Dramatic Performance
THEATRICAL POWDER ROOM Two-apartment Conversion - New York City
Paris Kostopoulos and Tina Psoinos, designers at Paris K Design in New York City, were challenged to design a powder room in a two-apartment conversion to meet city codes and the owner’s fondness for all things theatrical. For the bathrooms, they chose an in-wall toilet system from Geberit, an outstanding performer that helped set the stage for an award-winning design.
The Challenge
The owners of two adjacent apartments in New York City decided to combine them into a single dwelling. Like many New Yorkers, they are avid theatergoers and wanted their home to reflect that interest, with bold color and dramatic finishes. They approached designers Paris Kostopoulos and Tina Psoinos with their specific – and somewhat unusual – requirements.
The original layout consisted of two living spaces: a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment and a separate one-bedroom, one-bath apartment. Kostopoulos and Psoinos eliminated the larger apartment’s original 1960s bathroom in the redesign to make room for a hallway connecting the two apartments into a single 2,200-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath apartment.
The walls of the apartment and powder room are very thin and had to accommodate both electrical and plumbing equipment. The water lines had to be diverted to the building’s existing risers. The powder room had to meet accessibility requirements in order to pass city building codes and to comply with New York’s strict water usage and pressure restrictions.
The Solution
Kostopolous and Psoinos chose the slim Geberit 2x4 in-wall toilet system as a basis for the powder room remodel. The system easily accommodated the requirements for water and electrical lines, and hiding the toilet tank inside the wall allowed the theatrical elements of the design to take center stage.
“To add an aura of mystery in the powder room, we chose sparkling green Italian handmade relief tiles from Alchemy Tile ,” says Kostopolous. “For the back wall and the large rust-toned wall, ceiling and floor tiles were chosen from Florim to match the corridor’s gold-toned Romo wallpaper with its look of vertical ‘slabs’ of rusted steel. We stage-lighted the room with concealed LED lighting behind the circular mirror and in the ceiling, accentuating the powder room and its white fixtures as well as the very architectural gold-tone circular sconces.”
Designers Paris Kostopoulos and Tina Psoinos of Paris K Design won Bronze in the Best Powder Room category of the Kitchen & Bath Design News 2019 design awards . “Geberit in-wall systems,which we have been using for decades, helped us get the additional space to meet code and water saving requirements and the design award.” – Paris Kostopoulos, Designer.
The Geberit in-wall system opens more space in the powder room by enclosing the unsightly toilet tank and other plumbing hardware inside the apartment’s walls. The sound-insulated tank helps deaden the flushing noise, especially important in a luxury apartment in an older building. For flush actuation, the designers chose the gloss white Sigma30 flush plate with gold accents to complement the white wall-hung toilet, free-standing white Stone Resin sink by Badeloft, and satin gold faucet and soap container by California Faucets .
“We chose the Geberit dual-flush actuator because it is designed with great aesthetics that enhances our overall theatrical motif. The actuator, of course, provides a balance to the compact white Starck 3 wall-hung elongated toilet ,” says Kostopoulos.
The application was so successful the designers installed another slim Geberit in-wall system in the apartment’s new full-size bath, with similar requirements for plumbing and electrical lines.
Having used Geberit in-wall systems for over two decades – and now in this award-winning powder room remodel – Kostopoulos and Psoinos are well acquainted with the system’s “dramatic performance.”
Congratulations to Paris K Design for winning the Bronze award from Kitchen & Bath Design News 2019 in the Best Powder Room category!
Design Firm: Paris K Design
Interior Designers: Paris Kostopoulos, Tina Psoinos
Photo: Tina Psoinos Photography