Designer Snapshot: Bath Master

By Paula M. Bodah 

Just because it’s the most purely functional room in the house—the space where we perform those basic, everyday tasks—there’s no need for the bathroom to be ho-hum, at least not in the eyes of designer Kristina Crestin. Kristina designs a lot of bathrooms, from spacious master suites to tiny tucked-away powder rooms, and she views every one of them as a place that deserves as much thought, planning and inspiration as any other room in the house. She gives us a tour of a few of her recent favorites, each with its own elements of surprise.

Photo by Jamie Salomon

The lakefront Maine house that holds this bathroom is featured in our July-August issue. Kristina mixed things up by topping a rugged wood vanity with contemporary vessel sinks, using a vivid chartreuse paint on the horizontally paneled walls and planting a whimsical gnome (an Addo Novo find that Kristina spray-painted turquoise) in the corner of the shower. “That gnome is one of the things in this house that just make me happy!” she says.

Sleek and modern doesn’t necessarily mean quiet and cool. Kristina amped up this contemporary bathroom by painting the walls vivid orange. The Pharos Modern pendants, from Niche Modern, are favorites of Kristina’s.

Photo by Sandra Kimball

“Don’t be fearful of color,” insists Kristina. “It gives you a lot of bang for the buck.” A guest bath in a North Shore house starts out in soothing shades of aqua and white, then gets a beautiful jolt from the Jasba mosaic tile Kristina installed on the floor.