Backlit Quartz Is Next-Level Luxury Lighting

George Markoutsas of Ablaze Design Group says his design build firm will do most any project related to home renovations including additions, exteriors, and hardscapes. But, they specialize in kitchen and bath renovations, making them an obvious fit to redesign the primary bathroom and three en suite bathrooms in the 15,000-square-foot Pembroke Lodge property featured in the 2025 Lake Forest Showhouse.

The Lake Forest Showhouse is a charitable event, benefitting the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago and showcases the work of dozens of interior and landscape designers. Markoutsas says being among this talented group provided an opportunity for Ablaze to showcase its expertise in a meaningful way. The challenge was to make each space suitable to the home and also distinctly special. “We refer to them as a symphony of bathroom design,” says Markoutsas. “There was a different approach to each room’s design and we gave each room a song title.”

The design of the primary bathroom started with the flooring. Markoutsas describes the elegant floor tile, with its unique colorways and geometric shapes, as a “must have” for this historic estate. Most other materials were selected to complement the masculine energy of the tile design along with layers of softer design elements that harmonize rather than compete with each other.

A rich walnut vanity with reeded detailing across the front base of the cabinet aligns with the room’s color palette and masculine aesthetic with a hint of art deco elegance. The team originally planned to top the vanity with Cambria’s Inverness Stonestreet™ design but then fell in love with the recently launched Remington Brass. “All of the hardware is brass,” says Markoutsas. “So [Remington Brass] worked really well with this vanity. It really helped to accentuate the gold tones in the space.” And because Markoutsas’ team still loved the luxurious dark beauty of Inverness Stonestreet, they decided to use it on a cabinet in the water closet.

Then, when it came to the quartz feature shower wall in Cambria’s Brighton design which can be backlit, Markoutsas says, “We had a lot of movement going on within the floor, and we didn’t want people to feel too dizzy walking in there. So we figured out where to throttle back on some of the design and make it still feel very tailored.

“Very few companies offer quartz that can be backlit. I saw [Brighton] and had to have it. I’m not a fan of direct lighting. This gave us an opportunity to light the shower in a more meaningful and dramatic way. Illuminating with this backlit Brighton was the ticket. It worked well with the color palette and the whole [project design] was set off by it. When you’re standing in front of it, it almost feels like a waterfall. And the coup de grâce is in the reflection in the mirror. It’s a phenomenal application for a bathroom.”

Markoutsas makes another interesting design point when he says, “A backlit horizontal application can make a home feel playful. But when you do it as a vertical application, all of a sudden, it has a different feel. And if it’s done right … it makes a space feel very elevated, very sophisticated. And that’s what we were going for.” The homeowner agreed that it was a brilliant way to use the stone and light the shower.

The three other bathrooms designed by Ablaze in the Lake Forest Showhouse use Cambria quartz surfaces for the vanity tops. The stylized results showcase the firm’s overall design prowess. Markoutsas says, “We were able to get creative and speak a design language that is reflective of a show house.” Taken together, this collection of en suite bathrooms are like arrangements within a symphony.