Master Bathroom | It's Great To Be Home

Before & After: The Master Bath

August 23, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 38 Comments

First of all, a big thanks to the always fabulous Kate for including our flip in her Best of the Blogosphere feature on Sunday!!

The before and after tour of the flip continues with the master bathroom! (Click to check out the kitchen / dining room and family room.)

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

It seems like builders in the 70s were really into chopping up master bathrooms into tiny little rooms. For example, this master bath was divided into separate spaces for “his” vanity, “his” closet, the shower & toilet, “her” vanity and “her” closet – that’s 5 rooms!

We knew we wanted to open up the space but we didn’t want to blow our budget rearranging all of the fixtures, so we just took down the doorways between the “his” and “her” vanity areas and the shower/toilet room. We also converted the tub into a walk-in shower clad entirely in carrera marble.

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

To me, the bathroom looks a little stark right now but I think it will warm up once the new owner(s) start living in it and have a chance to add their personal touches.

Sorry for all the glare on the shower, it’s pretty much impossible to photograph!

We were able to save the cabinetry, which was also a huge savings.

We added giant sheet mirrors to bounce more light around the space since it doesn’t get much natural light.

We definitely spent less on this bathroom that the master bathroom at the last flip, but I think the result is just as snazzy. We accomplished this by using porcelain tile on the floor instead of a natural stone, reusing the cabinetry and keeping the layout the same. What do you guys think?

All photographs taken by me, unless indicated as “Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography.”

The Flip: The Master Bathroom, Then & Now

January 20, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 26 Comments

We’re nearing the end of our tour of the flip! I must admit, I’m a little sad. :)

So far we’ve seen the great room (staging sources here), the dining room (staging sources here), the jack ‘n jill bathroom, the laundry room and the master bedroom (staging sources here) – so of course it’s time for the master bathroom!!

When we bought the house we could tell that the master bathroom had lots of potential since it was pretty large, but the layout was terrible and incredibly choppy. The space was split into 6 rooms!!

You can see the original layout of the master bathroom in the floor plan below – 3 closets, a “wet room” with the shower/tub and toilet, a room with the sinks, and another room with a makeup vanity. Talk about choppy!

To take full advantage of the footprint of the master bathroom, all of the walls had to come out (except the shell of the 2 connected closets, which were combined into 1). The makeup vanity turned into another closet, and the original third closet turned into a huge walk-in shower! (See how we came up with the new layout here).

Take a look for yourself at how it all turned out.

After the great room, I’m most envious of this bathroom (in particular the jetted tub). What are your favorite features?

Reader Re-Do: A Masterful Master Bath

December 13, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 9 Comments

Have I told you guys lately how talented you are? Well, you are! Keep on reading for the proof. :)

A few weeks ago I started emailing with a lovely reader, Shannon U., who just so happens to spruce up houses with the help of her handy hubby. Check out what she had to say about one of their recent renovations:

This is the master bath in our house we just moved from. It was a HOT mess!

The bathtub had originally leaked under the shower and ruined both the shower and floor tile. It started to grow mold. We didn’t like the layout anyway, so we took the opportunity to rearrange while we updated. We GUTTED it! Hubby and I are pretty much total DIY’ers. We only hire out plumbing and masonry. Everything else is all us.

Originally the toilet was smashed right up against the tub and was almost unusable! We moved it to the opposite wall next to the vanities. Hubby laid new 16″ marazzi tile from Home Depot. We bought the vanity with granite attached for only $600 on Craigslist.

We used white solid surface material for the inside of the shower because I was sick of scrubbing shower grout! The glass for the shower was not expensive because we used a “mostly” frameless look with just a couple of clips. It made the cost less than half of a “true” frameless.

Hubby did all the tile work and I put a metallic brown finish on the walls. I’m the paint gal. :) We got the tub from a salvage yard and had it redone for about $350. The tubs are plentiful at most junkyards, the hard part is finding 4 feet that match! We had the inside sandblasted and I painted the exterior metallic bronze. I painted the walls a metallic bronze to match.

Hubby installed beadboard around the bathroom to go with the cottage look of the tub. I guess I was going for a PB inspired look. All faucets and light fixtures were bought from Overstock.com. Total cost for everything including lots of plumbing was just under $5000. Not bad for a totally brand new master bath!

Didn’t Shannon and her hubby knock it out of the park? And talk about serious bang for your buck – a bathroom of that quality could easily cost 2-3 times more than they spent! What’s your favorite feature of their renovation?

P.S. I announced the giveaway winner this morning – click here to see if it was you!