This story is part of Image’s October Luxury issue, exploring what luxury really means to artists, designers, aestheticians, architects and more.
My love of bathrooms stems from them being a personal space, and that it’s really a time alone in there (for the most part). People don’t often think about making it feel comfortable, or oftentimes, especially if you’re renting, you’re putting your decorating into other places. The bathroom often gets left alone. For me, during COVID, the bathroom was my haven. I would have a bath probably once a day at least. It really became a place of meditation, of fantasy, of safety. Ultimately, it felt like a place I could go and just not think about the terror and horror that was going on at that time. And I started thinking about how there are so many amazing, beautiful bathrooms in L.A., specifically these Art Deco tiles that you find a lot here, and that they tend to be pretty well preserved.
My relationship to bathrooms has changed so much because I had a child. The main idea stands in that it’s where I can go for just me; but I don’t take baths anymore, I don’t have time. When I do get a proper shower in, when I do get those 10 to 15 minutes, it still connects to that idea that I’m alone and I’m safe here, somebody else is watching my child and I have this time for myself. Obviously, it’s a lot less time. I’m not reading a book, not lighting candles, I’m not putting on music, but the idea still holds.
Luxury is so many different things for so many people. You have cliché ideas of luxury being sort of lush, or maybe a little over the top, or full of amenities. But then I started thinking about my own version of luxury. I don’t have any of those things, but luxury is time. Luxury is ease. Knowing that I’m off the parenting hook for a second. That’s how I went into trying to choose what bathrooms made sense for this project, and I wanted to run the gamut as much as I could.
The bathroom of prop stylist Erik Kenneth Staalberg and hairstylist Robert Harter
I hit the classic Art Deco tiles with the first bathroom. The person who lives there is also a set decorator, a prop stylist. For him, this is not just an extra room in the house. This is not where people do one thing and then leave. This is a part of living. This is a luxurious moment in here. You get to take time and space. There are candles and bath salts ready to go on the floor. It’s made to spend time in.
The bathroom of interior designer Mason Galloway
The second bathroom was kind of a continuation of the Art Deco and the Spanish revival house. I found that one really interesting because there were luxurious products in there. I found that to be an interesting way to live too. You have the luxury on display for people. Also, there’s a lamp in your bath — which is original too, which is amazing. To have a shower and bath separate is a luxury in and of itself, being able to decide I’m only taking a bath now, and that’s what this space is for, and there’s a lampshade in here with me. Also, one of my favorite parts of this bathroom was the toilet paper, because you could tell that they had a cleaning person. And what a luxury. How beautiful to have your toilet paper ready to go. It’s a marker that someone’s been here, someone’s cleaned, someone’s changed things over here.
The bathrooms of Michael Aguirre, designed by Charlap Hyman & Herrero
The green and orange bathrooms were in the same house. I was actually there with the architects of that house, Charlap Hyman & Herrero. So that was like a proper, “Let’s sit down. We’re renovating. We’re creating something specifically for us.†For the gold orange bathroom, they told the architect: “Blade Runner.†I really loved that bathroom. The toilet in that bathroom was motion sensor, so it would go up and down if you walked by it. There were controls for these bathrooms, sort of like having a life of their own. It was futuristic in a weird way — this was a choice, someone wanted to have this option, this kind of amenity, which I thought was really incredible.
For the green bathroom, the idea was the onsen — to have an indoor-outdoor feel, which can only happen in very few places, L.A. being one of them; you can pretty much have your windows and doors open to the outside all year long. I just loved that bathroom so much, and the light is all custom from a local designer here, James Cherry. The shower is literally in the middle of the room, which could only work specifically for this space — you have space, it’s not going to get everything wet, it’s not going to cover everything in mildew. At one point a literal butterfly flew through and was just kind of living in this bathroom for a moment. The luxury of living indoor-outdoor, of being able to open up a window at all.
Bathrooms at Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel
The last one I photographed was the Proper Hotel. Most hotel bathrooms end up looking the same, even though the rooms may be quite incredible. The bathrooms tend to feel almost like a little afterthought, but I found that these ones felt the most like the extension of the room. Also, it’s that luxurious idea of a hotel — you have a robe waiting for you. You have towels folded and ready to go. You don’t have to put effort into making anything feel luxurious. It’s ready to go.
—As told to Elisa Wouk Almino
