Post-Demolition and into Rebuild
As I wrote last month, we’re knee-deep in a renovation on our main floor bathroom to make it more suitable for our lifestyle. Now that we’re past the demolition and fully into the rebuild, I want to talk
about some of the materials and fixture choices that we’ve made and the reasoning behind those decisions.
Let’s talk about drama; in this smaller space, it was okay to be a little risky with our design choices. As I stated last month, we don’t do our grooming in this bathroom, therefore, didn’t need to use lighter colors; this dark tile would otherwise swallow up the light needed for grooming. We laid the tile flooring at a diagonal so that it matches the angle of, and plays along with, the elongated hex and shower door opening. This placement also allows the bathroom to appear wider and makes more sense of the two areas.
Benefits of Layered Bathroom Lighting & Moisture Control
Lighting helps us to keep the space looking and performing as we want it to. We incorporated task-specific lighting that is brighter alongside softer, ambient lighting. Layering the lighting this way can also heighten the sense of drama in a space.
With the amount of humidity that we will have in this tiled bathroom, I selected the Broan SurfaceShield exhaust fan. This will help us to control the moisture levels and also prevent mold, bacteria, and fungi from growing on our surfaces.
Creating Drama in the Space
One of the ways that we created such drama in this space was through the use of brown-based, black-marble-looking porcelain tiles that spread all throughout our bathroom. The texture-play of glossy and satin bands across the walls in a straight, joint pattern looks sophisticated and interesting. With such encompassing use of dark tile throughout the bathroom you’d expect that it would be a cavernous, small feeling, however, just the opposite effect happens. When you use the same material and color saturation across the whole space, it feels larger, cozier, and quite a bit more glamorous.
Our tiled shower includes a tall cubby with shelving inside to hold all of the hair and body products we use and an elongated hex that matches the main tile in the bathroom.
Undermount Sink & Vanity
In my video, I gave an update about why we chose a vessel faucet for our undermount sink. The thought behind this was that the goose-neck design is not only graceful but would also be very functional for our use as it has a tall profile, with more space between the counter and the top, and will allow us better access for washing faces, single handle accessibility, and temperature control. The benefit of choosing an undermount sink is that we are able to wipe off the countertop directly into the sink; the drawback of having a taller faucet is a bit more splashing.
The vanity is definitely a focal point of our bathroom. We purchased it from Sourcc.com. I love working with Sourcc to cinch up the design. While the vanity does have two holes where the dual handles would have gone, we opted to put on a single lever; just a preference we have in not wanting to work on the ratio of hot to cold. Those holes can easily be covered using plugs of your choosing.
Because I wanted the detail of the vanity brought into other elements within the space, I used the same door detail on the linen closet and medicine cabinet. But I had the linen closet and the medicine cabinet stained a deep rich color like the dramatic wall tile to keep the eye moving around the room and to keep the focal on the vanity and the showers accent tile.
We thought about how to create this continuous look in order to, again, keep the space open and seamlessly cohesive. To provide additional storage and keep the vanity uncluttered and looking less like a supermarket shelf, we chose to have 2 tall wall pockets with adjustable shelving that can house our lotions, tissues, hand towels, and décor. We repeated the use of tile from the shower cubby at the back of the wall pockets. We also covered the wood boxes, trim, and doors of the linen closet and medicine cabinet in a rich dark stain to replicate the color of the deeply-saturated tile. By making a few preferential styles and utility decisions and other design-based choices, we are creating a spacious bathroom that is dramatic, functional, and beautiful.
Susan, your bathroom is absolutely breathtaking!! I love it! You have such a good eye for all things beautiful! Wow!
Thank you1
If I were to remodel my bathroom, I will have a walk-in tub installed in it because this will create a more spacious area. I also agree with you that it's wiser to have new tiles installed in the said space. Thank you for sharing the importance of adding a new shower.