Meet + greet
Kate Saunders (blogger and founder/director of The Mindful Gardener), Anthony Saunders (client director Institutional Banking), Natalie, Ruby, and Hannah, plus Ted the dog.
The project
Our villa originally consisted of two separate flats, so we lived in one side of the house while we reconfigured the layout to create a family home. Part of the old kitchen has been converted into a master-bedroom ensuite and we wanted it to have a luxurious feel, but to be in keeping with the family bathroom, which we renovated nearly 10 years ago. I’ve always loved tiles, especially from touring Spain, Italy, India and Tunisia when we were on our OE (years ago!) so we wanted to make them a feature.
Design
I went to Michel César for the vanity and toilet as I have used their products in our other bathroom and I was very happy with the quality. That’s also where I found the floor tiles. For the wall tiles, I originally had a sample from Italy, which was amazingly beautiful – but it would have cost $11,000 just for the tiles!
Instead I went for these bevelled tiles from Tile Warehouse, which work with light and shade, while being much more economical. Tiles are so beautiful to walk on, and less prone to water damage than wooden flooring (which we have in our other bathroom).
Budget
- Tiles (wall & floor) $3000
- Shower glass $2244
- Taps/hardware $2700
- Vanity/basin/toilet/shelf/mirror $2500
- Bath $900
- Plumber $8285
- Builder $2000
- Tiler $4000
TOTAL: $25,629
Vanity, sink, toilet, floor tiles and cabinet mirror all from Michel César; all spouts, heated towel rail and waterfall showerhead from Universal Plumbing Plus; wall tiles from Tile Warehouse; Missoni towels from Tessuti.
Photography by: Emma MacDonald.
