While many first floor layouts from the 1990s feel choppy and tight, their master baths feel a little too open and exposed. So when our clients called us back to help them reconfigure their second floor — including their master bathroom — we were thrilled to collaborate on bringing a cleaner, more modern design to their second-floor haven.
The Challenge: Echoing Space with an Unused Garden Tub
Wasted space and limited storage made our clients’ master bath feel, all at once, out-sized and cluttered. A huge, unused garden tub consumed one corner, and high ceilings not only gave the room a chill but also amplified every sound. (We’ve never had a client request good acoustics as part of their master bathroom remodel.) The room would need significant restructuring to optimize the usable space and install more functional storage and fixtures.
We again partnered with the talented Kathy Hoskins of Hoskins Interior Design to bring the crisp, clean lines and welcoming appeal of our clients’ first-floor remodel through to the second floor.
Our remodeling goals:
- Reduce the noise of high ceilings to create a more modern, intimate space
- Design custom cabinetry to echo the clean lines of the first floor design
- Install useful, appealing features to enhance the warmth and beauty of the space
The Solution: Instill the Master Bath with Tranquility
Making the space feel warmer and more intimate
Meeting our remodeling goals required us to take the whole space down to the studs and completely reconfigure the room’s footprint. We lowered the ceiling to make the room feel more cozy and intimate and removed both the unused garden tub and an existing window to install a large, walk-in shower with multiple showerheads and white, floor-to-ceiling ceramic tile to give the homeowners a fresh, soothing way to wake up in the mornings. The lower ceilings also reduce echo and make the space feel more warm and welcoming.
And we literally made the space feel warmer by adding heated marble floors throughout the whole space.
Creating understated luxury while containing bathroom clutter
One of the new bathroom’s main features is a custom-built vanity with Radianz Diamond White quartz countertops for a stunning spa-like effect. The lower cabinetry features drawers and closed-door shelving to hide clutter, while the space above the vanity provides open-shelf storage designed for display and easy and easy access to items that get everyday use. The painted wood from the cabinetry continues up the entire wall to create a nook-like feeling around inset lighting above and subtly defines personal space for our clients to shave or apply makeup. Crown and trim moldings, as well as cabinet legs, give the cabinets and vanity a more like furniture-like look than built-in storage. Polished nickel hardware brings a bit of soft shine to the overall effect.
The new design also called for creating an alcove to provide a transition between the bathroom and the master bedroom. We constructed built-in storage to look like a piece of high-end furniture, selecting a stain and finish to highlight the wood grain. We also added decorative lighting not only to make finding towels and other items easier but also to create a warm ambience in the evenings.
Custom cabinetry details present interesting challenges — with beautiful results
Making the vanity space both usable and beautiful required considerable foresight and planning. Maintaining the balance of the design within the space while also keeping medicine cabinet items seamlessly within easy reach proved challenging. We inset the medicine cabinet with a sliding door panel, but we had to ensure the door cleared the light switch when it was opened. Interesting problems like these are what make home renovations fun for us — and provide opportunities to innovate for our clients by building unique solutions for their remodeling goals.
