This San Francisco home's bathroom has convinced me that this marble alternative is the next big trend

What was once a sprawling 500 square foot guest room on the top floor of this Edwardian San Francisco family home has become an elegant primary suite, complete with a travertine-clad ensuite bathroom designed by design duo, HOMEWORK.

The bathroom is a soothing antidote to the dramatic interiors of the rest of the home, with the living room and powder room, in particular, featuring a technicolor palette inspired by the glittering views of San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. But this room is calming, textured, and bright, and has convinced me that travertine is the next big bathroom trend.

I speak to Susan and Ben Work from HOMEWORK to learn more about this modern home.

The bathroom

Opening the custom faceted Italian glass doors to the primary modern bathroom suite and the initial impression is a peaceful vibe emanating from the silvery travertine. Completely cladding the walls, the natural light radiates through the window - dressed with linen drapes - and bounces off the walls.

The bathroom design provides a soothing antidote to the rest of the home. 'Our intention with this home full of saturated moments was to create a very calming respite from the rest of the house to create a peaceful, spa-like environment- perfectly apt for the purpose of cleansing,' explain Susan and Ben Work of Homework.

'We wanted to create a seamless and monolithic space clad in a material that blends from floor to ceiling without interruption.'

Travertine, like any natural stone, is not cheap, so running slabs throughout would have been quite costly, but Susan and Ben had a solution. 'We were able to use a commercial grade limestone tile to clad the walls and floor, which saved quite a bit of costs, and fabricated the custom vanity and bench using silver travertine slabs. Matching the striations of the slabs and tiles to each other was a bit of a challenge, but we found the perfect pairing.'

So does this material provide the answer to what is replacing marble? 'Marble is not out of style - in fact, it never will be,' say Susan and Ben. 'Marble is timeless, classic, and forever. There are so many endlessly beautiful varieties, but travertine is a stunning natural material like marble.

'Both are popular and beautiful choices as bathroom finishes,' say Susan and Ben. 'Travertine is an age-old stone used by Ancient Romans to build the coliseum. It is a neutral finish with linear striations that provide depth, richness and a graphic pattern.'

The material was paired with golden and brassy hardware to warm up the space and linen drapery which brings in the soft, cozy factor. Aside from flowing beautifully, linen is anti-bacterial and dries fast, so it is a great choice for a bathroom curtain.

'The beige tones and brass feel like a calm pairing and a way to reinforce the spa-like vibe we were intentionally creating. Black could have worked too, though the contrast, while lovely, would have been too jarring.'

The living room

In the living room, the atmosphere continues with a dreamy mural on the ceiling. 'We wanted to bring in an element of ethereal fantasy to complement the stately classical architecture, so the ceiling is a hand-painted mural by a local artist in San Francisco,' says Susan and Ben.

The living room ceiling pattern cascades behind the home bar too. 'Bringing a little bit of the ceiling element down vertically creates uniformity, interest, and dynamism. Using a different material for the back of the bar would have felt fussy and over the top.'

The primary bedroom

By contrast, the bedroom is dark and moody, but the theme continues with the mural-like accent chimeny breast. 'The journey continues upstairs connected by azure hemp fiber wallpaper from Korea invoking the deep sea into a bedroom – a sleeping chamber enveloped by a wall of windows where you can’t hide from the San Francisco bay or that red steel bridge.

We created a new fireplace inside the primary bedroom for the frosty San Francisco nights. If we had the budget, our dream would have been to clad this in a semi-precious stone like Labradorite, or even a dark stone to integrate with the surrounding navy linen walls.' Instead, they team opted for a hand-painted moment here too, painted with brushes in an abstract style that brings edginess and art into this subdued and cave-like space.