It is easy to find homes with less than swoonworthy bathrooms. Walking through houses for sale or rent often yields a stack of bathrooms that are dated, poorly laid out, dark or dingy. A bad bathroom is not only a deterrent to selling a house, it is definitely not a house I want to live in. Nearly everyone who enters your house will visit a bathroom and you will personally be inside the bathrooms in your home multiple times a day. Bathrooms are VERY important rooms and they are not places I am willing to skimp on when renovating a house.
We had 3 bathrooms we were working with in the Coastal Cottage, but today we are going to talk about the small bathroom at the back of the house. This bathroom was connected to the former “man cave” and we needed to update the 60s taupe tile, and try to make it a place that would be delightful for the guest room we created next door. The shower was not large enough for a regular size person to stand in, not to mention a relatively tall person. There was not enough light even though it was a small room, and I can’t begin to talk about the toilet. You need to be aware that once you start removing tile, there is no going back, so make sure you think all the options through before you begin.
A truly swoonworthy bathroom is open, bright, clean and not crowded. We worked with our contractor to do just that with this little bathroom. We took out the “micro-mini” shower and reconfigured the room to put in a lovely shower with the cultured marble we used in the other bathrooms. We even added an extra light inside the stall. We matched the tile, paint and light fixtures to the other bathrooms and added a rolling barn door for character. A clean, beautiful bathroom adds tremendous value to our homes and our hearts. Everyone spends time in a bathroom and we want it to be pleasant for our guests as well as our family. It is a wonderful opportunity to reflect excellence and hospitality in our home.
Swooning together,
Karen Conrad