First Floor Bath Before and After

The first floor bath is a hard working little area, used by us throughout the day since it is across the hall from my studio and next to the kitchen.  It's also the "powder room" for visitors as it's closest to the living room and dining room, and it serves as the bath for house guests, being right next to the TV room which doubles as our guest room.  It has the only bathtub in the house, the other two baths having only showers.  

 Last remodeled in the mid 1980's, the shallow tub was no good for the nightly soaks which I love and had ugly stains from a faucet that continually dripped.  The plastic floor tile was dated and shiny,  and cleaning supplies were stashed by the wobbly toilet since the pedestal sink didn't provide any storage space.  There was limited space for toiletries used by house guests. 

Our friend Susan Steele, owner of Interior Motives, designed a modern and more workable bath for us and oversaw all the remodeling work.  Together we choose large white subway tiles which brighten the small room and decorative tiles to draw the eye into the room and up the amazing new deep tub with a heated back perfect for soaking.  We replaced the pedestal sink with a big, beautiful vanity with plenty of storage and hung a matching mirror.  The tile in the tub/shower was taken all the way to the ceiling and to the edge of the window, giving that space a more streamlined look. 

The vanity has storage in the cabinet for cleaning supplies and house guests can use both the wide rimmed vanity top and the baskets on the lower shelf for their toiletries.

In a few weeks a narrow cabinet will be added above the toilet, providing another place for storage, and knobs will be added to the vanity and the toilet cabinet.  You can also see how the new toilet paper holder as a grab bar built into it, which is pretty neat.

We kept the old medicine cabinet and lights.  And in these photos you can see how the granite counter top is "leathered" so it has a rougher finish than the polished one we have in the kitchen.   I think it's quite beautiful

Susan found a wonderful gray tile for the floor.  It's surprising how hard it was to find the right shade of gray!

 In addition to the shower head we added a hand-held shower which is handy for spraying yourself while soaking in the tub or rinsing off after a soak as well as for cleaning the tub area.  There is a nifty niche for holding a glass of water or wine or maybe a candle or a loofah.

Not soap!  Soap bars and shampoo go in the wire baskets by the main shower  head. 

In addition to being deep and having a heated back, the tub has built in arm rests which make lounging very comfortable and also serve as grab bars as you hoist yourself out of the tub.  They also can hold a cool teak wood seat, should you ever care to sit on a bench while you scrub your feet or shave your legs!   

The new bath looks great, don't you think?  As I've said, when we moved into this wonderful house we knew all three baths and the kitchen needed updating.  All that work is now complete!