A Craftsman Primary Bathroom in Downtown Portland

This primary bathroom sits in a craftsman house in downtown Portland, and it was the one room we took on. The owners wanted the character of the old house to hold, with a bathroom that felt like a small spa: warm wood, soft blue tile, and a shower you could walk straight into. Tile does the heavy lifting here, on the walls, across the floor, and up over the bench.

The vanity

The vanity sets the tone. We ran a stained wood double sink cabinet along one wall, warm against the pale blue walls, with black hardware and black faucets for contrast. Two arched mirrors in black frames hang above it, echoing the arches you find throughout an older home, and a quartz counter ties the wood to the tile work across the room.

The fish scale shower

The shower is the centerpiece. We tiled it in a blue and white fish scale pattern, set vertically so the scallops climb the wall, with a band of clean white carrying up to the ceiling above the blue. Frameless glass keeps the whole wall in view from the vanity, and an obscured glass window pulls in daylight without giving up privacy.

Terrazzo, floor to bench

The floor is where the craft shows. We laid large format terrazzo tile across the bathroom and carried it straight into the shower, over the curb, across the pan, and up the bench, so the same speckled stone runs from the door to the far wall with almost no break. Most shower pans need small tile to turn a slope toward the drain, which leaves a grid of grout lines underfoot. Our crews cut and shaped the large format terrazzo to hold the slope instead, so the outside floor flows into the shower as one surface and the grout all but disappears. A linear drain sits in the pan with its cover set in the same tile, so it reads as a thin seam rather than a metal grate.

The niche and the edge work

We framed out a large custom niche under the window, sized to hold what a shower actually needs, and finished it in the same white that caps the walls. The tricky edges, the niche, the window return, the bench, and the curb, are all trimmed in a Schluter aluminum edge, a thin metal profile that guards the tile corners and gives every transition a crisp, finished line. It is the kind of work that looks simple and takes the most skill.

Our crews were meticulous with every seam, from the terrazzo slope to the trim around the niche, and delivered exactly what the client wanted: a craftsman bathroom that keeps the warmth of the old house and adds the comfort of a modern spa.