HALF BATH REMODEL: Making a small space visually larger

Here’s where my love for design and remodeling began. It’s from a few years back now, but the challenges of design and remodeling still ring true today…

The biggest challenge with this remodel was the overall limited space. The bathroom at under 30 square feet, has room for a sink, a toilet, a small table to hold toiletries and that is it.

Besides removing the wallpaper, I removed the dated builders mirror and vanity and replaced it with a Kohler pedestal sink and antique mirror. To keep costs down I kept the toilet and the floor tile.

In removing the dated base cabinet we discovered that the tile didn’t run wall to wall. Most spec homes are designed this way… the cabinets are installed and the tile is then laid directly up to the face of the cabinet. We now faced the challenge of replacing all of the tile in the bathroom, or finding the same tile to match.

It’s easy to replace tile, but in this case, the bathroom tile runs out into the side and front hallway and concludes in the front hall closet. The budget didn’t allow a full tear out so we had to make choices. In the end, we were able to source tile that closely matched the original, so the added cost of removing and replacing the tile was avoided and just a box of replacement tile was needed to fill in the base cabinet area.

What I learned on my first design and rennovation: A small bathroom redesign doesn’t necessarily translate into a small budget. Fixtures can be very expensive. Go for quality and pick and choose what is important to you.