Our bathroom is original to our 2003 home and when we bought the house in 2017 we knew we would have to re-do the master bathroom because the shower and bath tub make the space feel very dated (one example is the gold-framed shower door!). I was willing to put up with the horrible bathroom because the house has many redeeming qualities (for re-sale – I am always thinking about re-sale!) and is desirable based on school zone, cul-de-sac street, size of house, total bathrooms (we have 6 bathrooms which is great with teenagers), treed private lot, downstairs guest suite with its own dedicated bath, additional powder room downstairs, good kitchen/family room flow and so on.
Three years in, we have decided to take stock and determine what needs to go and what can stay in the master bath.
In all of my renos I bear in mind the price of the property in which I am doing the work – regardless of whether it is my own residence, a flip or a rental. I also consider how long I will be in the property and also what other comparable sold homes’ bathrooms look like and what sellers can get away with not changing. Since I work with buyers a lot I understand the hot buttons that make people want to buy and I can prioritize what I want changed and what buyers want to see/buy.
The current home value is about $760k and we want to get it closer to $800k and I think that can be accomplished with a master bath facelift.
I don’t have too many before photos but I have pulled the photos off of MLS from when we bought it and I noticed the photographer artfully avoided capturing the faux brass framed shower door…you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was hideous!
You can see the gold framed shower on right side of above photo. Honestly I don’t know what buyers despise more: a gold shower door or a cheap “brass” chandelier 🙂
Before:
The columns are definitely not my taste but we wouldn’t get our money back on changing them and at this point I don’t notice them as much anymore.
Terrible “Tuscan frieze” around tub. Yikes. Gold tub fixtures/knobs/faucet. No wonder I’ve been calling this the tenement 😉
Very anti-climatic, ho-hum, dated, no style light fixture:
Decisions, decisions:
Overall feeling I am going for in the bathroom: clean, light, calm, fresh, relaxed, cool, understatedly stylish, classic, a little Bohemian, and slightly beachy (Florida girl always and forever!). I want it to have mass-appeal for re-sale but be a little bit less run of the mill because I tend to have unorthodox taste. Also I want my potential buyer to ooooo and ahhhh over the space.
Colors: white, beige, gray. I have an amazing painting from an artist in Gainesville, Georgia that will provide my splash of color(s).
Spot for my painting/demo-ed tub surround:
Just an aside:
Please don’t hate me for saying this but I am OVER gray! All the finishes in remodeled homes/new construction and “safe” interior design magazines are gray: paint, tile, quartz/granite, furniture, accessories! Trust me when I say it is going to be and look passe/dated in about 2 more years. Everyone is on the gray bandwagon. I acknowledge that it is a great neutral and I myself like it, but I have seen it ad nauseam.
What stays and what goes:
I like the current color scheme in the bathroom including the wall color (gray – ha!) so that will all generally remain the same. I also decided I would choose beige-y tan floor tile again (the sales girl tried to sell me gray :D) and I actually like the way this tile is laid so I decided to keep the floor tile which turned out to be a big savings money-wise. The other color in the bathroom is white: the vanities and tub (keeping – it is a Jacuzzi tub and has been seldom used and a tub is not material/a priority to me – who has time to take a bath?! – this tub is super nice anyway – it just looks oogly – I can make the tub surround look better/unrecognizable from its current state). I decided I like the vanities enough to keep them (good size, I would just buy white ones again and these really aren’t that bad) and re-do the countertops and faucets. I also want to buy new knobs/pulls for the 2 vanities which will dress them up a bit.
What to buy new/change:
Chandelier, countertops for vanities, faucets, tile for shower surround and shower floor/niche, shower head, tub surround, shower door/glass wall, pulls and knobs for vanities, towel bars, chrome metallic paint to paint Jacuzzi tub fixtures/knobs faucet, custom mill work for front of tub, undermount sinks, fresh coat of paint on walls and molding, thin frames for existing mirrors.
Preliminary shopping:
Materials selected:
Classic subway tile for shower surround (I decided against the white picket tile because I thought I would tire of all the different shapes and angles of all the different tile), and the driftwood-y hexagon tile I chose for the shower floor and wall niche. The Calcutta Carrera quartz will be used for the tub surround, shower step (maybe – still deciding) and countertops. I am keeping original floor tile. We will just have the grout steam cleaned when the project is finished.
Demo:
It looks better AFTER it’s been demolished!
Where shower doors go to die.
Progress!
New tub surround:
(Calcutta Carrera quartz)
New countertop, Kohler sink and Kohler chrome faucet from Ferguson’s in Uptown (not mounted yet, I just put to see how it looks because I am impatient).
Chandelier options I am considering:
STAY TUNED…TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH!