You don’t have to move walls and replace the tub to make a dramatic change in your bathroom. This bathroom in Ellettsville, IN (just outside of Bloomington) needed a new look. The vinyl floor was older and outdated and the vanity was starting to look its age. The homeowner wanted to give the bathroom a makeover with new fixtures and some new tile on the floor.
The centerpiece of the changes was a new vanity and matching mirror. I believe they were part of the Moxley line from Allen + Roth, available at Lowe’s. I was actually surprised at the vanity’s solid wood construction, which was better than most stock vanities I’ve seen. The only potential problem with this vanity (or any others) is the location of the pipes. The placement of the drawers dictated that the pipes come out of the wall on the left side. I actually had to relocate the pipes to make this happen, but the only other option was to start cutting and modifying the drawers which I didn’t want to do.
It’s ALWAYS better to have the vanity on hand ahead of time for new construction or remodeling (or at least have very accurate measurements). Having the vanity means that you can place the pipes, outlets, mirror and light fixture in the right places. It’s frustrating to finally put a mirror in and see that the outlet is in the way.
Other than switching out the mirror, vanity, counter and lights, the main change in this room is a new tile floor. I thought placing the tiles in an offset pattern for this floor would compliment the room well and my client agreed. It also happened to perfectly fit the dimensions of this room, which is always nice.
To install the flooring I first removed the vinyl flooring and scraped off any residual adhesive. The vinyl was installed over the cement slab. Before tiling over this I first installed a layer of Schluter’s Ditra uncoupling membrane. This helps isolate the tile layer from movement in the concrete such as any small cracks that might appear. It’s especially important over new concrete and wood subfloors, but will be good insurance against cracks that might yet develop.
My favorite feature in this project would have to be the stone backsplash. It consists of a several pieces of decorative stone that normally used as a stripe in a shower or wall tile. I put a few together to make the backsplash. It doesn’t take much tile, but I think it dresses up the room and adds a luxurious aspect that ties everything together. I always like the variations that appear when you use natural stone in a design.
The nice thing about a project like this is that it’s a fairly quick makeover. Nothing too drastic or labor intensive is involved. The biggest expense is probably purchasing the new fixtures. In just a few days you can have a completely new bathroom.
