But nobody said you had to leave the house. The owner of this beautifully detailed residence in Upstate New York came to us with a simple request: beyond the usual requirements of a primary bathroom, to reimagine the space as a celebration of corporeal wellness.

Initially, we strengthened connections to the lush forest immediately outside. A generous opening is added, leading out to a new raised courtyard. Concealed, retractable, and pet-resistant screens can be drawn across the door openings for abundant ventilation. Gabion basket walls extend the interior’s height and width into the landscape in an open-ended perspective, and provide visual and acoustic privacy. Beyond this is a former quarry, now forested over, with glimpses of the skyline off in the distance. While we can’t source the stone for the new walls from there, we will do so locally, elsewhere, to recall the site’s history and geology. Other new windows, carefully placed, connect the steam shower and sauna to the outdoors as well.

Inside, heavy timber and sculpted plaster ceilings remain, with robust detailing and specialized construction in the high-heat, high-humidity bathing environments. Floors, now radiantly heated, are reinforced for a new slate finish and are height-adjusted for zero-threshold mobility.

Natural materials are used throughout, with wood selected to complement the home’s DNA, and with metal finishes left to patina with use, weather, and time. Stone surfaces are thermally modified, not polished, for ease of maintenance (read: hardly any needed) and a velvety feel. Walls are finished in Venetian plaster for extreme durability and visual delight.

New lighting, warm-dimmable throughout, is designed to be atmospheric and task-specific, with a theatrical set design solution when enhanced privacy is desired: sheers, drawn across the large window/door opening, are illuminated from the exterior, rendering them opaque from the exterior as well. At the sauna, an exterior mechanical shutter can be operated from inside as desired.