We've lived in this house for almost 6 years now, and during that time have periodically dreamed of different improvements we'd like to make. One of these was our master bathroom, which is big but was outdated and grungy. This fall, we finally decided to go for it and do a remodel!
Here is the BEFORE:
Small shower & small tub - very plain vanilla!
Gross, tiny shower from 1985. It was about 3x3 feet, and the tiles were breaking, and mold & mildew were all in the corners & grout and just couldn't even be cleaned. The door was nasty and grimy too.
Shower & tub from opposite angle
View from entrance to bathroom. As you can see, there was carpet in the front half where the sinks are, which is never a good thing in a bathroom.
Back half of the bathroom
We contracted with a local small business - Veritas Construction Services - who had repaired our powder room ceiling after a leak and did a good job. Most of the work for this took 2 full weeks (they were here every day), and then the shower glass was ordered and took another 3 weeks to come in.
And now, here is the AFTER:
Our bathroom has never had a door for whatever reason, and we decided against the expense of adding some kind of door. Pocket doors would have been an option, but expensive because of moving electrical wiring. Folding doors were an option, but would have stuck out a bit in the room in a way I didn't like. And barn doors on a sliding track were the cheapest option (but still a good chunk of $$), which we could still do at some point, but this works for now. I got a curtain rod and new blackout curtains to hang outside the door frame.
View from the doorway. We removed all the old floor tile & carpet and put in large square floor tiles in a diagonal pattern, which I read makes the space look bigger. The floor tiles are a light gray ceramic tile. The cabinet at the back is a Christmas present from my dad & aunt. It is technically considered a "pantry" but it was perfect for the space and holds all of our sheets & towels, extra toiletries, medicines, my make-up, and more.
We did not replace the countertop or cabinets - just too big of an expense at this point. The counter is a newer laminate, and it is quite long, so that much granite & 2 new sinks would have been a lot of extra money. I painted the bathroom a blue-green color called Pigeon, which I had basically a full gallon of, leftover from painting an accent wall in our dining room earlier this year.
We thought about losing the tub altogether, because it is very tiny (pretty much unusable by me & definitely unusable by Wade) and we are not bath people anyway. But, it would have cost $500 just to remove it & cap off the water lines, so we decided to leave it and have the tile surround redone to match the shower tile.
We tore down the full wall that used to divide the shower & tub, and framed out a new half wall, gaining a good 6 inches toward the tub and another 12 inches out into the bathroom. So the new shower is a good amount bigger, plus it feels even bigger with the frameless shower glass & natural light from the window coming in.
Since the plumbing was in the wall that was torn down, it had to be moved to the opposite wall. We took the opportunity to put a 9" rain shower head straight out of the ceiling, as well as a handheld shower head mounted on the wall. With the new valve behind the wall, you can use either shower head by itself or both at the same time! For the first time, Wade has a shower head that he doesn't have to bend down & duck under to get his head wet. It's pretty fantastic and feels like a spa every day.
The back half of the bathroom - so nice to have it opened up so the window light can shine through. You can see a little of the corner shelf/bench in the shower, perfect for putting a foot on to shave.
This is the new light fixture, replacing a cheap, plain flush-mount fixure that didn't give off much light.
Close-up of the shower niche. We added a porcelain hook beneath it, too, because my pet peeve is not having a place to put my stuff & hang my loofah. I also like a place to hang the wash cloth, but we thought another bar for that would look too cluttered, so I'm just hanging it over the handheld shower head for now.
The shower tiles are a mixture of a white textured ceramic tile on the lower 5 feet of the shower walls and natural stone tile on the upper 3 feet, as well as a natural stone tile for the shower floor and natural stone slabs for the shower curb, top of the half wall, and the other end of the bathtub.
Close-up of the rain shower head :)
Overall, we are super happy with the way it turned out. If I had it to do over again, I might do less of the "splurge" accent tile, like just a stripe around the shower instead of the whole top third. Once we got all the different things we ended up needing for the tile, it added up to quite a bit of money, even though we stayed with bargain tile for the bathroom floor & lower shower walls. The shower heads & new valve were also more expensive than I anticipated, but in the end, I think they are worth it.
A tip I read about and am trying to put into practice is keeping the shower clean by drying it out after every use. We Rain-X'd the inside of the shower glass, and have a squeegee to clear the water off the glass after every shower. Then 15 or so mins after the shower, I take an old towel and wipe down the walls, floor & corners so the water doesn't sit in/on them, since that's what really ends up causing mold & mildew. If they are dried out within a short time, that stuff doesn't have the chance to grow. So, it's a few minutes of keeping up with it daily, but the blog I read about it said she really never had to clean her shower with cleaning products because of the towel trick. Then you just throw the towel in the laundry with your regular load!
