THE HILL HOUSE

It’s time to talk about the last big project upstairs at the Hill House… the ensuite bathroom! If you’ve been following along, you know plenty about the hall bathroom - blue tile, cabinet skirt, vintage marble, all the charming little details. But just a little farther down the hallway is the other part of the upstairs bathroom story: Daphne’s ensuite. This room has required quite a bit of imagination. It began as a slice of the original upstairs bathroom plus the awkward closet in Daphne’s room, and with sloped ceilings and a large, low window, it was really hard to picture what it could become. But we’ve been quietly working away on it for the past month now and it’s time to finally spill the beans. Today I thought we’d start at the beginning with the plan.

The Backstory

When we bought the Hill House, there was just one upstairs bathroom. It sat right in the middle of the floor plan, wedged between the stairs and Daphne’s closet. There was no exterior wall for a proper window, the hallway wall angled awkwardly, and just next door in Daphne’s room was this long, clunky closet that didn’t make especially good use of the space either. The whole thing felt like a lot of square footage being used poorly, which is a cardinal sin in a small old house ;)

We knew there had to be a better layout!

After a lot of floor plan sketching, living in the house, measuring, remeasuring, and talking it to death, we landed on the idea that changed everything upstairs: instead of trying to improve the one existing bathroom, we’d steal Daphne’s closet and turn the whole space into two bathrooms. A shared hall bath and a small ensuite next door.

Suddenly the whole upstairs clicked into space. We got a much more functional family bathroom, and gave the largest upstairs bedroom (the one Garrett and I will be using when we move back in) a private bath that feels surprisingly lovely for such an odd little footprint.

The Goal for This Bathroom

From the start, I wanted this bathroom to feel a little different from the hall bath. The hall bath is going to mostly be used by our kids. It’s cheerful and hardworking and has that lovely blue energy. For the ensuite, I wanted something a little sweeter. A little quieter. A little more tucked away like a gem at the end of the hall.

My notes for it were basically some version of this:

heritage and sweet
classic tile
warm wood
pretty, but not too pretty
efficient and practical

Of course, I also wanted it to feel like it belonged in this 1910 house while still being fresh, calm, and comfortable to use every day.

The Layout

This bathroom is small, but the layout is doing a lot! Because of the sloped ceilings, we were never going to get a simple, boxy bathroom up here. So instead of fighting the roofline, we leaned into it. The biggest move was giving a generous portion of the room to the wet area rather than trying to force the tub and shower into a more standard layout. It looks something like this…

The tub sits inside the tiled wet room area with the shower nearby, and the skylight above means stargazing while you bathe, which I’m thrilled about (!!!). It also brings in tons of natural light to this room and lends a beautiful view from the doorway. Skylights have such a unique way of making a space feel brighter and more open, especially in a 7-foot-tall bathroom with sloped ceilings.

Long story short, this layout is unconventional but really efficient and lovely. Sometimes you really can Jenga your way from an awkward old-house space into the loveliest, most unique layout :)

The Vanity Area

Because the wet room side is bright and light (white tiles on the walls and ceilings plus a skylight will do that), I wanted the vanity area to bring in a little more weight and warmth. So the plan here is a warm wood vanity with rounded corners, a marble top, polished nickel plumbing, a large medicine cabinet, and sconces flanking the mirror. I’m really excited about the mix!

There’s something about warm wood and marble in a bathroom that gets me every time (who remembers the Farmhouse primary bathroom?!). It feels classic and luxurious without being flashy. And the polished nickel feels especially right here too. We’ve used a lot of unlacquered brass in this house, and I do love it, but nickel brings a softness to a bathroom that I just love.

vanity, faucet, medicine cabinet, sconces, paneling, skylight, floor tile, wall tile, tub, tub faucet, shower faucet + handshower, artwork, toilet, overhead light, towel bar, towel ring, toilet paper holder, hook

psst: thanks to Rejuvenation for being a sponsor on this bathroom (products were gifted but this post is not sponsored)

The Tile

The tile in here is another example of something I feel more strongly about with every renovation: simple tile can be so, so pretty!

We went with classic white subway tile in the wet room, honed marble hex on the floor, and marble details that make the whole room feel a little more tailored and old-house right. It’s subtle, classic, and will be so beautiful with a couple of crafted details!

It’s also a gentle repetition of what we used in the hall bath - large subway tile, geometric floors, and marble details - just in a different mood and palette. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: repetition is one of the things that helps a house feel cohesive :)

If the hall bath is cheerful and hardworking, this one feels a little more tucked away and lovely. Classic tile, warm wood, beautiful natural light, and just enough marble to make it feel special. A little old-house sweetness. A little softness. It’s still very much in progress, but already I think it’s going to be one of the prettiest spaces we’ve ever done. Lucky Daphne, indeed! And actually, lucky Garrett and me too, since we’ll get to borrow her suite for a little while when we first move in :)

More soon.

xx

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