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If this young couple’s Manhattan apartment renovation is any indicator, we’d all be lucky to call interior designer Tali Roth a friend. Talia Shuvalov, a senior design director of knitwear at Alexander Wang, and her husband, Lonny Levi, an ER physician, had landed on their two-bedroom, two-bath home in NoHo despite the fact that its recent renos were an eyesore and the bathrooms were falling apart. Roth to the rescue!

“Talia came to me about this 14-foot green-tinged dividing wall that separated the second bedroom from the dining room,” says Roth. Not to mention, the guest bathroom next door was also in dire need of a refresh. The designer tackled both problems at once by removing the unsightly partition, gutting the tiny bath, and adding a refresh to the powder room as a bonus. Her inspiration: a bold purple marble. Here, she shares how she made space where there was none—and saved a few bucks along the way.

Keep the Plumbing Where It Is

Courtesy of Tali Roth

One of the main factors that played into the decision to renovate the guest bathroom was the lack of a tub (adding one would be better for resale value). “Space is very tight in the guest bathroom, so that was tough,” Roth explains. “We didn’t know until construction began if it could fit.”

But once Roth came up with the idea of using a beautiful eggplant-hued Calacatta Viola marble, the couple decided to make the most of the material and looped the powder room into the remodel, too. By working within the existing footprint—and leaving the locations of the fixtures alone—Roth had the budget to give both a facelift.

Choose One Jumping-Off Point (And Run With It)

Photography by Claire Esparros; Design by Tali Roth

Photography by Claire Esparros; Design by Tali Roth

“Talia’s style is clean, minimal, and classic with a very contemporary edge,” says the designer. “The jumping-off point was that purple-red veined marble, and the rest very effortlessly built from there.” Since she saved money on the simple floor and shower tiles, Roth was able to use the material on the vanity countertop and a small storage niche in the shower. She finished off the space with blackened nickel fixtures from Newport Brass.

Put Every Last Inch of a Pricey Material to Good Use

Photography by Claire Esparros; Design by Tali Roth

In the smaller powder room, Roth used the rest of the marble on the floors. “It’s way more affordable to do something dramatic when you are dealing with teeny square footage,” she explains. The concrete vanity, on the other hand, was a steal—and a welcome contemporary contrast to the marble. To finish off the space, the designer found a beautiful Murano glass mirror with integrated lighting. It goes to show that with a little imagination, you don’t need an endless budget to get the luxe look you want.

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