A 70s-Inspired Bathhouse
TILES. They’re delicious, hand crafted ceramic accessories for a house, and the second we realized we were turning an awkward closet into a new bathroom at our Yucca Valley destination, I started dreaming of them.
I had a visual locked in my mind, the way a picture you’ve seen can get stuck and color all your intentions: deep green, heavily gridded, with echoes of the 70s/80s. It might have been born from the fact that this particular bathroom is positioned to be entirely windowless, so the usual cry for light wasn’t an option-- why not make it a trippy little bathhouse?
↑ Okay, fine, this isn’t green tile. But it is an astoundingly, mind-numblingly epic display of green, soooo oh well.
“‘La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ is an art installation from 1974, in a house built by French artist, Jean Pierre Raynaud.
Fascinated by space, uniformity and identity, he began to build this house in 1969 using entirely white tiles with black grout, creating the regular grid pattern in a rigid and geometric form.”
— funky little thinkpiece about tiles as art via Trendland
I noticed I’d pinned 73 pictures of green bathrooms on Pinterest, which isn’t so much coincidence as it pattern, and some internet sleuthing brought me to realize that that shade of green I was chasing was Fireclay Tiles’ Hunter Green. A sample request later, we confirmed it as a choice for the bathroom design.
(For the record—
— Is there anything more fun than getting samples? Fireclay’s samples were in my mailbox faster than some Amazon orders, and seeing the matte finish on that deep green was a dopamine-releasing treat. Seeing the texture IRL was almost as integral to the decision making as seeing the color.)
We paired the dark tiles with a grout that matched the walls to highlight the grid pattern, which looks so sharp with the 4” x 4” squares, and brought in more rustic elements to tie into the design of the rest of the house; matte black hardware, wood aged in our own desert backyard, and a rough travertine vessel sink.
SOURCES
Fireclay Tiles matte Hunter Green 4x4 tiles
Portola Paints “Mission” Lime Wash
Signature Hardware Dolen Travertine Vessel Sink
Kichler Alden Natural Brass Sconce
Signature Hardware solid bronze towel bar
Coyuchi Air Weight Organic Towels in Slate
“Got Your Back” by Cassidy Rae Marietta, via Society6
In case you skimmed over my tumble of deep thoughts about the origin of obsession with green tiles, (who reads anymore?) I’ll refocus on it here: we handmade the wood shelves and the vanity from old planks we found in our backyard. The harsh high desert sun had sucked out its color and moisture, leaving the coolest patina of age I could have hoped for.
Finishing touches were a pair of brass sconces and some 70s-inspired art.
