So, you go in to pretty much any restaurant with a modern decor in Charlottesville and you are going to see DuRock, a cement backer board, on their bathrooms walls. Zocalo, X Lounge, Mas. I feel like there is one or two more. They love it.
We’re just as guilty of stealing that idea as it’s our third bathroom we’ve used the Durock as cladding. For me, it’s got so much texture and visual interest to it. It is a colder material, so I like to soften with some wood. In this case, we went a simple wood chair rail. Again, one thing I can’t get away from is taking a traditional form and updating it with modern materials. So, we took a classic two tone look with the chair rail, but used the bright red candy apple tile down low (look closely, we’re missing a tile. It’s on the punch list), with the durock above.
IKEA has this new lines of sinks that are really sculptural, so I thought it cried out for an equally sculptural support for it. So, just made a simple slatted support out of wood. I love me some slats. That’s why all our of railings and fences are always slatted. No pickets!
Anyway, got one more bathroom to show off, maybe tomorrow. General philosopy on bathrooms: such a small space that material wise you can go a little crazy and not break the bank and have some fun.