Bathrooms are pretty straight-forward as far as layout and planning. Things tend to be in standard places because they work there - sometimes there isn't any point to re-inventing the wheel. If it works it works. Recently on "Leave it to Bryan" I was faced with the most challenging bathroom yet and given the 4-week timeline the pressure to figure it all out was ON.
Here is a plan of the existing bathroom (smallest family bathroom I have ever seen!):
The challenge was incorporating a separate bath, shower, large vanity and storage in such a confined space that was limited by the stairs. The only option was to go long and narrow. Here is the plan I proposed:
In order to combat the bowling alley feeling, or long corridor, I proposed dividing the bath and shower and putting double pocket doors right in the middle.
The space is so long and narrow that it was impossible to take and overall picture of the space. Therefore, have a look at the left side of the bathroom:
And now the right:
Another trick was to use frosted doors. This isn't always ideal in a bathroom settting, but, they are right in front of the vanity so privacy wasn't as much of a concern. This allowed the light from the bathroom to spill out into the hallway. In taking more space for the bathroom, we also stole the only other window from the adjoining laundry room and stairs, making it quite dark. The frosted glass doors helped eliminate this problem.
The clients were hoping for marble throughout, however our budget (although healthy) did not allow for this once the structural issues and building costs were calculated. Therefore, I suggested marble mosaic accents with an inexpensive tile for the main tile which is how the stripes in the shower came to be. By using more stripes in the inexpensive tile we were able to save money and create a fabulous focal point. It is definitely one of my favourite showers (plus I'm partial to stripes).
All in all, the homeowners were thrilled with the result and now have a bathroom fit for the whole family. In fact, they wrote a wonderful testimonial for me when the job was done. It's always nice to help great people get what they want in a renovation. Thank you Ian and Jacqueline for being such great clients!