Our guest bathroom, located in our hallway, is all white with a varied mix of materials and textures. We included marble herringbone tiles floor tiles and handmade white subway tile from Claybrook. I was inspired by the stone and rustic tile combination of Santa Clara 1728 in Lisbon.

The installation of the marble floor tile was a huge ordeal – not because of the product itself, which was stunning, but because in Spain, it is very uncommon to lay any kind of mosaic marble tile. Our contractor (whom we fired mid-way) did a terrible job cutting them and installing them. We then had to rip them out and hire a professional marble specialist to lay them properly.

Thankfully we were able to get the job done, and I love the classic feel that these materials offer.

Our bathroom fixtures were the first choice that we made when it came to both bathrooms’ design. Fantini is one of the absolute best companies on the market when it comes to fixtures. During our renovations, we were lucky enough to travel to Lago D’Orta, north of Milan, to visit the factory and see how their products are made. We even had lunch with the brand’s President, Daniela Fantini, who is as impressive a businesswoman as she is kind. Her love of her company, warmth, and good spirit made us all the happier to have Fantini’s products in our home.

For our guest bathroom we chose the Icona Classic range; its signature characteristic is its rounded cross knob. “Compared to the classical three-hole faucets, Icona Classic has been refined, reduced to its simple expression,” Bertrand Lejoly, Product Designer at Vincent Van Duysen, explained to me. “This gives it a timeless feel but with a strong remembrance of the past.”

When the products came for both bathrooms we were enthralled by the Ferrari-like red box that they came in and their perceptible quality. Each piece has a heft to it that exudes luxury.

Both bathrooms have the same vanity/countertop combination: a custom-made matte white lacquered floating vanity with Blanco Ibiza Marble countertops from Levantina. 

The Icona Classic faucet is like a sculpture – the elegant swan-neck faucet brings height and grace to an otherwise simple space.

The sconces in both bathrooms are Original BTC’s Mini Globe Wall Light in Chrome and Opal. I love the lateral (which is the most flattering) glow that they give off at night time.

In both bathrooms the ceilings are quite high (almost 10 feet). We wanted glass shower doors that were as simple as possible (we hated all of the metal supports that so many of them came with), and had these floor to ceiling ones custom made. Because they reach the ceiling, we were able to keep the profile as clean as possible.

After having moved around quite a bit, we had many mismatched towels. When our renovations were finally done, we invested in a set of Portuguese made Egyptian Cotton Towels from The White Company.

There are two style differences between our main and guest bathrooms. In our main bathroom, instead of a marble herringbone, we opted for 12 inch x 12 inch white marble squares. 

The second, is that we chose the Icona Deco for this space. We love both collections so much, so it was hard to choose which one went where, but in the end the Icona Deco felt like right the choice for our private sanctuary.

Our en-suite main bathroom is petite but it functions perfectly. In fact, the vanity is the same size as the one in our guest bathroom and the shower is almost the same. Moving the wall out 7.8 inches made all of the difference for us to be able to fit everything in its place.

When we purchased our home back in February 2019 we knew that we would have to do a thorough renovation. The bathrooms were in bad shape and didn’t have anything that was salvageable.

When the previous owners moved, they asked us if it was ok, if they could take the sinks and so on. It was a slightly strange question considering that they weren’t in the best shape, but perfectly fine for us since that meant that we had less to demo.

Before the renovation, our guest bathroom had a bathtub. Although I love a bath every now and again, I hate taking showers in bathtubs. It’s a pain to get in and out of and there’s always that small fear of slipping. The choice was a no brainer.

Our en-suite main bathroom was scary. There isn’t a more professional term to use. It was dark, full of mildew, and old. There was a strange dividing panel hanging from the ceiling which we never knew why was there. Perhaps for the shower curtain that was once there?

The door to this bathroom opened inward as is traditional but given the size of the space we chose to have our new custom doors open outward to allow for easy entrance and exit into the space.