Elevated master bathroom
It’s take a full year, but we’ve finally finished our redo of the master bathroom in our home. The master bath was one of the rooms that caused us to buy the house. French doors from the bedroom led you into a beautiful and spacious bathroom with a shower and soaking tub, dual vanity, toilet room, linen closet and access to a giant walk in closet. We were in love, especially coming from our first home which had a master bathroom, with almost all those elements, except everything was less refined, less spacious, and was showing signs of age.
Original master bathroom aesthetic
However, as we began the process of redecorating and renovating other spaces in the home, the bathroom didn’t age well. Decor choices aside, things literally weren’t aging well. The chrome light fixtures were starting to rust. The grout was dirty, despite having regular cleaning. The flat paint was not a great choice for the bathroom and there were water spots all over near the hand towels. More than all of that, the vanity wasn’t functioning well. The poor cabinet design had us putting more things on the sink and fewer things in the cabinet. The seated area of the vanity didn’t have a mirror, so it was never used as intended.
We decided to tackle the bathroom. I had a vision for black hex tile on the floor, a new wood vanity, a free standing soaker tub, replacing the glass block window, a white subway tile shower with black steel frame glass. When we got the quote, the labor cost alone was $20k. As I priced the materials, we added another $20k to the sticker price. The final kicker was that the bathroom would have been out of commission for a month or more.
Pinterest inspiration. Full bathroom board, here
Don’t get me wrong- a master bathroom renovation is certainly a wise investment. But I couldn’t reconcile the fact that this room was one of the reasons we had loved this house so much and now we were thinking about tearing it out and starting over. So I started with the Vibe process- a user experience evaluation.
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What’s working in this bathroom?
size
layout
dual vanities
natural light
high ceilings
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What’s not working:
seated area of vanity
framed glass
chrome fixtures
grout
flat paint in the awful blue / green
lighting
encased garden tub
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Where are the opportunities?
seated area of vanity
big, neutral tile
shape of the sinks
spacious shower
When I stepped back and looked at the list, the only thing I couldn’t easily change on the thorn list was the encased garden tub. Everything else was something that could be easily remedied and there were numerous opportunities to build upon.
The easy things in the design:
Painting the walls. An easy choice for me as we had already done most of the house in Ibis White from Sherwin Williams.
Painting the existing vanity. Also an easy choice. We loved how the cabinets had turned out in the kitchen and continue the look with Sherwin Williams Black Magic.
Having the grout professionally cleaned, recolored and sealed. Such an amazing and worthwhile investment.
Swapping the rusting chrome light fixtures for these new Anthropologie ones. Details I absolutely adore include the thin, matte black line of the fixture and the mosaic tile plate. This is sold out, but West Elm has a few that are similar.
Articulating mirrors with a antique brass frame, plus a touch of wood from Magnolia
Swapping out the tired chrome hardware for bold brassy hooks.
Going frameless with our shower glass. Small change for big visual impact.
New pluming fixtures for the sink, garden tub, and the shower. Adding this American Standard fixture was my absolute favorite change. So dramatic and brings an element of industrial to the design that pairs well with the bistro lights.
The gorgeous herringbone backsplash wall, drawing the eye up, up, up. The bonus is the tile itself is a gorgeous, glossy, handmade tile that is a startling match to the large format tile on the floor and walls.
The two challenges in this bathroom were making the encased garden tub feel more integrated and less like a relic of the early 2000s and the seating area on the vanity. I also didn’t love that the bathroom was missing a something old element to the design.
As I pulled the four elements map together and searched for inspiration on elevating a garden tub, an idea emerged. At an antique market in Western NC, I had found beautiful teak pharmacy cabinets. What if I could channel this look and tone down the time period for a more cozy, eclectic look? Could I lean into the tub and elevate the space around it? The installation of the teak cabinet above the bath did everything I hoped it would. I moved our bath salts and essential oils out of linen closet and over to the tub. I added some books and a pretty black and white vase. I put another battery powered picture light up. And then I added some greenery: a hanging plant in a soft green checked vase and and another plant that draped over the windowsill.
Cozy soaker tub space
Antique pharmacy cabinet found in Western NC and a Marshall’s planter in an Amazon plant hanger
For the seating area, I decided to continue my love affair with counter towers. I sketched a custom walnut cabinet with drawers on the lower section to perfect fit both my toiletries and my husband’s toiletries. The side walls are open to make it easy to reach in and grab what you need. The walnut grain on this original piece is stunning and combination of the herringbone tile and tall tower to the ceiling makes this already spacious bathroom feel even larger.
Still drooling over this custom walnut vanity tower.
The finished aesthetic? A continuation of our mid century meets Craftsman meets English country side into the bathroom. I love how the tub area is now a focal point instead of an eyesore, and I also love every individual element on the vanity wall - the tile, the cabinet, the bistro lights, the mirror- come together to create a luxurious, total home renovation feel.
Final bathroom