Caxton magazines staff
“When considering creating an open-plan bedroom and bathroom, it’s important to decide which activities you are happy to share,” says Durban architect Joy Brasler, who designed this serenely stylish guest suite on the KwaZulu-Natal coast
To enhance privacy, Joy suggests using louvered shutters and sliding or pivot doors, which can be opened or closed depending on whether you’d like to include the bathroom in the bedroom area or not. Here, she’s tucked the toilet and shower enclosures behind a vast wall of mirrors, which enhance the sense of spaciousness, bounce light back into the room and play up the magnificent view of the Indian Ocean. Together with the use of wooden flooring throughout, they also effectively unite the bedroom and bathroom by offering striking reflections of both.
Mirror was also used to clad a pillar, which houses the plumbing for the free-standing bath on one side and for the basin on the other; Joy then added a vanity with a mod chrome finish that blends into its surrounds. As an interesting contrast to all the clean lines and the sleek sheen of metal and mirror, Joy included earthy elements like the painted stone wall that runs behind the bed and a sheepskin bath mat. As a finishing touch, she created her own custom light fitting by wrapping mesh around the white, round pendant light that hangs above the bath.
