SMALL HOME RENOVATION SERIES - BATHROOMS
Recently, my husband and I wrapped up a renovation project on a 1,400 square foot home. It was a challenge because the home is a post and beam frame which means structurally, you cannot move, or remove a post or beam. Instead, you work the frame into your design. Every inch needed to be reworked in order to achieve comfort and ease of use. In this series we will discuss the different areas of our home and how our choices helped to create the functional and charming space we dreamed of.
The tiny bathrooms were quite the challenge. Each bathroom is shared by two rooms. The downstairs bath is shared with a bedroom and acts as a powder room for the first floor (with the second entrance being through the kitchen). The upstairs bathroom is shared between the primary bedroom and a smaller bedroom. We needed to figure out the door swing and locking systems to make sure the space felt private and spacious.
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We chose to have the doors swing into the bedrooms/kitchen space instead of into the bathrooms. We had push lock sets installed on the inside of the bathroom doors, if someone got locked out on the other side, they could pop the door open with a push pin. Dead bolts were installed on the bedroom side of the door for ultimate privacy. This worked out great.
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We changed the wooden floors to a 12x24 inch tile, laying vertically between the door openings. This gave the illusion that the bathrooms were bigger than they appeared.
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We kept the original shower stall/tub because they were in good shape. We switched out all of the shower heads and drains to a flat black which gave the shower stall/tub a clean, updated, industrial feel. New shower rods in black were installed, and solid textured shower curtains hung.
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The old free standing sinks were pulled and replaced with 24 inch counter height vanities. This allowed for much needed storage as well as for comfort when using the sink.
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The toilets had to be a specific height so that they wouldn’t extend above the window sill. We choose one piece comfort height toilets.
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Mold was present in the bathrooms. A vinegar clean up solution was used,a special mold killing primer was applied as well as a kitchen/bathroom paint. Ceiling exhaust fans were installed to remedy the moisture problems the bathrooms previously had.
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Large mirrored medicine cabinets were used which created a larger feel in the bathrooms as well as adding storage for personal items.
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“Bulb in the wall” light fixtures were removed and updated industrial light fixtures were installed.
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For towels and tissue, simple, streamline hardware was applied.
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For extra storage, tall skinny cabinets were incorporated in the adjacent bedrooms, tucked away behind the out swinging bathroom doors.
A lot of thought went into these tiny bathrooms. We feel that we have achieved our goal of making them simple, functional and user friendly.
MEET Wendy Jannelle
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