Bathroom Interior Design
“Time to Update the Spare Bathroom”
Maybe a remodeled bathroom will lure an out-of-state college student home for holidays.
Before
Some simple upgrades changed the look of this dated bathroom.
After
We kept the acrylic tub but upgraded the vinyl flooring to porcelain tile. The oak vanity was dated, but structurally sound. So, we painted the vanity and upgraded the hardware. We also replaced the vanity mirror and vanity lighting. The bathroom was a little too damp and a little too dark, so we added recessed lighting and increased the size of the exhaust fan and moved it into the shower.
“Get Rid of that Tub”
This client wanted her jacuzzi tub gone. It trapped mold and was a pain to clean. In addition, the flooring, vanity and everything else needed to be updated.
Before
During
The biggest job and the most dramatic part of this bathroom remodel was the shower. Since we removed the old surround/whirlpool tub and bulkhead, we needed to build a new structure for the shower. We used the Wedi shower system, which is completely waterproof. We used large format tiles for the walls, with a slate mosaic inset. We mirrored the slate-like floor tiles on the ceiling. The recessed shower lights draw the eye deep into the room, making the room feel longer. The frameless sliding glass door is almost invisible.
After
Natural stone was the theme of the room. I don’t usually like slate look-a-like tile. But this porcelain version I found was a dead ringer for the real thing. Same thing for the wall tiles. We originally picked a marble tile. This porcelain version made by the same company was its spitting image at a fraction of the cost. The granite vanity top pulled everything together. I like to use top down functioning shades when privacy is an issue. Lower the shade from the top allows the light to shine in, but gives privacy from the neck down.
“I’m So Fancy” Bathroom
We had a nice timeline on this bathroom interior design job “Sometime in the next 9 months.” That quickly changed when the client texted me to tell me that in the middle of a shower, a good bit of the tile fell off the wall and landed at her feet.
Before
This was a complete gutting of the old bathroom. We needed a completely new interior bathroom design. It was the master bath and it was small, so we needed to make use of every bit of space.
After
I brightened up the room with recessed lights and replaced the overhead vanity light with sidelights to eliminate shadows. Using a frameless shower door really made the room feel bigger. I moved the ceiling fan to the shower to reduce moisture. Adding a light to it gave greater depth to the room, making the room feel bigger. I created a custom medicine cabinet for my client. She needed an outlet on the inside of the cabinet. The client also likes to sit beside the vanity to put on her makeup so I designed a mirror on a track system. Instead of needing mirrors all over the place, she just slides the mirror along with her.
World’s Smallest Bath
This interior design bathroom could just be the world’s smallest master bath. You couldn’t even open the door fully because any standard size sink got in the way of the door.
Before
The project started with some repair and determining why the tub was leaking into the kitchen below. It quickly moved to a gutted bathroom interior design project. The more we discovered, it just made sense to start from scratch. For instance, the shower was leaking because the previous owner used cardboard to fill a gap in the floor. We actually gained 2 inches on either side of the room just from removing some of the old layers of drywall and plaster.
After
In order to be able to open the door, I needed to create a custom-sized vanity. I had to find a piece of furniture that was small enough to open the door, yet large enough to house a sink and a faucet. Since the vanity and room were tiny, I used a hammered copper sink, to eliminate the chance of a vessel sink being shattered.
The Leaky Tub
Many interior design bathroom projects begin as a repair that turns into a “might as well… since we’re …” This one was a shower/tub fixture that would no longer turn off. If we had to break into the walls and replace the fixture then we might as well…
Before
I was able to save the walls in the rest of the bathroom by just removing the wallpaper and border. But I had to gut the shower to replace the acrylic tub and surround.
After
A hollow cavity in the wall allowed me to incorporate a niche for toiletries. There was a good bit of space for a vanity. So I wanted to take advantage of the space, but at the side time add a piece with character and a story. It took a good bit of time but I finally found the perfect dresser for the spot. I refinished it and made it into a vanity with a drop in sink.
Freshening Up
This client wanted some changes to her interior bathroom design, but not a full re-do.
Before
They were bored with the white tile in the shower. They were tired of the tub/shower fixtures. And, they wanted a more unique vanity and sink. (They were having the tub refinished when I was done.)
After
I demoed the wall in the shower and re-tiled it with stone and glass tiles to add some color and texture. I also updated the plumbing fixtures. I found an old dresser, refinished it and adapted it to be used as a vanity. I created a backsplash out of the same tile and marble I used in the shower.
Powder Room Off the Kitchen
I updated this powder room when I remodeled their kitchen. We carried the kitchen’s new hardwood floor into the room, so it made sense to update the rest of the bathroom interior design at the same time.
Before
After
I refinished and switched out the hardware on an old dresser to create a new vanity. I adapted the dresser to keep the look of the original, by redesigning the two bottom drawers into two door fronts to allow for storage of upright containers.
“Tricky” Powder Room
This powder room had been finished by the builder, but it needed to be personalized to my client. I used a French paint technique called “trompe l’oeil” which means “trick of the eye.”
Before
After
The wall above the chair rail is three different colors of plaster troweled on in two different layers, then waxed to seal it and provide an easy-to-clean surface. The “chair rail” is the trompe l’oeil; There is no actual wood chair rail. The trompe l’oeil technique makes it look 3-dimensional.
Camouflage Bathroom
This client wanted a new, updated look but didn’t want the expense of replacing the existing grey fixtures and shower tile. So I needed to come up with a bathroom interior design that camouflaged the existing fixtures.
Before
After
We stripped the wallpaper and refinished the walls with a custom plaster finish, then added wainscoting and a new medicine cabinet.
Lilac Master Bath
Really, the only thing that needed to be changed in this bathroom was the Waterpik on the wall. (Just kidding.) New owners + leaking shower = new bathroom.
Before
So we gutted this room down to the studs and started from scratch.
After