Kitchen & Bath Business - September 2018 - 26

Before & After

Changing History

Dated, weighted bath gets a modern upgrade
WHEN A COUPLE BOUGHT AN OLD MANOR HOME in Franklin Lakes,
N.J., they knew the master bath would need a significant overhaul since no
improvements had been made in quite some time. What the bathroom did
have on its side were ample space and plenty of natural lighting.
Designer Aparna Vijayan of Ridgewood, N.J.-based Ulrich, Inc., was hired
to transform the home's entire master suite - adding some pops of color, creating his-and-hers vanity areas, updating the platform tub and incorporating
warmer surface materials.

MARBLE MADNESS

While this natural material is one of the most sought after for master bathrooms, the previous layout was rife with heavy marble. It was used for the
walls, floors and tub surround, and there was no break in tone.
"The homeowner wanted brighter, low-maintenance materials that stayed
true to the overall look of the house,"said Vijayan, who chose a vintage Calacatta porcelain tile for the floor. "It has a honed, pillowed finish that looks
like aged marble."
The countertops are leathered quartzite, the shower walls feature oversized
porcelain tiles, and the shower floor is made up of river pebbles for a spa look
and feel. For a decorative accent in the shower, the designer installed a marble
mosaic mural framed with a chair rail in the overall bathroom's accent colors.

BELOW RIGHT AND ABOVE The
previous space was too heavy
with the all-marble surfacing
and the platform tub. Designer
Aparna Vijayan replaced the
bulky unit with a freestanding
soaker with baseboard heat
and chose more maintenancefree materials to lighten up the
master bath.

The free-standing tub is positioned between the windows,
and an angled wall was added
behind it to house a mirrored
display niche. The bright, open
shower features a pebbled
ﬂoor and a frosted door in
Starphire glass.

tub but kept their placement, and as there is a lot
of privacy in this section of the house, she didn't
need to use window treatments.
The previous shower area featured just one basic
showerhead and a few body sprays. The designer
transformed it into more of what she calls a "performance" shower with an added rainhead and
handheld showerhead. She was able to boost the
size with the tub elimination and added a built-in
seat and some shower niches in the half walls to
conceal all the toiletries. She brightened up the
shower area with a frameless glass enclosure and
better positioned it under the skylight.

All the bathroom ﬁxtures
are polished nickel, and the
cabinets feature crystal knobs.
The skylights and windows add
streaming sunlight for reﬂection.

SHOWER & TUB TURMOIL

A giant platform bathtub from the 80s took up half of the former space and
was even more dated with the heavy marble steps leading up to it. Vijayan
replaced the bulky unit with a freestanding soaker tub, which left enough
room for her to install a storage niche behind it on an angled wall - complete
with glass shelves and lighting. She replaced the windows surrounding the

BY CHELSIE BUTLER

Kitchen & Bath Business / SEPTEMBER 2018 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of KBIS (KBIS.com)

http://www.KBBONLINE.COM http://www.KBIS.com

Kitchen & Bath Business - September 2018

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