A single father gets the bright, modern bathroom he craves, thanks to a designer with a penchant for patterns.
Text by Haley Longman
Design by Danielle Palmadessa
Photography by Kate Mangin
It’s safe to assume that a working single dad with three kids and two dogs is almost always busy. So when it came time to revamp his Franklin Lakes home, including his ensuite master bathroom, he had to bring in the pros. Enter Danielle Palmadessa of DRP Interiors in Franklin Lakes. Palmadessa and her team redesigned a few rooms in this client’s house, including his master bedroom and the outdated ensuite bathroom.
“He really let us run with it, and he wasn’t super opinionated,” the designer tells us, recalling the gutrenovation bathroom project. “But he wanted light, bright and modern—and a much larger shower.” The enlarged shower is undeniably a standout, with a mix of glass and marble tiles by Stratta orchestrated in a Mondrian pattern along the focal wall. The team closed an interior window to make the shower larger and installed a metal mosaic tile on the ceiling, along with subtle textured wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries that carries from the inside of the shower to the end of the wall. The shower also has an oversized, brushed-nickel rain shower head and a custom cantilevered quartz bench to give it that spa-like quality.
The oval-shaped soaking tub from WetStyle, though, is the bathroom’s true showstopper. “We removed the existing platform tub because it was dated and took up space, and we installed a freestanding tub,” Palmadessa says. “It’s unique because it has a wood surround, so you can put a drink down. We just loved the warmth of the wood, and it was a nice contrasting element.” In terms of the color palette, the creative team deliberately chose warm, natural tones interspersed with ethereal pops of denim blue. “The floor is a light sand color, and we brought in navy,” says Palmadessa. “The tile above the vanities is a navy hexagon glass mosaic that gives a watery effect and a ‘wow’ factor.” And it’s this mixing-and-matching element that this seasoned pro finds so thrilling about the design process. “I think people are afraid to mix patterns and fear it’s going to be too busy,” she says. “But I love that each vignette is a different surprise, where it’s not all the same but it’s cohesive. That’s definitely my aesthetic.”