Green Mermaid Tile and a New Layout Boost a Dated Pink Bathroom

This now-airy Whidbey Island bathroom features a soaking tub, a walk-in shower, heated floors and an expanded water view

Mitchell Parker April 16, 2019

Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.

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Years ago Chasity Blank saw a photo online that included beautiful sea-green tile in a pattern often called mermaid or fish scale. She found the tile so striking that she knew if she ever renovated a bathroom, she was going to use it.

After buying a house last year with her husband, Tim, she got the chance with a guest bathroom that the couple couldn’t stand. Its pink tile, blue sinks, blue bathtub, blue bidet, gold finishes and floral pink wallpaper that even covered the ceiling made it just the kind of room that could benefit from some mermaid magic.

Tree Frog Design

Photos by Tacey Jungmann of Snowberry Lane Photography

Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: Chasity and Tim Blank
Location: Coupeville, Whidbey Island, Washington
Size: 136 square feet (13 square meters); 13 by 10½ feet
Designer: Kristine Tyler of Tree Frog Design

The Blanks hired designer Kristine Tyler of Tree Frog Design to help transform the bathroom and incorporate the fish-scale tile Chasity had fallen in love with. Tyler used the gorgeous green tile as a focal point above a new double vanity, as well as in the shower and the toilet area. “I didn’t want too much of it, because I didn’t want it to overtake everything,” Tyler says. “I wanted it to be an accent without overwhelming.”

Tile: Large Moroccan fish scales in Sea Mist, Mercury Mosaics; vanity: Penta textured laminate in Aspen, Bellmont Cabinet

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Before Photo

Tree Frog Design

Before: Apart from what the Blanks felt were dated finishes and fixtures, an L-shaped vanity and attached bathtub set into a large wood surround confronted anyone who entered the bathroom with sharp corners and too much visual weight. Meanwhile, Tyler and the owners were perplexed that the large bathroom didn’t have at least a small shower. “It wasn’t a good use of space,” Tyler says.

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Tree Frog Design

After: This is the space seen from the same angle as in the previous image. Tyler ripped out everything and created a new layout by shifting the toilet to the back wall and adding a walk-in shower. She covered the shower wall in more of the mermaid tile. (She removed the stained glass window that hadn’t provided much light or a view.)

Tyler kept the plumbing lines as close to where they had been as possible to keep costs down. “I know how quickly these things can skyrocket,” she says.

The vanity is textured melamine, which Tyler thinks is a better option than wood for moisture-heavy bathrooms. “It’s right next to the shower, but it’s good about moisture retention,” she says. “A lot of people want painted cabinets, but this material holds up better long term.”

Tree Frog Design

More of the mermaid tile covers the back wall in the toilet area. Tyler clad most of the other walls in 4-by-16-inch white glossy subway tile.

She used the same subway tile to frame out the doorway as well. “It’s almost a slightly more traditional and softer look,” she says. A white tile chair rail tops the wainscoting tile around the two walls.

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Tree Frog Design

Up close, you can see the various shimmery colors of the accent tile.

Tyler used quartz that looks like Calacatta marble for the shower bench and shelves in the niche.

Before Photo

Tree Frog Design

Before: A large built-in cabinet that the Blanks didn’t need took up a lot of physical and visual space. And the arched window didn’t do justice to the views of the Juan de Fuca Strait. The vibe was hardly welcoming vibe in the room with the best view in the home.

The couple wanted a walk-in shower, a soaking tub and a better view of the water.

Tree Frog Design

After: Tyler removed the built-in tub and storage cabinet, because the Blanks already had two linen closets just outside the bathroom. A large soaking tub now sits below a larger window. “It’s the best view in the house,” Chasity says.

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Before Photo

Tree Frog Design

Before: This view shows the original bathroom from the entrance, with its lack of a focal point and abundance of blunt angles.

Tree Frog Design

After: This photo, taken from an angle similar to that in the previous photo, shows the new open and airy layout.

Chasity worked with Tyler to find a bathtub model that would adequately hold heat, and she often takes two-hour baths, soaking, drinking wine, reading and taking in the view.

Tyler added an extra-deep windowsill topped with a piece of the same quartz as in the shower and on the countertop, to give Chasity a place to set toiletries or a glass of wine while soaking.

The designer left an area of the wall untiled and painted it, so that the Blanks can repaint later if they want to change the look. The flooring is 12-by-24-inch porcelain gray matte tile over radiant heat.

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Tree Frog Design

Wall-mounted faucets pour water into elegantly elongated vessel sinks that sit atop a quartz countertop.

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Floor Plan Before and After: Green Fish Scale Tile

Before: This floor plan shows the layout of the old bathroom. The entrance is to the right of center (where it says “Attic Access”). The toilet and bidet are at the bottom right. The countertop and vanity wrapped around the bottom-left corner, attaching to the large built-in bath. The unused linen cabinet is at the top right.

After: While the size of the bathroom didn’t change, the new airy layout makes the room feel much bigger. Looking at the entrance (again where it says “Attic Access”), you can see where Tyler removed a partial wall and moved the toilet to another wall (and removed the bidet). The walk-in shower takes up the lower-left corner, and you can see how removing the cabinet in the upper-right corner freed up room for the large soaking tub. The double vanity and its stunning wall tile became a focal point for when someone enters the bathroom.

Rendering Green Fish-scale and a New Layout Tile Boost a Once-Pink Bathroom

This 3D rendering that Tyler created of the proposed design shows one of the many advantages of working with a bathroom designer. Chasity had only the mermaid tile to go on, but when she and Tyler visited various showrooms around town, they brought back samples for countertops, floor and wall tile, the vanity finish and more to see how the materials would work with the mermaid tile and how they would look in the changing natural light throughout the day.

They found that the fish-scale tile looked greener in showroom lighting but bluer in the bathroom light. This informed their decisions for finishes. “We kept asking, ‘What do we think in this particular light looks the best?’” Tyler says.

With their material selections dialed in, Tyler played around with tile designs in her 3D program and came up with the more or less finished room shown here. This gave her and the Blanks confidence in their decisions, because they knew what they’d be getting.

Though this is technically the guest bathroom in the Blanks’ two-bedroom, two-bathroom home, they now walk right past the bathroom closest to their main bedroom and into this new bathroom. And who can blame them?

Contractor: Whidbey South Woodworks

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