Three weeks for a room that does not look like a three week job, because nothing structural moved and the budget went entirely into surfaces and fittings.
One slab in the shower
The shower is clad in a single red stone rather than tiled. That is the decision the room is built around, and it is the one that takes the most planning.
Slab has to be templated to the opening before anything is cut, because there is no grout line to absorb a few millimetres of error the way tile allows. The joints have to land where the veining carries across them, and the panels have to be supported properly on a vertical surface rather than relying on adhesive alone.
What it buys is a shower with almost no grout in it. Less to clean, less to discolour, and a wall that reads as stone instead of as a grid.
A freestanding tub, and a separate water closet
The tub stands clear of the wall with a floor-mounted filler, which means the plumbing comes up through the floor and has to be set before the floor goes down. There is no adjusting it afterwards.
The toilet sits in its own room behind a door. In a shared bathroom that is worth more than any finish in it: two people can use the room at once without either of them waiting.
Two vanities
Separate vanities rather than one long run with two basins. Each has its own storage, its own mirror and its own light, which is what stops a shared bathroom turning into a negotiation every morning.
Both are finished in a deep red timber against a pale stone floor, which keeps the room warm rather than letting all that stone read as cold.
The result
A La Jolla bathroom rebuilt in three weeks around a single slab of stone, with a freestanding tub, twin vanities and a water closet of its own.
