As one of Auckland’s only qualified design-led renovators, Bathrooms By Elite is well versed in creating spectacular bathrooms. In 2022 the company undertook a complete remodel of a bathroom and powder room in a 1960s St Heliers home.

Using its specialised design and construction skills, Bathrooms By Elite incorporated beautiful tile selections from The Tile Depot to create one of its standout projects of the year. The owners of the West Tamaki Drive home engaged Bathrooms By Elite to undertake a full bathroom design and renovation of two spaces – a powder room and main bathroom.

The remodel comprised knocking down walls, retaining classic elements, and creating much more usable spaces that fulfilled the owners’ wants and needs.

The 1960s home had New Zealand native hardwood floors throughout. These were retained in the powder room, but due to practical reasons in the main bathroom – water tightness and repair to floorboards from reconfiguration of walls – they were replaced with tiles.

A key objective of the Bathrooms By Elite team was to pay homage to the home’s lovely timbers while incorporating classic colours and fittings to complement them. Thus, the tiles selected had to enhance and embrace the natural wooden floors, while tying both the powder and bathrooms together – a palette of beautiful soft neutral colours and warm inviting tones resulted.

In the powder room, Tribeca Gypsum White subway tiles were selected. This is a contemporary high gloss tile that has a mixture of warm white tones, an undulating surface and slightly vintage edge detailing.

Laid vertically stacked, the Tribeca created an elegant feature wall behind the vanity that plays with light adding a touch of movement and character. This tile was paired with a seamless round mirror, a classic glass pendant, and a contrasting dark oak vanity – the result is a sumptuous and sophisticated powder room space.

The main bathroom is large and required more than one tile to be used, with the creation of a feature wall with real wow factor. Instead of using a bold colour or patterned wallpaper, it was the perfect opportunity to find a really special standout tile.

Working with the team at The Tile Depot, three tiles were selected, with the Universal Jaipur decorative tile as the key feature tile. This grand large format (600x1200mm) tile was the ideal scale for this expansive room, and also had the ‘perfect dose of colour and pattern with a subtle linen-like texture that filtered the light beautifully’.

In order to tie in with the powder room, the same Tribeca subway tiles were used behind the bath. These also introduced a touch of gloss that contrasted with the other matt tile surfaces while beautifully complementing the Universal Jaipur tiles. The remaining walls and floors were wrapped up in the timeless Ferrocemento Bianco (597x1196mm).

Custom-made vanities and brushed nickel fittings were selected to complete the spaces. The brushed nickel offers an elegant nod to the age of the home, and is a timeless choice for any space as it can be dressed up or down, appearing modern or classic, depending on what it’s paired with.

Bathrooms by Elite is a small family-owned business, offering a full end-to-end service. The company supplied everything from start to finish, with all of the bathroom products purchased through Elite Bathroomware and the tiles through The Tile Depot. Bathrooms By Elite also custom-built the vanities and supplied highly qualified designers and tradespeople to pull these spaces together.

The result is two elegant and beautiful spaces that have a fantastic sense of flow and connection to each other. Bathrooms by Elite prides itself in being one of the top designer bathroom renovators in Auckland, with highly qualified spatial designers guiding the owner through the renovation process to ensure the incorporation of beauty and practicality in one of the most-used spaces in the home.