I found out this week that the bathroom I designed for Heirloom House has been named Bathroom of the Year 2026 at the HOME Magazine Interior of the Year Awards!

If you’ve been here a while you may have seen this house. I shared the bathroom reveals and the kitchen reveal earlier this year - a peachy pink bathroom, a Dutch-inspired master, a burgundy powder room, and a carefully crafted kitchen.

Where it started

Early on, my client showed me a rose quartz crystal, and spoke of how special this home was because it belonged to her husband’s mother. They wanted the renovation to honour their past, and become a functional, future-proofed home where they could create more memories. So this one small stone and the ‘feeling’ she wanted the whole house to hold: warm, connected, human, was where this bathroom began. It’s about as abstract a starting point as I’ve ever worked from, and I loved every bit of the challenge.

Because the brief was about wanting to ‘feel’ something when you entered the room, we played around with the space planning to try and achieve a focal point. Rather than put the shower in one corner and toilet in the other, we added a floating wall that hides the toilet behind one side, and the shower behind the other. This gave us the opportunity to create a real moment with that wall when you enter the room.

My instinct went straight to natural stone, and not long after we landed on a slab of Yangtze Peach marble that stopped us both in our tracks - dusty pinks through muted peach through soft grey and veins of crystal, with an incredible depth. I honestly could not stop stroking it! I had pink in my mind, but I wanted it grown up. This was it. That slab became the whole language of the room that’s just won.

I also spotted a detail that was significant - when we book-matched the marble slab for that floating wall (that’s when you place the slabs side by side in a way that the pattern joins), several heart shapes were created. While it now has layers like a mirror and wall lights over it, the owner says she knows it’s there which creates a special ‘aura’ in her words, and reflects the connection she wanted to the matriarch ‘Oma’.

Then it became about adding layers - a soft peachy pink custom made vanity with bevelled shaker panels and handles, a custom designed sink made from the same stone in a farmhouse shape inspired by the family’s Dutch heritage, plus marble and brass wall lights and pendant that are the jewellery of the room.

This two-year renovation really was a special journey - with the usual challenges of course, but with a collaborative approach, meaningful goal, trusting clients and a great team spirit. A big thanks to the team:

Jones Architects
Graham Mauger Builders
SCE Stone & Design
Manolas Brothers Cabinetry
Powersurge mirrors
Iver handles
Total Works Electrical
Aalto Paint
Lilly Smith Photography

The judges’ citation

“This bathroom was designed for clients moving into a family home that did belong to the husband’s mother. The brief asked that the space honour that beloved relative’s love of colour and nature.

The result is a resplendent altar of its own. A single piece of Yangtze Peach marble, chosen with the client, establishes the tonal foundation, with a lacquered vanity colour-matched to the stone, a custom marble basin, bevelled shaker detailing, brass and marble lighting, and copper heated towel rails layering warmth, craft, and refinement throughout.

Emotion and remembrance are succinctly displayed in material form; the veining of the chosen stone traces a faint but discernible heart shape across its surface. Full of colour, craft and care, the Heirloom House bathroom is a small gem: a deeply personal space treated with exactitude and soulful ingenuity.”

— Judges’ citation, HOME Magazine Interior of the Year Awards 2026

You can read the full bathroom reveal and the full kitchen reveal for all the sourcing and product details if you want to shop the look:

Reveal / Heirloom House bathrooms →

Reveal / Heirloom House kitchen →

Winning this means a lot. It’s confirmation that the way I like to work - really listening to clients and starting from a feeling, a need, an inspiration piece, a memory, rather than a picture - holds up. Huge thanks to my clients for trusting me with something this personal, and again to the trades and suppliers who helped make it a reality.

Shelley x