bathroom countertops. The end result may not be better than our original choice, but we are pleased with it.



This same countertop material was used to make a floating bench at the back of the shower. It works well with the other materials in the shower, and handles lots of water without problem. For the shower glass, we ended up choosing just a clear finish. We added a water repellent finish to make cleaning easier. We also had a pair of hooks embedded in the glass for hanging towels and robes. Finally, the shower got a built-in nook in the wall for bathing products. It gives a nice tiled space for storing shampoo, soap, and other items.



The second bathroom upstairs uses many of the same materials and finishes. It only has a single sink, which is offset to one side of the counter to make room for the door. It has a bathtub instead of a shower, and no benches for sitting. The mirror design is much simpler. It does have a large built-in set of shelves for storing towels and linens. One of the big changes to the design of that room was around the bathtub. Originally we had chosen a full bath/shower set with integrated walls. We decided we weren't really happy with the style of it, though. We decided to switch to just a tub, and tile the walls to match the master shower. This also worked better by allowing us to have a half-height partition (pony
wall) at the end of the tub. This separates it from the toilet without fully dividing up the space; and gives a nice shelf topped with the counter top material.

Overall, we're quite happy with the bathrooms. We really like the colors and materials. The unique pieces show off the custom nature of it, and provide better functionality for us. The only problem with the bathrooms so far is a temporary one: the floor heat in the master bath does not work. There is probably a short circuit between the controller on the wall and the connection to the floor. We're hoping to have it fixed soon; until then, we've suffered through the cold of winter with cold tiles in our bathroom.