Designing a Calacatta Quartz Primary Bathroom in Lemont
The primary bathroom in this new-construction home was designed as the retreat of the house. The brief was a room that felt calm and timeless, built from natural-looking materials and finished with the kind of custom stonework you don’t get in a production build.
Calacatta Quartz Vanities with Custom OG Edgework
The vanities are MSI Calacatta Valentin quartz, chosen for the soft, marble-like veining of Calacatta with the everyday durability of quartz. The countertop carries a traditional OG edge profile and runs up into a roughly 8-inch backsplash for a more substantial, dramatic presence than a standard short splash. The inside corners are mitered so the edge detail never breaks, and a custom scalloped OG detail is integrated into the backsplash profile, a piece of true fabrication craft that turns a functional splash into a design feature. Champagne bronze plumbing fixtures and matching cabinet hardware warm the cool stone, a classic pairing chosen to stay timeless rather than chase a trend.
The Shower: A Soaking Tub and Steam Suite
The shower is where the room becomes something special, and it’s a real feat of fabrication and coordination. A freestanding soaking tub sits within the shower enclosure, served by a floor-mounted tub filler with handheld, while the shower itself runs dual heads, dual handheld sprays, and a full steam system. Making all of that work in one waterproofed, beautifully finished space is as much a construction challenge as a design one.
The wall finishes layer two materials: Neolith Mont Blanc porcelain slabs on the lower walls, with handmade 3″×12″ subway tile above. The outside corners are finished with precise mitered edges rather than trim pieces, so the porcelain turns the corner cleanly. Behind the freestanding tub, a full porcelain feature wall anchors the whole composition.
Custom Bullnose Quartz Fabrication Throughout the Shower
The custom stonework is the through-line. MSI Calacatta Monaco quartz was fabricated into custom liners and trim throughout the shower: a full bullnose horizontal liner cleanly separates the porcelain from the tile above, full bullnose quartz jambs frame the shower door, and the dual niches are finished with porcelain slab backs and double stone shelves, each shelf carrying a full bullnose edge. Full bullnose everywhere is a deliberate, labor-intensive choice, it softens every exposed stone edge to a smooth rounded profile, which both feels better to the touch and reads as intentional, finished, and safe in a wet space.
Why This Primary Bath Will Age Well
This room earns “retreat” honestly, because the wellness features are backed by fabrication that will last. The steam shower, soaking tub, and multiple sprays make it genuinely functional, while the porcelain slabs, bullnose quartz liners, and mitered corners mean the surfaces will hold up to constant moisture and still look considered years from now. The warm champagne bronze against the cool Calacatta keeps it from feeling clinical. The result is a primary bath that works as hard as it looks good: a soaking-tub-in-shower wellness suite wrapped in porcelain and custom quartz, detailed to the millimeter and built to stay beautiful.
Technical Details
- Vanity countertops: MSI Calacatta Valentin quartz, traditional OG edge, ~8″ backsplash, mitered inside corners, custom scalloped OG backsplash detail
- Shower liners/trim: MSI Calacatta Monaco quartz — full bullnose horizontal liner, full bullnose door jambs, full bullnose niche shelves
- Shower walls: Neolith Mont Blanc porcelain slabs (lower), handmade 3″×12″ subway tile (upper), mitered outside corners
- Tub feature wall: full Neolith Mont Blanc porcelain slab
- Wellness features: freestanding soaking tub in shower, floor-mounted tub filler w/ handheld, dual shower heads, dual handheld sprays, steam shower system
- Niches: dual, porcelain slab backs, double stone shelves, full bullnose edges
- Fixtures/hardware: champagne bronze plumbing + matching cabinet hardware
- Fabrication: custom quartz liners and trim fabricated in-house at Mart Design Co.’s Stone Studio
