How to Spice Up a Bath with Tile

There is something to be said for a bathroom that provides pure relaxation—but in a get-up-and-go world, it should also dish up a dose of energy. To achieve that duality for her clients, Architect Nicole Migeon designed a light-filled, green-hued, 7-by-9-foot master bath so fresh and inviting, it calms yet awakens the senses.

The room’s all-encompassing tile work was a collaboration between Migeon and the New York City homeowners, a couple who work in the film, stage, and fine arts worlds. “As visual people, they enjoy pattern,” says Migeon, who herself avows a passion for pattern and tile. “My influence was 12th to 14th century Islamic tile, and the homeowner particularly loves Art Deco tile from the 1920s and 1930s,” says Migeon, who embarked on many trips with the client to simply look at tile at locations throughout New York City.

The tile pattern for the bath actually evolved from a vintage pattern of Daltile, an American tile manufacturer whose early 20th century mosaic bathroom floors featured 1-by-1-inch hexagonal tiles. “Those old baths typically had black-and-white hexagonal tiles on the floor only,” notes Migeon. “We chose olive and white and created a wall pattern.”

Starting with the Daltile vintage template, Migeon and her clients created a custom pattern, and tested it by ordering a 2-by-2-foot mosaic sample. With that sample in hand, Migeon drew all the elevations for the entire room to finalize the tile design with her clients. Satisfied, they ordered the custom mosaic, which arrived three months later in 12-by-12-inch sheets, ready for installation by the job’s general contractor, Glenhill Construction.

The result is a room with relatively tame floors (white 1-by-1-inch hexagon tiles with a double dotted line of olive 1-by-1-inch hexagons along the perimeter), and walls that dazzle. Olive and white hexagonal tiles create an eye-popping repetitive pattern that climbs from the floor up to a height of more than eight feet. “It’s a pattern that’s all about activating the eye and the senses,” says Migeon, in describing an intentional departure from the notion of baths as serene retreats.

Because the rest of the four-story townhouse conveys a serene aura—floor-to-ceiling glass walls, reclaimed pine floors, built-in furniture—the tiled bath represents an oasis of a more active sort. Migeon knows the world of serene spas well, for her architectural practice has a niche specialty in commercial spa and salon design. Indeed, she often brings spa-like drama to her residential designs. Here, she did so by designing two steps up to the tub. The ascent creates the opportunity for a view out the bath window toward a city icon: the Empire State Building. The room’s other elements include chrome fittings; teak cabinetry; glassos step treads, tub surface, and window trim (glassos is a man-made crystallized glass); and two frameless clerestory windows that allow natural light from the bedroom to illuminate the bath. “The rest of the house is very serene,” notes Migeon. “But the bath, well it’s just fun.”

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