Andersonville Ethereal Blue Bathroom
In a city as large as Chicago it can sometimes be hard to remind yourself that ultimately our world is very small. Good people often tend to know one another (or should!) and when we were first approached about this project our clients were both excited and nervous about a home they were waiting to close on. They’d dropped by our Halloween party because we were connected through some lovely mutual friends and they knew they wanted to work with us once the home was theirs. Of course in the excitement we talked a lot about the new space, their hopes, and their own passion for design. And then they showed us the listing. We recognized that house. We’d been IN that house, a number of times. And the sellers were good friends of ours standing about 150ft away in the other room.
Turns out that the world is indeed small. Our long-time friends were moving from the Midwest back to Portland for a change of scene and surprise these new friends who wanted to work with us were buying their home. After a few minutes of trepidation we introduced the two parties and they got on like a figurative (have to be clear on a design site) house on fire. Good people meeting more good people, succeeding good people in a good house and home.
How it Started
We were really familiar with the home already given that we were close friends with the previous owners. The new owners, who had closed on the home and got to work immediately, had already started some amount of the construction they wanted to accomplish on the suggestion of their friend in real estate who had a contractor with immediate availability. They brought us in realizing that they’d started without having a clear sense of what they wanted the overall project to look like. The project was to turn an oversized closet, that had been used by previous owners as a small office, into an ensuite bathroom.
The clients also loved handmade materials and the beauty of natural materials. The colors they gravitated to most in our mood boards and conversations were beautiful blues. This informed much of the design space. We started looking into handmade tiles and polished blue marble slabs. We designed custom LED channel lighting at the top of the wall which would fall gently on the polished surfaces.
The Concept
The client had already started basic demo and layout of the space before hiring us onto the project, so the first goal was to get a handle on what had been done, what plumbing and electrical was in place or could be modified, and what the goals for the space were. The clients shared that more than a specific aesthetic they wanted the bathroom to feel “ethereal,” since it connects to the bathroom and should be a respite whether in the middle of the night or as a gentle wake up space for starting the day. It took a few concepts before we arrived to the core of this ethereal feeling—it wasn’t about color or style, it was about the play of light in the space. Think Lothlórien in the Lord of the Rings or the bending and spread of light in a spa retreat or otherworldly film. For this reason we played with the idea of indirect lighting that could be carefully controlled with a dimmer and would bounce around the space.
The Process
Although work had already been started on the project and the clients had a generous amount of time before they had to move into the home no project is without its complications. Initially it was disentangling the chain of command—their realtor had been the original connection with the contractors and when we stepped in as designers we had to reorient the crew to working with us and under our direction. Additionally (as with any older home) some structural elements made the concept more difficult, we had to pivot on a few details but the work I think was better for it.
Finally was the tile—our client found a maker in Minneapolis named Mercury Mosaics and fell head over heels in love with their work. We needed a relatively decent amount of tile and we needed it under a tight deadline. The team there were incredible at accommodating our clients as all their tile is made to order, AND Minneapolis got one of their worst blizzards of the year during the manufacturing process!
We took our client to a stone remnant shop out in Franklin Park, IL to see if we could find quartz for the shower threshold and for the niche. We found this stunning white quartz with blue veining and flecks of gold metal integrated into the design!
Additionally the floor tile we ordered had a strange and unpleasant staining on them. It turns out it was a pattern printed but in person looked like dirty staining on these otherwise beautiful textured hexagons. Karen and I definitely were up until 3am sorting through piles of tile sending back the bad ones and picking the best out for floor use.
The Ethereal Blue Bathroom
Ultimately through the snowstorms and tile errors and construction modifications and pivots (and a toilet that was delivered shattered in the box!) we made it. The clients were thrilled and so were we—the best feeling you can have as a designer is when the pieces come together and you see the vision made real. As a design firm we truly believe our clients’ design inspirations and desires are our guiding light- while we certainly bring our sensibilities to guide and form we don’t believe in working against our clients. Our goal is to make spaces that are bespoke to the home and the client, and the joy they get out of a hope and desire realized is truly one of the most satisfying rewards a professional can receive. We’re thrilled for our clients and this space!
