The River House Primary Bathroom Reveal (Including A Sauna!! And Mirrors In Front Of The Window)

Today we have quite the luxury bathroom for you – including a hers and his shared shower, a view of the river, a heated toilet, and a sauna inside the bathroom (I’m truly jealous). It’s another River House bathroom, my favorite one that is so warm and airy – and the white tile in here might be my favorite I’ve ever used.

The bathroom itself is more long and narrow – the shower faces east and the windows over the vanity are south. The footprint of this wing was dictated by how the house was designed by Anne Usher (the architect) and built by JP Macy of Sierra Custom Construction. It’s not huge so it had to be really thoughtful in how it was going to be maximized. They actually added the sauna near the end which I think they stole by flipping the toilet room and getting rid of that small storage cabinet between the old toilet room and the vanity area.

Here you can see how it connects to the primary bedroom. There is a pocket door to ensure that if one person needs to get up early to get ready or needs privacy they can just close it.

photo by kailtin green | from: river house primary bedroom reveal

The view from the bedroom (reveal here!) into the bathroom is just so pretty. Those mirrors hanging in front of the window might be my favorite thing (albeit controversial).

Here’s a little video before we get into the pretty photos! (just wait for the ad to play:))

She is such a sophisticated bathroom – wood, green, brass, and so much natural light that you would never need to turn on the overhead lights (except during the 5 months of darkness that we are about to enter, LOL). The vanity is a long floating custom vanity designed by Max and Anne (and maybe me, I honestly don’t remember at this point).

Mirrors In Front Of The Windows?

Anne was the one driving the mirror in front of the window situation which I was fully on board with because it’s weird and cool (and I’ll do anything for natural light + quirk). Anne had an interesting philosophy that basically says we should prioritize seeing nature over seeing our faces all day. Obviously, you need a mirror when you are getting ready but I love the idea of not being confronted with my own face when I’m just getting up or even brushing my teeth and instead looking at the trees. Now of course we ended up putting mirrors above the vanity in front of the windows anyway, and here is why…

We originally wanted to hang the mirrors from the side or ceiling on a pivot that could be stored out of the way, but the ceilings are vaulted and angled and the sconces needed to be hung as flush mounts up there. Also, the sides weren’t symmetrical which felt odd to us. We worked with a welder and tried to figure out how to hang from the top of the wood or the side, but he basically told us that it would be floppy and never solid (which seemed like a bad choice). So we designed them to be attached inside the wood frame and used the Kohler mirrors (which were perfect in size and shape) with a custom welded back.

Art (vintage) | Towel Bar | Towel

The vanity has three drawers – two with cutouts for the sink plumbing then a huge drawer in the middle.

Faucet | Handles | Sink | Countertop

The faucets are part of the Components Collection from Kohler that comes in all the different finishes and a few different shapes. The line is called “components” because you can choose separate handles and spouts – essentially customize the exact look you are going for. We used the gooseneck faucet for the guest bath so opted for the Row spout, a squared-off version, up here.

Light Fixtures

These light fixtures are new and so awesome. They are so heavy and high quality, with a really pretty gold patina, and they give off excellent light. You can obviously use them vertically flanking a vanity mirror as well.

To the right of the bathroom is the tub/shower wet room and it’s so flooded with light, bouncing off all the textures in the tile and the faucets – it’s extremely dreamy to be in there.

Because we were working with Kohler on this we were able to go all out in the plumbing department – a rain shower, two showerheads for joint showering, and a hand shower. Their new Statement and Anthem line is so beautiful and with a lot of flexibility and customization – with options for mechanical valves that don’t require electrical in addition to plumbing (so an easier install) or digital.

We chose the Ceric tub because it was the narrowest and has such a sculptural and classic shape. The water temp is automatically set and you simply just push on and off and it reaches that temperature. The look of it is so design-forward, but the function is really simple.

The tub is big enough for two people but doesn’t have a huge footprint so fitting into this shower was just fine (which was something we worried about and went through all the exercises like bringing a cardboard template to make sure it fit).

Bath Spout | Handshower | Wall-Mount Handshower Holder | Metal Shower Hose | Thermostatic Valve Control

The knob controls the temperature and the buttons turn it on and off (and control the hand shower). It’s just so streamlined and squared off with these modern round knobs – so graphic and simple.

Each person gets to control their own temperature, all pre-set by them, and they can change the water pressure and stream with a few different options (there is a really fun spray that is so soft that we love).

Wall Tile

This tile is one of my favorites I’ve ever used – such a pretty texture with white and vertical organic stripes. We stacked them horizontally and the vibe is so rich and textured, and yet still calm.

Wall Tile | Herringbone Mosaic Tile & Stone Slabs

Ann Sacks has a lot of stone tile as well, and we chose the large format 12×24 for the vanity floor and then switched to a small herringbone of the same tile for the shower room (smaller tile always works to slope better towards the drain). It’s all so gorgeous.

Herringbone Mosaic Tile & Stone Slabs

The stone has a lot of warmth and green in it, calling back to the trees outside all the windows. I can’t stop staring at it.

Anne (the architect) designed this storage cabinet with three shelves and a door for extra storage. The Kohler hooks are black to help pull in the black sliding door frame and all the black light switches (we also chose a black hand towel bar).

The Sauna

Robe | Towel | Sauna (custom)

Now, TBH I had very little to do design-wise with this sauna, beyond my extreme support and enthusiasm. The best part is that it’s both infrared AND a traditional dry sauna. I’m so jealous. Essentially the infrared goes deeper and some say is better for your skin, but they don’t heat up to be as hot as fast (and you have to stay in much longer to get the benefits) whereas a traditional dry sauna can get really hot and you only need 20 minutes to drip with sweat and get the mood-boosting benefits.

The black panels are the infrared heat and then below you’ll see the dry system with all the rocks. My brother worked with a local sauna builder (that is a design/build firm) and Ken was super happy with their service and work.

The sauna is big enough to fit both of them sitting up or one lounging. They have been using it 5 nights a week, watching Friday Night Lights through the glass on an iPad. Again, very jealous.

The Toilet Room/Watercloset

Wall Color | Toliet | Art

Yes, there is a toilet in its own little room with a pocket door and a beautiful deep color. It’s a smart toilet with a heated seat, bidet, and a lot of bells and whistles (controlled by a remote that is attached to the wall). Yes, you need to plan for a plug (and I’d suggest all toilet rooms get an outlet just in case a future owner is as obsessed with having a bidet as the general bidet enthusiasts club population seems to be. LOL). They LOVE it. And I love how streamlined the toilet is, thus making it easy to clean:)

Jess thought it would be fun to show you the difference between the bathroom before and after styling – it’s so simple and calm so the styling really added a lot.

Human for scale:) I love my bathroom, I do, but when you are in this bathroom, showering with a view of the river, surrounded by trees it’s pretty darn glorious. A huge thanks to Kohler for partnering with us on this bathroom – we are so thankful to work with our favorite brands to create beautiful rooms (and photos for the blog).

Bathroom Resources:

Mirror: Kohler
Plumbing: Kohler
Windows: Marvin
Tile/Stone: Ann Sacks
Countertop: Caesarstone
Vanity: Custom
Shower Door: Custom
Sliding Door: Marvin
Main Wall Color: Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams
Water Closet Color: Riverway by Sherwin-Williams
Lighting: Kohler
Sauna: HD Contractor (custom)

*Architect: Anne Usher
**General Contractor: JP Macy of Sierra Custom Construction
***Interior Designers: Emily Henderson (me!) and Max Humphrey
****Styling: Emily Henderson (me!)
*****Photos by Kaitlin Green

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THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.