DESIGNS FOR BATHROOMS THAT BREATHE AND INVITE TO LINGER

We spend roughly 2–3% of our lives in the bathroom, over 1.5 years, lifetime. Teenagers spend even more: 4.5 to 7 hours a week, using the bathroom as a living space, for quiet scrolling or escaping the family for a moment of their own.

That daily ritual of washing and pausing, of morning light catching a tiled wall or steam rising through a louvred window, has an outsized effect on how we feel. At studio203, we treat bathrooms as quiet retreats: spaces where natural light, living materials and a genuine connection to the outdoors transform a daily routine into something restorative.

PUTNEY  - TWO NEW LIGHT-FILLED, AIRY BATHROOMS

The upper bathroom is generous and open, with a cylindrical shower that opens to the sky beneath a large glazed roof. A central wall with Caroma Elvire steel basins separates the wet area from the toilet zone while allowing the space to be used from both sides. Large sliding glass doors open onto a private timber deck with integrated planters. The space is light-filled and airy, with daylight entering from three sides: a skylight above, high-level louvres that provide cross-ventilation, and full-height sliding glass doors.

The lower bathroom is more intimate. A glass louvre wall opens directly onto a private bamboo garden, so the person showering stands in dappled green light. Concrete benchtop, birchply vanity, sand coloured mosaic tiles and sealed ‘raw’ render make this a bathroom of robust, honest materiality.

Materials Board: Birch plywood · Off-form concrete · Portuguese mosaic tiles ‘Cinca Pearl’ for shower walls and floor · Sealed render walls· Natural light and cross ventilation: skylight over shower, high-level windows, operable clear glazed louvre windows to private bamboo garden.

KINGSFORD - A BATHROOM RENOVATION

A Federation home with an uninspiring, tired pink-tiled bathroom transformed into a luminous mosaic-clad retreat. The brief unlocked something unexpected: the creation of a large skylight over the shower not only opened it up to its chimney stack, which is now part of the scene. 

A Japanese-inspired sunken bath recess with an Accoya timber batten grate was to meet the client's requirement for both bath and shower in a compact bathroom, but it also adds warmth and ceremonial depth to the design.

Before: Original Federation bathroom with dark pink floral tiles, pedestal basin, no skylight. During construction: opening up to sky and brick chimney.

Materials Board: Timber floor grate · Glass mosaic floor tiles Vixel grey by Artedomus · Glass mosaic wall tiles Vixel white by Artedomus and gunmetal fixtures by ABI Interiors · White transparent shower curtain· Natural light and cross ventilation: operable clear glazed louvre windows to private side yard; skylight over shower.

LILYFIELD - OPENS UP TO A 9M HIGH ATRIUM

The bathroom at Lilyfield House sits at the heart of a nine-metre sculptural atrium and serves simultaneously as family bathroom and master ensuite. Tall, shuttered plywood panels open to the void, a bather can look across the entire height of the house, to the distant outlook over Leichhardt, or close off completely for privacy. As a practical convenience, it is also connected to a linen shoot. 

Off-form concrete, dark large-format porcelain tiles, marine plywood, white-laminated plywood benchtops and steel balustrade shelves carry the semi-industrial material language of the whole house into its most intimate room. Standard, economical materials put together in a way that creates a unique character, a bathroom that offers an experience rather than merely ticking the convenience box.

LILYFIELD BATHROOM by Terence Chin for InBedstore

“The contemporary bathroom transitions seamlessly into the semi-industrial aesthetics of its wider surroundings, in terms of both materials and design.”

The Lilyfield House was featured in Green Magazine and received the Inner West Council Sustainable Building Award. Its bathroom was featured in Trends Ideas Magazine Vol. 36 and InBedstore.

Materials Board: Marine plywood (hoop pine) · Off-form concrete · large format porcelain floor and wall tiles ’Pietra Serena Lappato Moss’ · White contrasting porcelain fixtures · Natural light and cross ventilation: high-level windows, shutters opening into a nine meter high void space.

GLEBE  - A BATHROOM IN A COMPACT SECONDARY DWELLING (GRANNY FLAT)

In this compact Secondary Dwelling (Granny Flat), every element had to serve more than one purpose. Privacy between the main house and the dwelling was also a key consideration. The bathroom window, for example, maintains privacy while playing a critical role in the building’s cross-ventilation strategy, drawing air through the north-facing wall of polycarbonate and obscure glass louvres. Plywood joinery combines the vanity, storage and concealed cistern into a single integrated wall, reducing visual clutter and maximising functionality. The mirror is carefully angled to capture views of the bamboo outside, another small gesture that brings greenery indoors and helps this compact bathroom feel significantly more spacious.

The dwelling was co-designed with Proepper Architects and is featured in Houses Magazine 132.

Materials Board: Birchply · Off-form concrete · Large format tiles by Colortile  in ‘Uptown Silver’ · Danpalon Multicell polycarbonate wall · Mirror reflection used to visually increase the size of the bathroom · Natural light and cross ventilation: obscure glass louvres.

LEICHHARDT - A DUAL ACCESS BATHROOM + ENSUITE

The Leichhardt bathroom doubles as an ensuite and a spare bathroom, accessed from the study. It invites the user to linger. An outlook from the toilet into a private garden through a clear glazed door, the bathroom door opening directly outside, and a large deep aluminium window surround, wide enough to sit in, turn bathroom use into a moment of connection to the outdoors. 

Inside, terrazzo flooring and vanity recess, vertical linen-coloured subway tiles tiles, white fixtures and birchply elements keep the palette lively and on a budget.

Materials Board: Maxiply Arctic White · Terrazzo ‘Spring Garden’ · Subway-format tiles in linen · Heated towel rails · Natural light and cross ventilation: clear glazed door with large surround seating frame to private garden.