shared style

From Habitat magazine - issue 28

A palette of soft Resene blues and a stylish traditional look...

When designer Natalie Du Bois was asked to convert an ensuite into a shared bathroom for a brother and sister, her solution was to use a palette of soft Resene blues and a stylish traditional look that blends honest materials like tongue-and-groove panelling with whimsical French-style touches and lustrous brass fittings.

Says Natalie: “The room has both a masculine and feminine look. The colour palette of blue, white and grey is very masculine, but this is softened by the Perrin and Rowe brass tapware and curvaceous forms of the vanity, fittings and floor tile design to give the room a more feminine touch.”

The bold tile colours are echoed in paint with Resene Avalanche on the bath and vanity and Resene Half Mountain Mist on the lower part of the walls. The upper walls are Resene Milk White and the ceiling is Resene Eighth Milk White.

The slender-legged vanity, a tall storage cabinet and the second-hand clawfoot bath are finished in Resene Avalanche, while the panelling is in Resene Half Mountain Mist, and the walls above in Resene Milk White. The ceiling is in Resene Eighth Milk White.

Having the bathtub and vanity on legs, and making the shower stall completely frameless gives the room a sense of space.

A new doorway was created off the hallway to allow both children access to the bathroom but one of the biggest challenges for Natalie was that the bathroom is located above a stairwell, so some of the floor had to be raised to allow for the ceiling below. This raised area has been ‘hidden’ within two storage cabinets, one of which is accessed from the bathroom, and the other from the boy’s bedroom.

The original frosted panels in the windows were changed to textured panels below and clear above. The fantail decal by Antony Clark was chosen to give this bathroom a fun childlike spin, but it can easily be peeled off, as the children get older.

Designer: Natalie Du Bois, www.duboisdesign.co.nz
Pictures: Kallan McLeod

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