The brief
A family bathroom with a fixed plan: bath under the window, basin beside it, a walk-in shower on the far wall. The owners wanted the room to read as one quiet material rather than a collection of surfaces, with the fittings in unlacquered brass so they would darken and soften over time.
The floor was the one thing they wanted to keep: a patterned encaustic-style tile that had earned its place. Everything above it was ours.
What we did
The walls were taken to a warm grey microcement, hand-trowelled so the surface carries the light unevenly the way a mineral finish should. Rather than fit a bought vanity, the basin support and its open shelving were built in and finished in the same material and the bath was boxed in the same way, so the basin, the shelf and the bath surround read as a single object growing out of the wall.
In the shower the finish runs floor to ceiling with no change of material, over a sealed and tested build-up, with a linear drain set into the floor and a brass rain head on a wall arm. A black concrete basin sits on the vanity as the only dark note in the room.
The brass was chosen unlacquered on purpose. It arrives bright and will settle into a deeper, more matt tone with use, which is exactly the kind of change a mineral surface sits well with.
The detail
- Hand-trowelled microcement to all walls, into the shower.
- Built-in vanity with open shelving and bath surround formed in the same finish.
- Sealed shower build-up with linear drain; brass rain head on a wall arm.
- Wall-mounted unlacquered brass taps and bath filler; black concrete basin.
- Existing patterned floor tile retained.
The result
What the owners have is a bathroom with nothing to maintain but the surface itself. There is no grout to discolour, no silicone line to fail and no tile edge to chip: the walls, the vanity and the bath surround are one continuous, sealed microcement that wipes clean and can be repaired by hand if life ever marks it. The brass will deepen with use and the plaster will hold its colour, because every tone was signed off on a sample panel in this room's own light before we mixed a bucket.
