We started construction this week on our most recent round of renovations which will involve updating our primary bathroom, upstairs laundry room, and guest bathroom! Interestingly, the two bathrooms are connected through a small pass-through laundry room as we believe the couple we bought our house from slept in separate bedrooms (hence why we had to move a wall in our bedroom to accommodate a king size bed!).
It is certainly a quirky second floor layout to have two mirror image bedrooms and bathrooms connected through a laundry room, and at one point we contemplated closing off the doorway from the guest bathroom to the laundry room so the washer and dryer would only be accessible through our bathroom, but after living in the house for two and a half years, we’ve realized it’s actually pretty convenient to be able to walk in a complete circle through the second floor (no matter how atypical!) so we’re sticking with it! It’s likely we’ll want to use the guest bedroom as another children’s bedroom at some point in the future which will make easy laundry access from both spaces even more practical so we’re sticking to the existing layout and changing just about everything else.
BEFORE PICTURES + PLANS FOR OUR PRIMARY AND GUEST BATHROOM RENOVATIONS
BEFORE PICTURES
primary bathroom before
pass-through laundry room before
guest bathroom before
RENOVATION PLANS
So what are the big changes? Besides cosmetic changes like replacing the wood floors with new floor (and shower) tile, adding a new vanity in the guest bath and building custom cabinetry in the primary bath (can you tell we — well, I — need more storage?), and reworking electrical to accommodate new light fixtures, the biggest change will be moving two windows (one on each side of the house) to the perpendicular wall. Right now the exterior of our house is asymmetrical with one “missing” window on the second floor both from the front and back of the house because the previous owners added windows to the far wall looking directly out at the roof of the garage, which we’ve since dormered to build out my parents’ loft space.
So one of the primary reasons for redoing these two bathrooms aside from the cosmetic updates is actually to make the exterior of the house more traditionally attractive and give us a view of the front and backyard instead of the side of the roof. Relocating each window 90 degrees will require moving the vanity from its current space to the wall where each window is now — basically the window in the mirror reflection and the vanity you see in each bathroom will swap places with one another to fill in the window-less gap from the front and back exterior. I’m hoping that all makes sense but if not you’ll be able to see how it all comes together in the weeks to come!
CONCEPT BOARDS
Below I’ll share the little concept boards I put together for each space… I really don’t have one for the laundry room yet as it’s a very small and utilitarian space, but it will have the same tile as the guest bathroom and I’m thinking maybe some closed upper cabinets would be a pretty and practical addition? I’ve gone crazy with wallpaper elsewhere in the house (ahem, powder room, downstairs laundry, playroom, home office, nursery, and hall bathroom) but it could be a fun spot for another pop of color… TBD. In any event here’s what I’ve ordered or am planning on ordering for our guest and primary bathrooms!
GUEST BATHROOM SELECTIONS
polished nickel mirrors // white plaster sconce // woven sconce shades
double vanity (more options here) // basketweave tile for shower and floor
Clean and classic is the name of the game! We’re using the same shower fixtures and plain white subway tile for the shower walls as we used in our hall bathroom remodel last year and then I’ll decide how (and how much) color will factor in with art and towels down the road.
PRIMARY BATHROOM SELECTIONS
white thassos wall tile // showerhead and valve trim
polished nickel faucet // Onyx France Lavita floor tile ordered through Bender
You can see my concept board for our primary bathroom is a little less detailed as I’m relying more on inspiration images to collaborate with our builder on the custom cabinetry element. But I fell in love at first sight with this Onyx France Lavita tile and know it will make a gorgeous but subtle statement on the bathroom and shower floor!
We obviously have a long way to go (I’m crossing my fingers for three months-ish?) but I can’t wait to transform all three of these spaces and I’ll keep the updates coming!
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