In this Primary Bathroom remodel we helped our client with a mold issue in the flooring while also making better use of the entire Bathroom. Even though this was a fairly new home, the Bathroom didn’t reflect their needs or their style. Once we took care of the foundation and waterproofing, we opted for a timeless palette with elevated materials. Now their new Bathroom feels balanced and sophisticated. There is nothing more classic than an eye catching black and white bathroom. Welcome to our Strike a Balance project!
The main issue that drove the project was the water was leaking through the walls and the floor. This happens more often than you would think. In fact all of our bathroom remodels this year had some sort of faulty water proofing system that failed! For this reason, we only specify and use the Schluter water proofing system (which is so good you could shower right on it! ).
Besides taking care of the foundational aspects of the room, we also needed to address the inefficiencies of the layout. There were a maze of rooms and doors interwoven that didn’t make sense. While the main bathroom felt spacious, it wasn’t used as well as it could be. The Laundry room came in from a hall, then into a closet, then into the bathroom. That made the entire room feel “less private”. Then there was so much dedicated to the open vanity and tub area and another small closet to the end. See the before plan below.
In the new plan, we prioritized a large closet at the end of the bathroom. We created a smaller Laundry Room that had only what the client needed and did NOT make it a pass through to the Primary Bathroom. We moved the new Steam Shower and gave it a bigger footprint. We centered a new vanity area under the existing window where the tub was and still gave them two vanity sinks. We did NOT change any exterior walls or windows.
For the Bathroom floor and shower walls we used a gorgeous honed marble. In the main area, we created a “tile rug” using a black velvet flat liner tile and a basketweave and pin dot mosaic in the middle. In the shower we used a striking antique Nero marble on the back wall and ceiling of shower. When creating a steam shower, we need to have tile everywhere inside and this was the drama this shower needed! On the floor, we did another mosaic out of Carrara and black marble, so everything would slope to the drain. For the bench, we used a honed black granite. The steam shower was from Mr. Steam and has all kinds of options from steam levels to aromatherapy. This is truly a dream shower!
We accented the room with brushed gold for the hardware and lighting. It adds the perfect amount of elegance and shows off the values (since black and white are not colors, but values- Sorry! The art major in me is getting technical! HAHA)
