Designing your Ultimate Spa Master Bath

How I transformed a Menlo Park primary bathroom into a serene retreat using warm woods, clean lines and a few seriously luxurious details.

This was one of those projects where the vision was clear from the beginning: I wanted walking into this bathroom to feel like walking into a spa.

Not cold or overly minimal. Not a bathroom filled with decorative details. I wanted it to feel warm, serene and luxurious—the kind of room that immediately makes you slow down.

The starting point was a quiet palette of warm wood tones and soft neutrals, combined with very clean, uncluttered lines. From there, we layered in the elements that would make the room not only beautiful, but wonderful to use every day.

Creating the Spa Feeling

For me, the sense of calm came as much from what we left out as what we put in.

The floating vanity kept the room visually light. The wood-look tile brought warmth underfoot. Floating shelves provided storage without the heaviness of more cabinetry.

And keeping the materials and colors restrained allowed the individual elements to stand out without competing with one another.

Luxury doesn't always need more. Sometimes it needs less—but better.

A Tub With a View

The deep soaking tub became one of the defining features of the room.

Positioned beside the window overlooking the garden, it wasn't simply another bathroom fixture—it created a place to actually stop and relax.

I think placement is so important with a beautiful bathtub. If you're going to devote that much space to one, give it a reason to be there.

Here, the garden became part of the experience.

Deep soaking tub with a view of the garden

The Shower Experience

The walk-in shower was another place where we could make everyday life feel a little more luxurious.

We incorporated a rain shower with multiple water settings and colored lighting to change the mood.

Combined with the clean lines and neutral materials, it created the feeling I was after from the beginning: less shower enclosure, more at-home spa.

Rain shower with different water settings and colored lights to set the mood.

Designing the Vanity

The dual-sink floating vanity was both a practical and aesthetic decision.

I wanted plenty of usable storage without having cabinetry visually weigh down the room. Keeping the vanity off the floor made the bathroom feel lighter and more contemporary, while the warm wood prevented it from becoming stark.

That balance—modern but warm—really became the thread running through the entire project.

Dual-Sink Floating Master Vanity

From Rendering to Reality

This wasn't a project I created alone.

I worked closely with my childhood friend and bathroom-design expert Abhinav Khandelwal, along with a wonderful cabinet designer, to translate the original concept into the finished room. I sourced materials from around the world, and we worked through each element until the vision became reality.

Rendering of the Master Bath

Spa-like Master Bath

What I Love About This Project

It's the feeling of the finished room.

There are plenty of luxurious elements—the soaking tub, rain shower, custom vanity—but none of them shout for attention.

Instead, everything works together to create what I wanted from the beginning:

A bathroom that feels serene the moment you walk through the door.

MBellished Design Notes

Start with a feeling. Before choosing materials, decide how you want the room to make you feel.

Warm up modern design. Wood tones keep clean lines and contemporary fixtures from feeling sterile.

Think about sight lines. The garden view makes the soaking tub infinitely more special.

Let cabinetry float. A wall-mounted vanity creates storage while preserving visual space.

Invest in the everyday experience. A wonderful shower is something you'll appreciate far more often than a purely decorative feature.

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The final touches

Floating Shelves for extra storage