Don’t tell Barry Sugerman his grout joints don’t line up.The North Miami, Fla., architect painstakingly planned out the floor pattern of his own master bath to create a seemingly random pattern reminiscent of an abstract expressionist painting. “I’ve spent my entire career lining up grout joints,” he says.“In my bathroom, I purposely broke them up. You go in there and it works, but you don’t know why. It’s very calculated.”
Sugerman designed every other aspect of the space with the same precision. The vertical and horizontal lines etched into the frosted-glass window above the tub repeat the pattern of the tiled floor. The tub itself features an ergonomically correct, extra-wide ledge. “It’s easy to get into,” Sugerman says. “You just sit on the ledge and swing your legs over.” Hand-painted tile coasters he and his wife bought on vacation line a shower shelf for soap and shampoo. And the lighting above the his-and-hers vanities consists of high-temperature fluorescent bulbs that cast a more natural light than standard fluorescents. The rest of the room is illuminated with halogen lights.
The his-and-hers theme extends to the two water closets, two showers, and even a two-sided master walk-in closet connected to the bath. An off-white porcelain floor tile unites the bath, closet, and master bedroom; it also creates a nice backdrop for the ocean-blue tile that surrounds the tub and accents the floor, vanity mirrors, and showers. Cabinetry of Carpathian burl elm and prefinished maple injects a note of warm color into the bath and continues into the closet.
Project Credits: Builder: Bedrock Construction, Miami; Architect: Barry Sugerman, AIA Architecture, North Miami, Fla.; Project size: 450 square feet; Construction cost: $133 per square foot; Photographer: Dan Forer.
Resources: Fittings: Grohe, Circle 437; Fixtures: Hydro Systems, Circle 438, and Toto USA, Circle 439; Lighting: Lightolier, Circle 440; Paints/stains: Benjamin Moore, Circle 441.
