Master Bathroom Renovation — Millennial Mama

Updated master bath that mixes cool stones with warm woods.

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Who doesn’t love a bathroom renovation??

The process is messy and, in our case, drawn out, but also super exciting.

We recently purchased a home built in 1950. My husband’s family is very close with the family who lived here for 30ish years or so. They sold the property about 15 years before we bought it, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t well cared for after they left.

However, we do have the benefit of knowing a lot of the home’s history from our family friends.

For example, the master bedroom and bath (along with a dining room and sunken den) were added on in the late 80s to accommodate a growing family.

Before: A classic design from the late 80s

I’m sure this space was beautiful and stylish at the time, but as you can see from the pictures, she didn’t age well.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few more before shots:

The interior closet is a decent size, but the accordion door opening right in front of the toilet was pretty impractical.

The vanity and medicine cabinet were outdated and in poor condition.

The shower was dark and cramped. Plus the color and sun design were just, well, ugly.

As you can see, we had our work cut out for us.

Creating More Space

There were 3 primary things we did to open up the space:

Add square footage to the bathroom by expanding into a small, semi-useless bedroom closet
Remove the accordion doors from the interior closet and open up the wall to improve access to the shelves, and
Downsize the vanity.

In reality, we only added about 20 inches of width to the bathroom, but it just FEELS way more spacious!

The biggest change was obviously knocking down a wall to expand into a closet that was on the other side of the tub wall.

I know that most people would do anything to preserve storage, but this home actually has really great closets in every bedroom, two huge storage spaces in the basement, and a few other closets and cupboard spaces throughout the upper level.

Also, the closet size was a bit odd. It was about 20 inches wide and 2.5 - 3 feet deep, which made it kind of hard to use. Imagine having to squeeze your entire upper body into a skinny closet to access anything at the back of the shelf… Not ideal.

There was an identical closet behind the one in the bedroom that opened into the dining room (which as I mentioned, was also part of the 1980s addition), so we knocked down the wall between the closets, sealed up the doors with some new drywall, and ended up with some great square footage to add to the shower.

Though we lost a little storage, being able to create a large walk-in shower was more practical and useful for us as the current owners, and really felt like a value-add for when we sell the property.

The Shower

We’re millennials, so obviously, we lean toward cool gray tones rather than earthy beighes.

Here’s a look at the walk-in shower we designed.

Custom tile shower with dark gray 12 x 24 wall tiles.

Mohawk Artisanal Stone in Grigio

The wall tile is the 12 x 24 Mohawk Artisanal Stone in Grigio from Menards. It was crazy affordable for how insanely chic and high-end it looks and feels in person.

We paired it with the MSI Black and White Pebbles from Home Depot for the floor.

Black and white river rock for the shower floor

The combo looks amazing, and the river rock feels very nice on the feet — like a mini foot massage as you shower.

We love the brand Waterpik for showerheads, so this is the one we’re using. My husband and I are both a few inches taller than average, so our contractor moved the shower plumbing up and mounted the head quite high. It gives the shower a spa-like feel.

He also created a custom little niche for me to use while shaving my legs, and it’s perfect! Though, in reality, it usually houses my toddlers toys because this is his world, and we just live in it.

Custom foot niche for shaving. And also, a great place to store toddler toys.

Oh, and pro tip: cover your shower grate with this super affordable drain mesh to avoid clogs. It’s cheap, goes on easily, and the first piece has lasted us a full month already. I expect we won’t have to repurchase for at least a year at this rate. And, most importantly, it works amazingly well!

The Interior Closet

Our financial investment to improve the in-bathroom closet was a bit of paint and the sweat equity to apply it. (Technically, it also included our contractor’s time to cut the drywall and reframe it for us, but who's counting?)

We were able to reuse the existing shelves because the wood was good quality and took the paint well.

See how much easier it is to access the shelves with a larger opening and no door?

Love it!

And, because we have a toddler, we only put a few things on the bottom shelf that we feel are safe for him to play with. Someday, when our kids are grown, we’ll expand our items to the bottom shelf.

I think it just may make me cry when that day comes.

The Vanity

We selected the Huckleberry 42-inch vanity in weathered tan from Home Depot, and I am in LOVE!

The chevron pattern on the doors feels chic and elevates what could be a boring piece of furniture into a statement piece for the space.

Huckleberry 42 inch vanity with marble top

As I said, we downsized from a 49-inch vanity to a 42-inch vanity, and it made a world of difference! It’s no longer touching the shower or toilet and has some very necessary breathing room.

The new vanity is also about 2 inches smaller in depth while being about 3 inches taller. Overall it feels like a huge upgrade.

I love the look of it so much that we may do the same vanity in the spiced walnut shade for the main bath when we upgrade it. Look how lovely it is!

To light the space, we selected this beautiful gold and black vanity light. It looks even better in person, and you can choose anywhere from 1 to 6 bulbs to fit your space.

We went with a simple but large mirror and this option is similar to what we selected, with lots of different sizes and finishes to choose from.

Our contractor also used the shower and floor tile to create a custom baseboard which gives the space such a cohesive, high-end feel. It was a special touch that was his idea and really helped finish the room.

We have been absolutely LOVING the new bathroom. If you have any questions about the process or materials, just ask!

Master Bath Renovation