Black frame, white marble

A dated bathroom in a Putney period house rebuilt around a walk-in shower behind a black-framed sliding door, with a black double basin and marble-effect porcelain throughout.

Walk-in shower behind a black-framed sliding door, beside a white vanity with a black double basin

Location: Putney
Project type: Bathroom
Area: 7.0 m²
Duration: 4 weeks

The project

Trading a bath for a better shower

The room had good proportions, a tall window and original cornicing, but it was furnished like a different decade: a panelled bath, a pine vanity with a marble top and a free-standing brass towel rail.

The clients showered every day and almost never used the bath, so the layout was working against them.

We stripped the room to its shell and rebuilt it around a generous walk-in shower in the recess where the bath used to sit, with the vanity moved to the long wall.

Marble-effect porcelain runs across the floor and walls, a dark slate-effect tray grounds the shower and a black-framed sliding door gives the whole room a crisp, graphic edge.

Before

Understanding
the starting point

The original room had a timber-panelled bath, a pine vanity unit and a brass towel rail set against cream walls.

Panelled bath — now the walk-in shower — Black Frame, White Marble — Bathroom, Putney — Panelled bath — now the walk-in shower

The same room before — Black Frame, White Marble — Bathroom, Putney — The same room before

Pine vanity — now a black double basin — Black Frame, White Marble — Bathroom, Putney — Pine vanity — now a black double basin

The brief

Crisp, bright and practical

The brief

The brief was a bright, easy-to-clean bathroom with a proper walk-in shower and space for two at the basin.

Design direction

We paired light marble-effect porcelain with black accents — the shower frame, the double basin and the tray — and kept everything else simple and white.

Marble porcelainBlack frameSlate trayWhite vanityLED light

The plan