How Do You Make Every Day a Home Spa Day?

Builder: Highline Construction. Interior Designer: Robin Gannon Interiors / Photo by Dan Cutrona

The Challenge

Built in the 1880s, this gracious home featured expansive living spaces. Yet the bathrooms were small. “The wife really wanted to have a tub, a place to unwind that was a spa-like retreat for her,” says interior designer Robin Gannon. However, the primary bathroom on the second floor was too compact for a tub.

The Solution

A bathroom on the third floor did have a tub, so Gannon set her sights on transforming the space into an elegant oasis of calm. It was in terrible shape, and “the tub was on the side of the room,” recalls Gannon, whose plan involved nestling a new black clawfoot tub into the curved window niche. The low ceiling was raised into the eaves of the home, resulting in a sculptural angled form. While Gannon considered cladding the ceiling with beadboard, she found a more cost-effective way to achieve a similar look by sheathing it with a linear black-and-cream Thibaut wallcovering. The walls were covered in another Thibaut print with a woodsy appeal, and drapes were fashioned out of the same motif. “We wanted drapery around the tub to bring drama to that space. I didn’t want your eyes to stop,” Gannon says. “It’s a softer transition.” A floating vanity attached to the wall, meanwhile, offers a pleasing contrast with the Victorian-style tub—as does the rich forest-green Zellige tile on the floor, atop which lies a plush Tibetan fur rug. “What’s more luxurious,” the designer says, “than stepping out of a tub and sinking into a soft, furry rug?”