Monday, March 11, 2019

Blue & White Master Bath Remodel


Reasons we remodeled our bathroom even though the house is only 13 years old.



1. I don't care for brown countertops.
2. I don't care for brown travertine tile.
3. I don't care for knotty alder cabinetry.
4. I don't like jetted tubs.
5. I also don't like tubs not big enough that I can not be submerged. (I am 5'9). This bathroom is way too small for a separate tub.
6. I don't like mirror slabs.
7. I don't like crappy one-inch grout lines. The tile job was so bad we couldn't even have an air vent cover fit the floor vents in the floor. Who knows how many q-tips I lost down that hole?
8. I wanted radiant heating in the floor because Utah has sucky winters and I was tired of playing Frogger, jumping from one floor mat to the next at 3am to avoid the glacially-cold floor.
9. We needed a pocket door to let in more light from the one window. The entrance to the bathroom is pretty wide so the door blocked way too much light.
10. Old vanity was too short for us tall peoples.

I love my new white and blue bathroom. It's the perfect mix of modern and traditional for us. A modern walnut vanity, paired with traditional beveled mirrors. Classic subway tile, but modern faucets. You get the picture.


Three colors of tile: white, denim blue, gray floors in shower and bathroom


Here it is before:
Before: Travertine floor with enormous 1" grout lines

Now that the too-small tub is removed we have a nice spot for a stool, some shelves, and a place to hang our towels. We opted to take the subway tile all the way across this wall and up to the ceiling. It's a west facing window so I ordered a navy black-out roller shade.  And now the floors have radiant heating. Best decision ever. Warm tile in the winter is life changing. 
After: No more tub!

Here is the same corner before:
Before: Very small tub I used 2 times in 13 years.

Wiring the floor for radiant heating.


I knew we would want a custom walnut vanity with big deep drawers (no cupboard doors!) that hold everything. The old vanity had very little storage. I found this vanity from Restoration Hardware as my inspiration, then had it custom made. Guess what? It was about $2,000 custom made, compared to $3,500 from RH. Score!

These mirrors  topped with these light fixtures take advantage of our 9-ft ceilings. They are super tall at 4-feet. The blue photo prints were taken by myself and overly saturated in blue; the black and white print is from Minted.



New vanity is counter height





Before: the drawers were too small to be of much use.
Old vanity, way too short

We had enough walnut leftover to make some floating shelves. Great for blown glass, art, and functional space as well.



The perfect spot to remove jewelry before showering.

My favorite feature, next to the radiant heating is replacing the big door, which blocked all the window light, with a pocket door. (You can read more about my navy doors here, best decision to paint them blue four years ago.) Adding a pocket door meant ripping out the entire wall where you now see the shelves, to add all the hardware. I felt sorry for the subs who had to do such an arduous task. They also had to carefully remove the transom window which we absolutely wanted to save.


Tearing out the old wall to add the pocket door.


Pocket door



radiant heating thermostat for floors

We've been living with this bathroom for 8 months now and honestly I would not change one single thing. Our contractor, Leah of L&D Construction in Provo, Utah was amazing as always. She is meticulous and demands perfection from her subs. She was in charge of our kitchen remodel 7 years ago as well. Ok she has been in charge of all our remodels. The bathroom took about 4 weeks total. And it's a pain to remodel because this is how we lived in our bedroom for about a month.

The fun of remodeling!
But worth it in the end!



Other sources: White paint is White Dove by Benjamin Moore. Most rooms in my house are now this color of white. I don't have the info on the Moen faucet, nor the specifics of the tiles. The denim blue tile in the shower I just found at Lowes. The gray floor tiles in the shower and bathroom, along with the white subway, is from Comtempo Tile in American Fork, Utah. The white quartz counters and shower bench are just a basic pure white quartz. 





2 comments:

nargyle said...

I love your vanity and am thinking of doing something similar. I am just wondering where you put your tall stuff, like a tall hairspray or a bottle of cleaner?

Cynthia said...

The drawers are tall, most everything fits standing up, but a couple things lay down.

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