Hear more from Brett Clark on the House of Lou podcast.
When the new owners of a house just north of Forest Park decided on a top-to-bottom renovation, they gave Brett Clark, an interior designer at Savvy Ladue, this instruction: Make it feel current while retaining the flair of 1928, the year the house was built.
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
That dual goal posed a challenge on the second floor, where the floor plan had to be redrawn and new rooms, including a guest bathroom, added.
“They let us really go for it,” recalls Clark.
To start, the homeowners OK’d his selection of a vibrant floral wallpaper by Thibault based on a 1920s stationery design. Then, for a bright contrast on the walls beneath, Clark chose white subway tile, edged by chair rail and cove base tile. The mosaic floor’s black-and-white key border is typical of turn-of-the-century designs, Clark says. He was able to salvage crystal knobs from the house’s old doors and use those on the vanity, which was custom-built by Markway. The Carrara marble vanity top and the chrome fixtures throughout are also typical of the period, he notes.
The bath itself was a first for Clark in one respect: It has French doors. The homeowners are grandparents, he explains. They wanted the tub to be grandkid-friendly, but they didn’t want a curtain, and a single door would’ve partially blocked the space. Instead, they opted for doors that open outward so they could kneel and reach the entire expanse of the tub.
“It’s just a guest bathroom,” says Clark. “We certainly spent more time and money and energy elsewhere, but small spaces like this hold a concept in a better way, because you don’t have as many distractions. You can take it all in when entering the space.”
