The Block Week 4: Main Ensuite Week
Week 4 of The Block turned the focus towards main ensuites—spaces where material selection, natural light, storage, circulation and everyday function must work together.
A successful ensuite needs to feel luxurious, but luxury is not defined solely by expensive tiles, custom cabinetry or premium tapware.
It is also expressed through space.
The amount of uninterrupted floor visible from the entrance, the way light travels through the room and the relationship between solid walls and transparent glass can significantly affect how spacious an ensuite feels.
This week delivered some genuinely beautiful bathrooms.
There were generous skylights, extensive stone-look surfaces, warm timber vanities, double showers and restrained palettes that connected naturally with the surrounding bedrooms.
Several rooms demonstrated the strength of choosing a single material and letting it lead. Others showed what can happen when too many individually beautiful elements compete for attention.
The week also reinforced that a neutral bathroom is not necessarily unsuccessful.
Bathrooms contain some of the most permanent and expensive finishes within a home. When contestants are designing for the property market rather than solely for themselves, restraint can be commercially intelligent. A calm and cohesive foundation may ultimately provide more value than a highly personalised room that is expensive for a future owner to change.
Function remained equally important.
Vanity heights, shaving-cabinet storage, shower benches, glass placement and the relationship between fixtures all affected how comfortably these rooms could support everyday routines.
As always, these reviews are not intended to diminish the work, effort or expertise of the contestants, designers or trades involved.
The Block requires complex bathrooms to be designed and constructed under extraordinary time, budget and logistical pressure. Some of the rooms were also unfinished at reveal, and I have considered those circumstances separately from the underlying design decisions.
Design is subjective.
A bathroom that feels calm and timeless to one person may feel too restrained to another. A material one designer considers a striking feature may feel visually overwhelming within a different composition.
My purpose throughout this series is not to establish one universally correct version of each room. It is to explore how individual decisions influence function, proportion, cohesion, marketability and the experience of living within the space.
For each house, I will consider:
- The overall design and material palette
- The relationship between the ensuite and the wider home
- Vanity functionality and storage
- Shower planning and circulation
- Natural and artificial lighting
- Visual space and material hierarchy
- The changes I would retain, refine or reconsider
Conceptual redesigns are included only where the proposed changes would materially improve a room’s function, proportion, circulation, cohesion or atmosphere.
Where an ensuite is already resolved, I have not redesigned it simply to produce a transformation. Sometimes the most valuable professional conclusion is that a room already works and should be allowed to speak for itself.
Adam and Jolene: A Beautiful Ensuite That Needed Its Final Layer
Adam and Jolene delivered one of their strongest design concepts so far.
Although the ensuite was not completed within the allocated time, the room's layout is clear. The colour palette is beautiful, the tile selections feel considered, and the relationship between the soft green feature tiles and matching green basins creates cohesion without making the room feel overly themed.
The warm timber vanity introduces natural texture, while the pale stone-look finishes keep the broader space light and understated. Together, these materials create an ensuite that feels calm, refined and connected to the main bedroom.
There is very little I would fundamentally change. The greatest disappointment is simply that the room was not finished, because the completed design had the potential to be exceptional.
Extending the Decorative Tile
The decorative tile behind the bath is a beautiful detail and introduces another layer of texture to the wet area.
However, I would have extended this tile across the entire wall behind the bath rather than restricting it to the nib wall. Continuing the material vertically would have created a more intentional focal point and given the bath a stronger architectural backdrop.
It would also have allowed the decorative tile to feel like a defining feature of the room rather than a smaller accent partially concealed behind the bath.
Replacing the Solid Dividers with Glass
The most significant change I would make is replacing the solid dividing walls surrounding the wet area with clear glass panels.
The existing walls create strong visual boundaries between the vanity, bath and shower zones. While they provide separation, they also interrupt the sightline through the ensuite, making the wet area feel more enclosed than necessary.
Clear glass would have allowed natural light from the skylights and rear window to travel more freely throughout the room. It would also have preserved the separation required for the wet area without visually reducing the size of the ensuite.
Space is one of the clearest expressions of luxury. Even when the physical dimensions of a room cannot change, reducing visual barriers can make it feel considerably larger.
Correcting the Visual Alignment
The solid dividing walls also draw attention to the fact that the bath is not perfectly centred within the opening.
Because the walls create a firm architectural frame, the eye naturally compares the bath's position to the surrounding boundaries. This makes the slight misalignment more noticeable.
Replacing those walls with glass would soften that frame and blur the visual edges of the wet area. The bath would appear more naturally positioned because the eye would read the entire room as a single continuous space rather than judging it through a narrow opening.
The Design Lesson
This ensuite demonstrates how a strong material palette can carry an unfinished room.
The green tiles, matching basins, warm timber and decorative bath tile already establish a cohesive and memorable identity. Extending the feature tile and replacing the solid wet-area dividers with glass would simply make those choices more visible.
Adam and Jolene genuinely knocked it out of the park this week. It is unfortunate that they ran out of time, because once completed, this could have been an exceptional main ensuite.
Chantel and Wyatt: A Calm, Marketable Ensuite That Needs Very Little Change
Chantel and Wyatt’s main ensuite may be considered “vanilla” by some, but I do not believe that is necessarily a criticism—particularly in a bathroom.
Bathrooms contain some of the most permanent and expensive finishes within a home. Tiles, plumbing fixtures, waterproofing and custom cabinetry are considerably more difficult to replace than furniture, artwork or decorative styling. When marketability is part of the design brief, creating a calm and broadly appealing foundation can be a very intelligent decision.
This ensuite is clean, open, light and beautifully cohesive with the rest of the house. The soft neutral palette, pale timber vanity and understated stone finishes create a seamless visual flow, while the large skylights bring generous natural light into the centre of the room.
The material palette may be restrained, but the architecture prevents it from feeling flat.
Cohesion Is a Significant Strength
One of the greatest strengths of this ensuite is how naturally it belongs within the broader home.
The colours, timber tones and refined simplicity continue the design language established in the surrounding rooms. Nothing feels like it was introduced solely to create a dramatic reveal, and the ensuite does not compete unnecessarily with the main bedroom.
That cohesion is more valuable than adding a bold material simply for impact. A house should feel like one considered design rather than a collection of unrelated room reveals.
The Importance of Shaving Cabinets
I agree with the judges that the mirrors should have incorporated recessed shaving cabinets.
The vanity provides valuable drawer storage, but bathrooms also require accessible storage for smaller everyday products. Shaving cabinets keep skincare, medication, grooming items, and toiletries within easy reach while keeping the benchtop clean.
In a main ensuite, additional storage is rarely wasted. When it can be integrated behind the existing mirrors without disrupting the visual design, there is very little reason not to include it.
The same arched mirror shape could have been retained as the cabinet fronts, preserving the softness of the design while adding considerably more function.
The Design Lesson
This room demonstrates that restraint does not automatically equal boring.
A bathroom does not need a dramatic colour or unconventional finish to be successful. It needs to function well, feel connected to the rest of the home and provide a foundation that will remain appealing over time.
Aside from integrating storage behind the mirrors, I would change very little. Chantel and Wyatt created a beautiful, bright and highly marketable ensuite that feels completely consistent with their home. Sometimes the strongest design decision is knowing when a room does not need anything more.
For this reason, I have not created a conceptual redesign for Chantel and Wyatt’s ensuite. Aside from incorporating storage behind the mirrors, I do not believe further visual changes would add meaningful value to an already cohesive, functional and highly marketable bathroom.
Lisa and Rosco: When Beautiful Elements Compete
Lisa and Rosco’s main ensuite is difficult to assess because almost every element is beautiful. The warm timber vanity, curved basin, generous skylight, arched opening and stone-inspired palette all have the potential to create an impressive bathroom.
Unfortunately, those elements do not yet feel fully resolved as a single composition.
The room was unfinished at reveal, which naturally affected its presentation. However, completion alone would not address the underlying issue: too many materials and architectural details are competing for attention.
When Manufactured Texture Loses Its Organic Quality
In their first bathroom, I supported the use of crazy paving because the natural stone introduced authentic variation, irregularity and depth.
Here, the manufactured crazy-pave tile creates a different effect. Its interpretation of natural stone feels more repetitive and controlled, removing some of the individuality that makes genuine crazy paving so beautiful.
This does not mean manufactured materials are inherently unsuccessful. However, when a product is intended to replicate something naturally irregular, it needs sufficient variation in colour, texture, scale and pattern to feel convincing.
In this room, the floor becomes another strong visual feature alongside the arch, wall tiles, vanity and lighting. Rather than grounding the design, it contributes to the visual competition.
Creating a Clearer Material Hierarchy
I would remove the crazy-pave flooring and continue the large-format stone-look tile used within the shower across the entire bathroom floor.
Using a single continuous floor finish would immediately simplify the palette, visually lengthen the room, and create a stronger connection between the vanity and wet areas.
The large-format tile would also reduce the number of grout lines, allowing the timber vanity and curved architectural details to become the primary features.
A room can contain numerous beautiful materials, but beauty alone does not guarantee cohesion. Every material must understand its role within the broader composition.
Opening the Wet Area
I would also reconsider the solid wall separating the main bathroom from the wet area.
The arched opening is architecturally interesting, but the surrounding wall visually narrows the room and conceals much of the shower. In a main ensuite, perceived space contributes significantly to the sense of luxury.
Replacing most of this solid division with two clear frameless glass panels would allow the eye to travel through the entire bathroom. Natural light from the skylight and window could move more freely through the space, and the shower would feel connected to the vanity area rather than positioned within a separate room.
Integrating the Shower Bench
Rather than removing the entire nib wall, I would retain a low, half-height section where it meets the shower bench.
This section could support and visually conceal the side of the bench, with frameless glass continuing above it. I would clad both the bench and the remaining half-height wall in the same large-format stone-look tile used across the shower walls and floor.
From the entrance, the bench would read as a single integrated architectural form rather than another square-tiled feature competing for space.
Letting the Architecture Breathe
The lighting, arch, skylight and material palette all attempt to create atmosphere, but they currently compete rather than reinforce one another.
Simplifying the flooring and opening the wet area would allow the existing architecture to breathe. The arch could still influence the room through softer curved details, but it would no longer create such a strong physical and visual boundary.
This room does not require more design. It requires editing.
The Design Lesson
This ensuite demonstrates that a collection of beautiful elements does not automatically create a cohesive room.
Successful design depends on hierarchy. One or two features should lead, while the remaining materials quietly support them.
By replacing the manufactured crazy paving with a continuous large-format tile, opening the wet area with glass and integrating the shower bench into a low tiled nib wall, the room would feel calmer, larger and considerably more resolved.
Lisa and Rosco created a bathroom with a beautiful foundation. Unfortunately, it did not quite hit the mark because too many elements were attempting to speak at once. The solution is not to add another feature—it is to decide which existing features deserve to be heard.
Courtney and Sev: An Ensuite That Genuinely Sings
Courtney and Sev’s main ensuite is absolutely beautiful.
The room feels light, bright, open and highly resolved. Its restrained palette allows the architecture, joinery and material finishes to work together without unnecessary competition.
The long skylight draws daylight through the centre of the room, while the mirror, wall lighting and double vanity create a strong sense of balance. The warm timber cabinetry prevents the pale palette from feeling clinical, and the brass-toned fittings add warmth without becoming overpowering.
There is very little I would change.
A Cohesive and Considered Design
This ensuite demonstrates the difference between a restrained room and an unresolved one.
Although the palette is predominantly neutral, it does not feel flat. Variation comes from material texture, lighting, proportion, and the relationship between the vanity and the shower.
The design feels cohesive with the remainder of the house and shows a clear understanding of how construction, interior design and practical execution need to work together.
Nothing appears to have been included simply to manufacture a dramatic reveal. The room feels confident enough to allow its architecture and finish quality to speak for themselves.
Reconsidering the Shower Bench
The only element I would reconsider is the large full-width bench inside the shower.
A shower bench can provide valuable functionality. It may support accessibility, future-proofing, sitting or shaving. However, its success depends on its scale and on its relationship to the usable shower area.
In this instance, the bench occupies a significant portion of the shower footprint. Visually, it also creates a heavier horizontal element at the end of an otherwise open and streamlined room.
I would remove the deep seat and retain a narrower integrated ledge across the rear wall. This would still provide a practical surface for toiletries while creating more standing space and simplifying the internal shower plan.
Considering the Cost
At almost $30,000, this is not a bathroom that the general public could easily reproduce.
However, high-end bathrooms accumulate costs quickly. Custom cabinetry, stone surfaces, extensive waterproofing and tiling, frameless glass, multiple plumbing points, specialty lighting and skilled labour all contribute to the final investment.
The more useful question is not simply whether the room was expensive, but whether each inclusion added equivalent function, longevity or market value.
Most of the investment is clearly visible in the room's quality and resolution. The oversized shower bench is the one element where I would question whether the space and cost produced enough practical value.
The Design Lesson
This ensuite demonstrates that a room does not need bold colour or numerous competing features to create impact.
Luxury can be communicated through space, natural light, proportion, material quality and restraint. Courtney and Sev allowed those elements to lead, creating an ensuite that feels calm, sophisticated and highly marketable.
Aside from replacing the oversized shower bench with a slimmer ledge, I would leave the room as it is.
The girls delivered an exceptional bathroom. It sings—and sometimes the most credible design critique is recognising when almost nothing needs to change.
Rick and Tayla: Restraint, Material Confidence and a Deserved Win
Rick and Tayla’s main ensuite was one of my favourite rooms this week.
It is restrained, cohesive and exceptionally beautiful. Rather than introducing numerous competing finishes, they selected a single remarkable stone-look tile and made it the hero.
Covering almost the entire bathroom in the same tile creates continuity across the floor, walls and shower. The natural variation in the surface provides enough movement and interest that the room does not require an additional feature material.
This is an excellent example of how restraint can create far more impact than layering multiple individually beautiful elements into one space.
Allowing One Material to Lead
The tile establishes the complete atmosphere of the ensuite.
Its subtle movement, warm undertones and organic appearance bring softness to what could otherwise have become a hard or clinical room. Because it continues throughout the space, the boundaries between the vanity and shower zones become less visually pronounced.
The eye reads the room as one continuous composition.
The pale timber vanity complements the warmth within the tile without competing with it, while the frameless glass maintains an open sightline through the bathroom. The skylights illuminate the stone's variations and allow the material to change gently throughout the day.
This is what happens when a material is strong enough to lead, and the rest of the design is disciplined enough to support it.
Correcting the Vanity Height
The only element requiring correction is the height of the vanity and vessel basins.
The basins sit too close to the cabinetry and mirror above, leaving insufficient clearance for comfortable everyday use. Washing hands or leaning over the basin would feel unnecessarily restricted.
This appears to be an installation or time-pressure issue rather than a flaw in the broader design concept.
Lowering the floating vanity would create the necessary clearance without changing its appearance, storage capacity or relationship with the rest of the room. It is a practical adjustment rather than a redesign.
A Bathroom Worthy of the Win
It was wonderful to see Rick and Tayla receive their first room win because this ensuite genuinely deserved it.
The bathroom feels calm, luxurious and complete. Its success does not rely on an unconventional layout or an excessive number of expensive features. It comes from choosing the right material, applying it confidently and knowing when to stop.
There is clarity in the design.
The Design Lesson
This ensuite demonstrates that restraint is not the absence of design. It is the discipline to recognise when a single exceptional element can carry an entire room.
By allowing the tile to remain the hero, Rick and Tayla created a bathroom with movement, warmth and identity without introducing unnecessary visual noise.
Aside from lowering the vanity to improve clearance around the basins, I would not change anything else in this room.
I have not created a conceptual redesign because there is no meaningful design transformation to demonstrate. The room already speaks for itself—and it is absolutely stunning.
Final Thoughts: Luxury Needs Space, Restraint and Function
Main ensuite week produced some of the strongest rooms we have seen so far.
Across the five houses, the most successful bathrooms were not necessarily those with the most features. They were rooms with a clear material hierarchy, generous light, and enough restraint to let their strongest decisions lead.
Adam and Jolene created a beautiful green-and-timber palette with considerable potential. Extending the decorative tile and replacing the solid wet-area dividers with glass allowed their design to feel larger and more visually resolved without changing its identity.
Chantel and Wyatt demonstrated that “vanilla” does not automatically mean unsuccessful. Their ensuite was calm, bright, cohesive and highly marketable. Aside from incorporating shaving-cabinet storage behind the mirrors, the room required no meaningful visual intervention.
Lisa and Rosco showed how several beautiful elements can begin to compete when placed within the same composition. Simplifying the flooring, opening the shower with glass and giving the smaller square tile one controlled purpose created a clearer hierarchy without removing the warmth or character of their design.
Courtney and Sev delivered an exceptionally resolved bathroom. The skylight, double vanity, lighting and restrained material palette worked together beautifully. The oversized shower bench was the only inclusion I would reconsider, replacing it with a slimmer ledge to preserve more usable shower space.
Rick and Tayla demonstrated the power of choosing one exceptional material and committing to it. Their stone-look tile became the hero because every other element was allowed to support it. Aside from correcting the vanity height to improve clearance around the basins, their winning ensuite needed nothing more.
Several broader design lessons emerged across the week.
Glass Can Create Space Without Changing the Floor Plan
A solid wall may provide physical separation, but it also creates a visual boundary.
In Adam and Jolene’s and Lisa and Rosco’s ensuites, replacing solid divisions with frameless glass allowed the eye to travel through the wet area. The rooms did not become physically larger, but they felt larger because light, material and sightlines were no longer interrupted.
Nib walls remain valuable when they conceal plumbing, support a bench or provide necessary privacy. However, a wall should earn the space it occupies. Where zoning is already established by fixture placement, another solid boundary may not be necessary.
Beautiful Materials Still Need a Hierarchy
A room can contain several exceptional materials and still feel unresolved.
When every tile, light, curve and architectural feature attempts to become the focal point, the eye does not know where to rest. Successful composition requires some elements to lead and others to support.
Lisa and Rosco’s ensuite demonstrated the importance of editing, while Rick and Tayla’s room showed the impact of selecting one hero material and repeating it with confidence.
Neutral Does Not Mean Boring
Chantel and Wyatt’s and Courtney and Sev’s ensuites demonstrated how a neutral palette can retain depth through proportion, natural texture, joinery, lighting and material variation.
This is particularly important in bathrooms, where highly personalised finishes are expensive to replace.
Marketability should not require removing every trace of personality. It means creating a strong foundation that feels considered, cohesive, and adaptable to the person who will eventually live there.
Function Cannot Be Separated From Luxury.
A bathroom may photograph beautifully, but its success is ultimately determined by how comfortably it supports daily routines.
Accessible storage, appropriate vanity heights, sufficient basin clearance, practical shower planning and well-positioned ledges all influence the lived experience of the room.
True luxury is not merely the appearance of abundance. It is having enough space, storage and practical support that the room feels effortless to use.
Not Every Room Needs Redesigning
One of the most important lessons from this week is knowing when to leave a successful room alone.
A conceptual transformation is valuable when it demonstrates a genuine improvement. It is not valuable when changes are introduced merely to create more dramatic content.
Chantel and Wyatt’s, Courtney and Sev’s, and Rick and Tayla’s ensuites required only minor functional refinements. Further redesigning them would have meant changing resolved spaces without adding meaningful value.
Professional design is not about placing your personal signature on every room.
It is about recognising what already works, identifying what interrupts it and making only the changes that improve the experience of the person using the space.
Because the most successful ensuite should not simply contain beautiful materials.
It should feel spacious, support everyday life and make every element within it appear as though it belongs.
Ready to Create a Home That Feels as Good as It Looks?
A beautifully designed bathroom is not defined solely by its tiles, tapware or finishes. It is shaped by circulation, storage, lighting, privacy and the way the room supports your everyday routines.
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