New construction bathrooms are a particular kind of design challenge.
Everything is brand new. Everything is clean. Everything is completely, utterly, aggressively neutral. The bones are fine. The finishes are inoffensive. And the room has absolutely no idea who lives there.
That's where I come in.
When I started working with my clients on their downtown Minneapolis penthouse, the bathrooms were exactly this — builder grade in the most literal sense. White everything, grey tile, chrome fixtures, not a single moment of personality anywhere. Functional. Forgettable. Scroll to the end — the befores are a good one.
Here's what we did instead.
The Guest Bath
My directive for the guest bath was simple: let the textiles do the heavy lifting.
The shower curtain is the star — a cream-on-cream tufted curtain with organic swirling shapes that has real movement and texture without demanding attention. Fun patterned towels in neutrals. And the bath mat is leopard, because I am who I am and I have no plans to change.
That's it. Sometimes restraint is the whole point. The right textiles in the right room don't need backup.
The before
The Primary
The primary bath had more square footage and more opportunity to layer.
We added a tension rod over the soaking tub with a washed linen shower curtain in soft blue-grey — chosen specifically to pull from the art and bedding in the primary bedroom next door. Same shower curtain rings as the guest bath, because cohesion matters even in the details nobody consciously notices. We added a towel ring where there wasn't one before.
Missoni hand towels and Missoni bath mats. Scalloped white and taupe bath towels. A custom Etsy runner in front of the vanity in colors pulled specifically for this space. Art on the wall. Fresh flowers in a pottery vase. A pottery toothbrush holder. A Cire Trudon candle alongside a vintage bust candle, because that tension between the ancient and the extravagant is exactly the point. A soap dispenser I searched for longer than I'd like to admit, because the right one matters and the wrong one would have haunted me.
This is how a builder grade bathroom becomes a room that knows who lives there.
The Before
The Through Line
Two bathrooms, completely different in feeling, built on the same logic: textiles first, objects second, art always.
You don't need to gut a bathroom to transform it. You need a shower curtain that means something, towels you actually love, a rug with some life in it, and the willingness to search for the right soap dispenser even when it takes longer than it should.
The details are the design. They always have been.
If you're ready to transform a space in your home — no renovation required — I'd love to talk. A complimentary discovery call is the perfect place to start. Book yours here.
