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A Porch Becomes a Bath

A defunct space is transformed into an Asian-inspired master bath

by Donna Wax

Typical of the Craftsman-style houses built around the turn of the century in Portland, Ore., architect Donna Wax's home had small bedrooms and just one bath. Creating a master suite with its own bath was therefore high on her to-do list. In this article, she explains how she was able to accomplish this with just an 8-ft.-sq. addition and some clever changes to existing spaces. First, she combined two small bedrooms to make a master bedroom, eliminated a closet, and built a new closet in the new addition. Second, she took a little-used sleeping porch and transformed it into a master bath. The new bath features radiant heating, a curbless shower adjacent to a full-size tub, sliding windows, a floating mahogany vanity, a mahogany medicine cabinet, and a Douglas-fir beadboard ceiling. Wax brought a Japanese aesthetic to this Craftsman space through her use of obscure glass in the windows, which mimic the appearance of shoji screens, and of black Brazilian slate tiles, which cover the floor, tub deck, and exterior walls. Not only did this new design transform the interior of the house, but it did so with minimal impact on the exterior.