This post highlights before and after photos of a recent bathroom remodel (full gut) here at my home. The bathroom featured in this post is on the first floor - right beside the room that is my studio.
There is a bathroom above this one on the second floor, and it was also fully gutted and remodeled at the same time. I'll detail that one in a separate post. My son's bathroom was completely remodeled and done immediately after these two were complete. I have one more to go.
I purchased all materials and items needed six weeks in advance and had them delivered prior to beginning the rip out: tile, faucets, toilets, tubs, light fixtures, exhaust fans, fan switches, vanities and so forth. Everything was researched by me - toilets, faucets and so forth - I don't want to do this again anytime soon and wanted to create something not only beautiful but durable.
This was my palette. I used these swatches to pick out everything. The carpet swatch is the kids' bedrooms. These materials were used in all bathrooms and will be used in the master bath when the time comes.
It took six months of my life to plan all three bathrooms. It took six weeks to purchase and accumulate all materials and items needed. I used a bay in the garage and an area in the basement as the storage hubs.
Everything was planned down to the grout lines and tile layout I designed using graph paper. My inner control freak had a ball.
My Houzz ideabook served as great photo reference for everyone working on this project - a photo does indeed say a thousand words.
Tile installers: Atlantic Tile of Flemington. Kenny is wonderful to work with and his crews are so talented with tile. General Contractor: Eckelmann Brothers. George and his crew are beyond amazing, wonderful and brilliant. I've known George for 15 years personally - my oldest daughter and his went to school together. Rip out started mid-February, 2016.
Here goes:
New floor is indeed tile, and many that have seen this in real life have had to touch it to know for sure, saying 'no way!'
Vintage by Cisa Ceramiche - color is Melange. A 1/16 inch grout line using the darkest brown grout available - appropriately labeled 'espresso', along with a mix of both 10x40 inch planks with the 6.5 x 40 inch ones provided the natural look I was going for. Atlantic Tile's brilliant work at its finest.
Undermount sinks with wall faucets - speed and ease in cleaning. Bowl sinks are too trendy for me, and I know I wouldn't like cleaning behind them.
24x12 porcelain wall tiles throughout - floor in shower is 2x2 marble. It's sealed, but we never use it. We never used the old one. I wanted a closet. Friends screamed, 'No! - Think of resale!' Like, 'No! - Think of the children!'. Good grief. The large tile in the room is capped with a carrara marble pencil border. Height of tile on the wall was determined by the height of the switchplate. No more cleaning fingerprints off of sheetrock!
I added a window wall in the shower, and moved the heat/AC vent by the toilet up. I centered the vent under the new window in the shower. The old vent would blow up onto the toilet paper - it would resemble an air dancer you see roadside. Oh and I have boys here. They pee. Standing. I would soak the old vent in a bleach/water solution in a bucket then scrub it.
Poor location then - better location now. New toilet is higher. If they miss now it was intentional and THEY get to clean the vent.
I wrapped the room in tile - no baseboards to clean. I hate cleaning baseboards. Wrapping the toilet area in tile was important to me - I never want to clean pee off of sheetrock again. Ever.
The new toilet is a Toto. I had my son's toilet replaced a few years ago and asked my plumber, 'So what's the best toilet?' - he replied, 'Toto - we never fix Totos'. It features a 'skirt' base for easy cleaning.
All 'after' photos here on out:
The new wall window in the shower has its own recessed light that serves as a nightlight or low lighting when needed. The window lets lots of natural light into the shower and is visually appealing when entering the bathroom. I also added a recessed light in the shower itself. That small silver hook is a robe hook - you really need one of these for a shower that is never used - ha.
This is the shower niche - since we never use this shower it holds little soaps that are too pretty to use, or fresh eucalyptus. The shelves show off the 'rule of thirds' and the niche gave me an excuse to repeat the 2x1 marble backsplash tile used at the sink elsewhere in the room.
The top shelf is tall enough to hold the largest pumper bottle of shampoo that Costco sells though (rolls eyes).
Lights off in this photo. That shower would be dark dark dark without the wall window cutout. Behold the power of planning.
Switchplate features a timer for the bathroom fan...no more hearing someone yell, 'who left the fan on!' Wall paint color is Benjamin Moore Intense White. Trim is their Simply White. Hugh Burley is my painter and he is a master. And a perfectionist. We got along splendidly.
Backsplash at sink is 2x1 Carrara marble - has very small flecks of gold for a bit of warmth and I love it. Countertop and shower sills are quartz - Caesarstone in Buttermilk color. Shower and sink faucet fixtures are from Grohe.
I changed to wall faucets in all the bathrooms. I love them as I don't like cleaning around them on the countertops. Wall mount faucets require planning and sometimes moving studs, and are generally a PITA to deal with during construction. Faucet has to line up with the center of the sink, and so many factors must be known at the rip out phase: faucet reach has to be taken into account for center bowl placement, any future tile grout lines taken into consideration, height of vanity must be known, thickness of tile must be known, thickness of subflooring, the list goes on. Also the wall light fixtures have to be centered accordingly. I had a ball!
The painting is a Pier1 find - it complements the room perfectly. The new bathroom walls have been bare for months - I was content to wait until the perfect piece was discovered, and I knew it when I saw it.
Hope you enjoyed the tour of the new throne room.
Here's a sneak peek from a future post - the bathroom on the second floor above the one in this post - the girls' Jack and Jill bathroom:
