Spring seems to be the season for home improvement projects. We’ve only been in our home for two and a half years but we’ve done most of our home improvement projects in the spring. Last year we focused mostly on the outside with a new pergola for the patio and some landscaping and also made some upgrades to the bonus room. But, this year we are focusing on our owner’s suite. Up to this point, we’ve touched just about every other room in the house, but have neglected the owner’s suite – probably because we knew it would encompass a lot more than just a paint job. Continue reading to see how we transformed our owner’s suite bathroom!
Existing Condition
Our bathroom was not in terrible shape to begin with, but there were a few updates we wanted to make to improve the overall aesthetic. Our wish list included removing the drop-in shower and replacing it with a built-in shower. We wanted to replace the vinyl flooring with tile, replace the vanity, and replace the mirror and light fixtures. This is our first home but probably not our forever home, so we kept that in mind when making decisions about how much work we wanted to have done and the aesthetic.
The Aesthetic
My design style, simply put, is clean lines and neutral colors. I don’t like a lot of “busy” patterns and bright colors. I just like clean and simple – which I also think will help when the time comes for us to sell our home. So, with this in mind, we decided on a modern color scheme that included white with dark/black accents.
Vanity
One thing we wanted to gain from these upgrades was more storage space. An easy way to do that was to replace the existing vanity with a larger one, since we had the extra space to accommodate one. So, we went from a 60 inch vanity to a 72 inch. Not a huge increase, but any extra space we can get helps. I went back and forth on the color before deciding that espresso was the best option since it matched the wood flooring in our bedroom.
Mirrors
I have been talking about replacing the mirror since we first moved in. There’s nothing special about a “builder’s” mirror and replacing it with two smaller framed mirrors made a huge impact. I originally found these on Wayfair and immediately wanted them but they were out of stock. I just could not find anything else I loved as much as these, so luckily they were on Amazon and in stock!
Shower
This was the #1 upgrade we wanted to make. I will be the first to admit how much of a pain it is to keep tile and grout clean, but I prefer the look of a tiled shower over a drop-in. Deciding on tile was stressful at first because there are just way too many options. But, going back to our original scheme of “clean and simple” helped us narrow it down.
Flooring
Flooring was a little easier to pick out since we did not come across too many options that we actually liked. We went to 3 different stores locally and ended up with this tile from Home Depot. We were looking for a white tile with just a small amount of pattern and texture. This checked off both of those boxes.
Lighting and Plumbing Fixtures
Since most of the finishes in the bathroom are white, we chose black as the accent color. The mirror frames, shower door hardware and all of the new plumbing fixtures are black. So, we went with black light fixtures as well. We found these at Home Depot.
Finishing Touches
To finish everything up, we also repainted the whole bathroom, replaced the toilet, purchased new bath rugs and added fresh flowers for a pop of color. We ran into a few bumps in the road along the way, but we are definitely happy with the final product. As an architect, these are the types of projects I had always been looking forward to doing as a home owner. The best thing about being a designer is seeing a vision become reality!
