Luxury Spa Bathrooms for a Bergen County Home

When this homeowner bought her Bergen County property, it had already been gutted and rebuilt from the foundation up. On paper, that sounds like a head start. In practice, it meant inheriting someone else's decisions, including two bathrooms that were clean, neutral, and completely wrong for her.

She didn't want neutral. She wanted something customized for style and comfort. The kind of bathrooms that stop you when you walk in.

She came to G&L and Sons Renovations, and we got to work.

client goals

This client had a clear vision and wasn't interested in compromising it. She wanted both bathrooms to feel like a boutique hotel, complete with rich materials, thoughtful details, and nothing that looked like it came off a showroom floor. Specifically, she wanted:

• The shower to be the focal point in each room 
• Cabinetry to feel like furniture, not millwork
• The primary bathroom to have a rain shower, a handheld shower, and a natural rock-style shower floor
• The guest bathroom to have more space and better lighting
• Everything to feel cohesive, elevated, and unmistakably hers

The client also had a logistical challenge: she wasn't available to shop for materials with our designer directly. Her assistant took on that role, acting as the go-between for every preference, reaction, and decision. It was an unusual dynamic that pushed our team to do more upfront work, but ultimately produced a more focused and refined result.

Project Overview 

Before we touched a single wall, our team produced computer-generated renderings for both bathrooms with accurate material colors so the client could see exactly what she was getting. Altering anything after construction begins is costly and disruptive, so we front-loaded the design process intentionally, giving the client every opportunity to adjust and approve details before we began. 

In the guest bathroom, we did something relatively simple that made an enormous difference: we borrowed one of two closets from the adjacent guest bedroom to expand the footprint. That extra space allowed us to open a new window on that wall. The home sits on a hill with an unobstructed sightline, so that window would face directly at the Manhattan skyline.

In the primary bathroom, we didn't change the layout dramatically. But we changed just about everything else. Our team took the Jacuzzi tub out and put a freestanding soaking tub in. We gave the entrance to the toilet room an archtop drywall opening, a small architectural detail that did a lot for the overall feeling of the space.

Budget and Timeline

We began construction on May 8, 2025, with an estimated completion date of August 14, 2025. We finished the project on February 26, 2026, about six months beyond the original estimate.

Two things drove the extended timeline. The custom tile installations in both bathrooms were significantly more labor-intensive than anticipated. The handmade Zellige tile in the primary bathroom in particular demands a level of care and precision that conventional tile simply doesn't. Midway through construction, the client also changed her mind on the plumbing fixtures and accessories in the primary bathroom, which required reselection and reordering. Then the custom brass shower enclosure, already running on a six-to-eight week fabrication lead, landed right in the middle of the holiday season, adding another four weeks to the finish line.

The budget followed a similar arc. We hit the client's original target at the first design review. But as the material selections evolved, the client wanted to go with handmade Moroccan tile, a custom-fabricated brass shower enclosure, and integrated stone sinks carved from the same marble as the countertop. These requests made the investment grow beyond the initial range. We made full disclosure about the need for budget adjustments with the client, but they prioritized getting the materials right. So we pivoted where needed and still stayed within a budget range the client was comfortable with.

Challenges & Solutions

Because our client wasn't available to shop for materials directly with our designer, her assistant stepped in as the go-between for her preferences and decisions. That meant we had to arrive at each review meeting fully prepared, with no open-ended browsing or presenting options she'd immediately rule out. The more work we put in beforehand, the more focused and productive our design reviews became.

While we were working inside the home, the backyard was being completely redesigned by a separate masonry contractor. With the home sitting on a dead-end street, coordinating deliveries, staging, and scheduling between two crews required constant communication on our end to keep everything moving.

The materials our client chose also demanded more from our installation team. The handmade Zellige tiles are irregular by design, with every tile slightly different in size, texture, and color. There's no shortcut to installing them well. The results on those walls show that our team didn't look for one.

Project Highlights

The level of customization and detail made transforming both of these bathrooms a delight.

Here are the features that stood out most in each room:

The Guest Bathroom

• Floor-to-ceiling green tiled shower as the room's centerpiece
• Wet room layout, with a freestanding soaking tub and oversized shower in the same zone
• Rift cut white oak furniture-style cabinetry
• Negresco honed granite countertop with decorative scroll backsplash
• Warm brass hardware and fixtures throughout
• Pocket door entry
• Radiant heated floor on a WiFi-programmable thermostat
• Toe kick accent lighting on a motion sensor for nighttime navigation
• Wall sconces flanking the vanity
• Toto toilet with bidet seat and auto open/close lid

The Primary Bathroom

• Custom solid brass extruded shower enclosure in satin brass with mullion grid pattern and kick plate
• Rain shower and handheld shower with a natural rock-style shower floor
• Quarter sawn white oak furniture-style vanity with a dedicated seated makeup area
• Custom arch-top mirrors echoing the arched toilet room entry
• Calacatta Viola honed marble countertop with integrated sink from the same slab, Dumont stepped edge
• Zellige Al Hamra 4x4 handmade Moroccan wall tiles, with no two alike, installed by hand
• 1" recessed lighting with mud ring trim for a seamless ceiling finish
• Radiant heated floor on a WiFi-programmable thermostat
• Wall sconces at the vanity and makeup area
• Toto toilet with bidet seat and auto open/close lid

Two Bathrooms Worth Talking About

What made this project worth spotlighting isn't any single material or feature. It was the totality of it. The way every decision in both rooms connects back to a single, consistent vision that the client had from day one and never wavered from.

Our job was to honor that vision and build it with the level of craft it deserved. We are proud to say that we did.

If you want to see more projects like this one, visit our Portfolio.