Whenever we check in at five star hotels or other elegant resorts, I always admire their elegant bathroom design ideas. Besides being spacious and very inviting with it’s plain or etched glass walls, I also find the marble or granite tile floors appealing. There was this particular place we went to that had black marble floors, glass walls and partitions in the shower stall, and gold fixtures. Now, of course, that would be pretty expensive to replicate inside my own bathroom specially since I don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend. However, that design idea really appealed to me and I wanted to recreate that elegant look and feel but scale down the cost as much as possible.

I started poring over design magazines, interior design books and actually started talking to contractors and craftsmen (for the marble and granite). I also asked for several price quotes, each one having different combinations of materials. I wanted to know if I would be able to save by using dark black granite tiles instead of marble; or, if etched glass would make me reach really deep into my life savings. Finally, after months of research, legwork and haggling, I decided on black granite floors; a tub with gold-plated claw feet; plain glass walls in the shower area; and gold-plated fixtures for the entire bathroom.

It set me back several thousand dollars, but the finished bathroom area was well worth it. It’s like being inside my own little hotel.