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Design

The Exciting Plans for Our Primary Bathroom Design

November 18, 2024

Chris and I have always said that if we don't feel 100% all-in excited about a project—both of us—then we probably haven't found the solution yet. I think that's been the tale with our primary bathroom renovation as a whole. We feel excited about doing the project, but it's been YEARS in the design phase because it just hasn't clicked. We haven't solved all of our pain points, until recently. I'll get to that in just a minute, because WOW, exciting stuff. But before we do, I want to preface this by saying, no project is going to be perfect. Perfect is boring. I'm not looking for a perfect bathroom. (But spoiler, I think we're gonna be pretty darn close.)

Before we start a project, we do always list out our pain points, and there's really no point in renovating unless you can address those pain points. Like, why spend the money to make something prettier if it still functions the same way. Imagine if we renovated our bathroom and kept the 28" vanities. Ha! We started working with Jean Stoffer and her team a couple months ago and everything started clicking! She helped us address some issues that we couldn't quite work out—and we didn't want to compromise on, and it feels like everything is moving now on the bathroom remodel.

Here are some of the design elements that will totally transform the primary bathroom:

  • With our current bathroom vanities, our backs are toward the window, and it’s just the worst. We’re backlit all day. In Jean’s design, we’re going to have our vanities facing this large window. What a difference that will be! It feels obvious now, but we’re so happy we got here.
  • We really wanted to fit a tub and a sit-down vanity. But no matter how we laid out the design ourselves, we could not seem to fit both. If you look at the drawing, Jean fit a little sit-down vanity right in the walkway section that cuts into the water closet. The doors open on the wall so I don't have to scoot out when I want to open something from the drawer. That was so exciting.
  • We decided to add pocket doors to our closets to enable them to stay contained. Usually in a small space, you don’t want a lot of doors cramping it up—right now we have no doors on the closets. But this will allow us to individualize the closets for Chris and me. If they’re behind closed doors, they don’t have to look so symmetrical! Plus we can maximize the space inside.
Front layout for primary bathroom design for under-mount tub and vanities

The last block, was the closets themselves are small, especially for this size of house. We have toyed with everything from expanding our house into our backyard to gain space or even started eyeing the study. Both options were too extreme. I was so grateful that we shared all this in Love Letter (sign up here so you don't miss any!). We got a slew of ideas from you all, and a lot of the feedback talked about extending the floorplan somehow. And we couldn't stop thinking about this idea...

Changing the Bathroom Footprint

Now, we don't want to extend our house at all. BUT I think we are gonna extend the closets and make our bedroom smaller. Which feels crazy but also obvious!! It’s the only option really.

Large gold floor mirror in a primary bedroom

Floor Mirror | Chairs (vintage - similar) | Polly Ivory/Natural Rug

The downside of that is that the bay window will not be centered in the room any longer. We’re not going to cut into the window, but we’re going to take it 30 inches out from where it is now. I think that it’ll actually make our room feel even cozier. The mirror will not be on the wall anymore, but it could still be straight across from our bed. We’ll probably have to move the chandelier. But there’s still room at the end of the bed for the bench.

Right now there’s a lot of extra space in our bedroom. Some people find that luxurious (and I get it), but I'd rather have extra space in our closet than our bedroom. When we told Jean we would like to do that for the bathroom design, she said that it would help tremendously. So she’s expanded the closets and even expanded room around the vanity!

Just look at this layout if we expand into our bedroom 30 inches! Glorious!

Overhead layout for primary bathroom design with closets, tub, vanities and water closet.

The Plan for the Bathtub

One surprising thing about the primary bathroom design is that we’re planning to install an undermount tub instead of a freestanding tub. A lot of people right now are doing a freestanding tub. We’re opting for an undermount tub for a few reasons:

  1. 1 think the stonewear we’re going to mount it under will be really lovely.
  2. There are features you can get in an undermount tub that aren’t available in a clawfoot tub.
  3. You can get a larger tub when it's undermounted (and we're tall so....yeah).

To make it more of a spa experience, we’re interested in the bubble feature, but not a jetted tub. And I think we’re going to do a deck-mounted faucet in the back. I never thought in a million years I’d be getting an undermount tub (I mean, the freestanding tub we put into our Idaho Falls house was a dreammmm). I keep wondering, "Are we sure? Are we sure?" But...I’m pretty sure. 

The Plan for the Bathroom Walls

One of our goals for this bathroom remodel is for it to feel like a place where you want to hang out, which is kind of a funny thing to say about a bathroom. But we told Jean that we want the same finishes you would find anywhere else in the house. For the bathroom wall trim, we’re doing recessed panels, which is the inverse of our primary bedroom right next to it. There will be lots of accent lighting. All of the walls will have trim, but the baseboards will be stone so it’s really functional for a bathroom. I think it will be so pretty.

Bathroom remodel elevations for the door to the primary shower and door to the water closet

Since we have a dark bedroom, I really want the bathroom design to be a light romantic counterpart to our moody bedroom. I’m even considering a light blush color for the wall paint! Right now our walls are lime green. I can’t even believe I’ve lived with them this long!! It feels so exciting to finally say goodbye to that color.

In the shower, we are mimicking the wall moldings—in that there’s going to be tile creating insets, and inside the insets there will be a smaller different tile. We’re even mimicking it in the shower to reflect the molding on the outside. It’s gonna be great.

The Plan for the Shower

Bathroom renovation elevations for the primary shower

Over the years, we've learned that we don’t like more glass in a shower than just a door. In one of our first bathroom remodels we did an all-glass shower enclosure. It looks great for a bit. But then it’s so hard to upkeep!! So this one, we just have the door as glass and then there are moldings all around it. It'll have this beautiful traditional look.

I have always done a mix of gold and polished nickel for bathroom hardware, and I don’t see that changing in this primary bathroom design. But I don’t know which will be the predominant one yet!! I’ve always leaned on more polished nickel for a bathroom—it feels really classic, and I just love that.

The Plan for the Bathroom Floor & Ceiling

Close-up of a primary bathroom floor next to a tub featuring FloorPops peel-and-stick floor tiles in green & white marble checkerboard
We tried laying our peel-and-stick jade and marble FloorPops over the primary bathroom floor for inspiration!

We have gone back and forth on the floor between wood floors and tile floors. The rest of the first floor is all wood. Again, thinking about the transition going from our bedroom to the bathroom, it would be so showstopping to do tile. So that's where we're at.

We’re also getting rid of our vaulted ceiling! I don’t think a lot of people would think about doing that. But the ceiling in the bathroom vaults in so many different directions!! So we’re just going to make it a 10-foot ceiling. It will have straight, clean lines. That will allow us to add crown molding throughout the space and have a cutoff for the trim. Taller isn’t always better. Let’s have a straight ceiling!

The Plan for the Closet Doors

We decided to add pocket doors to our closets to enable them to stay contained. Usually in a small space, you don’t want a lot of doors cramping it up—right now we have no doors on the closets. But this will allow us to individualize the closets for Chris and me. If they’re behind closed doors, they don’t have to look so symmetrical! Plus we can maximize the space inside.

The Timeline for the Primary Bathroom Renovation

I can see us having everything ordered this year, and then the primary bathroom remodel would be the kickoff renovation project for 2025!! Right now we’re working on making final selections for finishes and making orders, and getting ready to start in January with demo. Our contractor says if everything is in place, they can get it done pretty quick!

Here are some posts on our current and recent primary bathroom renovations:

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  1. Oh I love how this is turning out and how you have taken your time to make sure it felt right for you. I can agree so much on the vaulted bathroom ceiling. I hate ours and can’t wait until we renovate it and make it the same height as the rest of our ceilings! Can’t wait to see this develop!

  2. Home run!

    Suggestion for your shower... consider the on/off valve just inside the door (elevation D) not on the same wall as the shower. So nice to open the door, turn on the water and wait for it to get to temperature then walk in. Right now you get immediately wet with the in/off valve under the shower head.

    And...consider heated floors with tile. A design regret I have from our master bath renovation.

    1. Yes to Monica's suggestions re: swapping valve to other wall and heated floors! We set up our valve as she suggested not just for temp but also if you're assisting someone in the shower (it happens--hello shoulder surgery!), you can control water w/out entering the shower yourself. And, yep, we regret not going with heated floors!

  3. One of the best features ~ the placement of the outlets in the vanity! Genius and no ugly outlets on the beautiful walls!!!

    1. I fully concur with you. We left off heated floors in our new home even after adding it to two remodels. Fully regretted it and the builder grade tub. Ripped both out within 3 years of living in this new construction. Hated to redo but builder grade is just that. A remodel affords time and money to make the right choices upfront.

  4. We LOVE our undermount tub. I often want to soak my feet so I just sit on the edge and it's wonderful. Have you considered not putting a door on the shower? Ours is open and curbless and we have very little splash onto the hall tile. It also has a wider opening so that it can accommodate a walker/wheelchair in the far future. It's not only beautiful, but also super practical and easy to clean.

  5. I can't wait to see it! Jean is such a great designer! I am sure that I will be taking notes for my bathroom redesign. I have been going back and forth in my mind about our bathtub situation so I am excited to see yours.

  6. I have always been team undermount! They are so much more comfortable than a freestanding tub. I take my nightly bath relaxation ritual very seriously. 🤣. Look up Sani-jet. I saw this tub brand in a high end spa and it will definitely be what I pick for a future remodel.

  7. So exciting! I’m sure you/ Jean have thought and solved for this…I have a pocket door to my closet and was surprised to learn during the construction process that we lost that wall for shelves and hanging rod reducing the usable wall space. I can’t drill or nail anything into the wall with the “pocket” for the door. I regret putting in the pocket door.

  8. So excited for you and for this project! A but of feedback on the bubble tub—we installed one in my parents’ home and the idea of it is fun, but they don’t really do much—just bubble, and because the bubbles are generated with air, when the bubbles are on, it makes the bath water loose temperature really quickly. So then you end up with a cold tub quick and some bubbles for show.

  9. I wonder if there is such a thing as self closing pocket doors? Ones that you can keep open if you are going in and out with laundry, etc., but have a feature where you can utilize the self closing feature as well. That might be a nice feature since the doors will be visible from the bedroom.

  10. Hi! Incredible update! Vanities on window wall brilliant! I wonder however if you might be at all interested in a soaking tub?! As you say you’re both tall, and being able to have water up to your chin! A seat maybe?? Passing my dream on LOL (our bathroom is just too small, but maybe your pool has a hot tub feature, so you don’t need it. Just thinking about your health etc. PS Bathroom hanging out is totally reasonable in our family!! ☺️ PPS The bedroom is lovely and is plenty big enough. Using the seating area in the bay window (as you do!) still sets it off even if it isn’t symmetrical, snd the extra closet space IS CRUCIAL!! Thank you for sharing!! I can’t wait. This one (along w/mud room!) I devoured. Happy Turkey Day☺️

  11. I love this design! It feels the most like you out of all the designs you have discussed. May I ask what are the total dimensions of the bathroom?

  12. Beautiful. That extra 30” will make a big difference for your closet, and I don’t think you will miss it in your bedroom. The curve detail on the shower and water closet, might be my favorite part. Looking forward to it all coming together and seeing these plans brought to life.

    1. A bubble tub has tiny air bubbles that are usually more gentle and relaxing. A jetted tub shoots jets of water at high pressure and is more intense (and also requires a little more maintenance due to flushing the lines to prevent stagnant water).

  13. It’s stunning! Jeans drawings are so detailed and easy to visualize. I assume it is the closet wall that adjoins your bedroom. Why is there a jog in one of the closets? Does it have to jog to clear the window?

  14. We remodeled a few years ago and we ended up doing an under mount tub instead of a freestanding one and I LOVE it. The bathroom is going to be gorgeous. Can't wait to see it!

  15. Something about this is giving Biltmore vibes - love it! And it feels like it's going to function beautifully. We have a freestanding double vanity and chose to include a deeply recessed box underneath to keep the look but allow easy retrieval of dropped items that roll under the vanity. Its finish matches the wall so it visually disappears.

  16. I'm just so excited for y'all! The layout looks perfection (hello curved walls!) and it feels like a luxury hotel! I can't wait to see it come to life!

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