Introducing this Neutral Bathroom Makeover
Hey there, thanks for stopping by Postbox Designs, Interior E-Design! Before I shared this gorgeous neutral bathroom makeover, I wanted to say hello. If you’re new here, I’m Kristin! Mama to three, Gilmore Girls addict, and lover of all carbs. I’ve been an Interior Designer for around 14 years, and I’ve been focusing solely on Online Interior Design for over 5 years now. I started Postbox Designs because I had young kids at home, so keeping a regular 9-5 wasn’t working. And I realized there were so many people out there like me-busy and overscheduled. So with Online Interior Design, I could help clients all over the country, and they could pull together their rooms as THEIR schedule allowed. After custom designing their space, I create an entire package of drawings, shopping lists, and instructions. They can order their entire room in an hour over a cup of coffee!
P.S. You can check out How it Work right HERE
And I never would have been able to work with this wonderful client otherwise, since I live in Michigan and she lives in sunny California (although through chatting we realized her son lives in my city!). My client had worked with an Interior E-Design company before and was less than impressed, but I was so glad she gave the idea another chance when she reached out to me! She had an outdated master bathroom, and needed to gut the entire space-and reached out for design help.
Let’s Tour This California Casual Neutral Bathroom
Let me start by saying my client had FANTASTIC taste, she had a gorgeous Pinterest board full of inspiration that made it easy for me to design her dream space. My goal is to always take my client’s vision and pull it together into a real life design.
…Plus 7 Bathroom Design Tips
My background is actually as a Kitchen & Bathroom designer at a high-end remodeling firm. So while I used my expertise in designing my client’s bathroom, I’m always sharing 7 Bathroom Design tips if you are looking to do a bathroom makeover soon!
Free Standing Bathtub
We started with a beautiful free standing bathtub (#4) and made it a focal point with this dreamy chandelier (#6) which was taken right from one of her inspirational photos (#1).
Master Bathroom Vanity
Then we created not one, but THREE different vanities for her (it was a large bathroom). The main bathroom vanity has double sinks (#12) with a natural white oak cabinetry (similar to #9), and a white stone counter (#14). Large metal mirrors (#7) and modern sconces (#2) help break up all of the light materials in the space.
Neutral Bathroom Vanity Cabinets
Bathroom Design Tip #1: Break up the walls when you have high ceilings.
We broke up the extra high walls with crisp white shiplap and some rustic wood beams. While high ceilings are wonderful, it helps to keep things visually in scale so your vanity cabinets don’t seem too small. By adding tile to the lower half of the walls (which is a more durable material) and shiplap on the top half, it keeps things interesting. And how much do you love this tall arched top wall cabinet with mirror inserts? (Totally her idea!) Again, adding height to the vanity helps with the scale of the room.
And here is another shot of her double vanity. I personally am a symmetry girl, so I like to create a balanced vanity where it is symmetrical on both sides (or at least visually similar) to keep it from looking too busy.
This Master Bathroom had a lot of ceiling changes, so I love how the rustic wood beams accent this, rather than trying to hide it.
Bathroom Design Tip #2: Don’t Get a “Near-Miss” with your woods.
A tip when you are mixing woods: choose wood stains/finishes that are significantly different from each other. You want to avoid the “near-miss” look: where the colors are just a bit different, so it just looks mis-matched. Instead, they should play off each other. The natural white oak finish of the cabinetry works well with the darker stained ceiling beams.
Master Bathroom Make-Up Vanity
Remember the three different bathroom vanities? Here is #2! This is her make-up counter-we kept the same counters and cabinetry to keep everything look cohesive. I love the rattan stool she found to coordinate with this California Casual vibe.
For cabinetry, while I love using a combination of doors and drawers-I will always favor having extra DRAWER space. I think they are more practical (and you are less apt to lose things in the back of a cabinet!).
We kept the same hand glazed white subway tile behind her make-up vanity as well:
And here is page 2 of the custom Master Bathroom design I created for her:
Neutral Bathroom Makeover: The Marble Shower
And of course, no spa-like Master Bathroom is complete without a walk-in shower. To make the entrance seem special, we used an arched doorway leading into the space. Then, the entire shower is made up completely of Cararra marble. The marble walls (#11) are a brick set rectangle shape, while the floor is made up of marble hexagons.
Bathroom Design Tip #3: Be careful about the shower tile you select.
When designing a shower, you always want to use smaller, mosaic tiles for the floor so that it is less slippery. Typically I like to stay under 1″ tiles. When selecting your bathroom floor tile, be sure the finish isn’t too slippery as well-most tile will list if it is suitable for shower floors. You can be a little less picky about the shower wall tile. But I would hesitate to use real marble if you have hard or high iron content water, as it can discolor real stone.
If you are going to do a closed-in shower like this one, I would highly recommend putting tile on the ceiling as well for moisture purposes. If you have an open shower, I usually skip it! Always be sure to add a great exhaust fan either inside your shower (that is GFI protected) or near your shower to keep mold and mildew at bay.
I’m also a huge fan of Turkish bath towels (#13), and suggested them to keep the light and airy look of her neutral bathroom design going! Last summer I went to Greece and brought several of these Turkish style towels home and love using them in my own bathrooms!
The Neutral Bathroom Look: Cararra Marble Tile
I mentioned above how we chose the marble for the shower, but I also love how it continues out onto the main bathroom floor as well. We had a lot of different materials going on in this bathroom design, so repeating materials and colors helps it from being too busy looking.
This look is also repeated in the classic marble pattern of her countertops as well!
Bathroom Design Tip #4: Do this to avoid having mis-matched tile.
And here is a peek inside so you can see how it all worked together. If you decide to use marble, make sure you order plenty of extra tile. Real marble is a natural product can vary quite a bit, so you always want to order everything in the same “lot”. If you have to add more later, there is a chance it won’t have the exact same color tones/pattern.
And even if you aren’t using a natural product, I still recommend ordering 10%-15% extra when ordering tile. This accounts for breakage, cutting, etc.
Bathroom Shower Design
Bathroom Design Tip #5: Think about shower storage in the design phase.
I also recommend at least ONE niche or TWO shelves in a shower. This is where you put shampoo bottles, body wash, etc. But be careful of adding too many…sometimes it can become a vacuum to just collect more clutter! To keep a clean look for your shower, keep the minimum amount of bottles needed inside.
Bathroom Design Tip #6: Add a hose.
There are also a million different options when it comes to shower heads. Rainfall shower heads, shower heads on a hose, two shower heads, diverters, etc. At minimum, whenever I design a walk-in shower, I always suggest having at least one shower head on a hose-that way you can use it when you have to CLEAN your shower. It can get pretty tricky to clean a large shower when all you have is one fixed shower head.
Neutral Bathroom Makeover: The Bathtub
Like many dated bathrooms, her original bathroom had a huge tub with a built-up surround. These days I take OUT more jetted tubs than I put in. It took up a huge part of her bathroom, and we could use her space as much better. So we switched to this classic free-standing bathtub that works perfectly in this corner. When you use a free-standing tub, be sure to look at your different options if you want the filler to be deck-mounted or wall-mounted. If you are doing a bathroom remodel, sometimes one way makes more sense to do than another.
The Bathroom Water Closet
It may not be the most glamorous part of your bathroom, but the toilet has to go somewhere! If you have the space, I love created a water closet with a door for extra privacy. I love how in this bathroom makeover, this unique circle window added some extra charm to an otherwise utility like space!
Bathroom Design Tip #7: Add artwork.
Does artwork in a bathroom sound strange? Maybe. But I always suggest it-it is a great way to add color and personality to a space. I love the map my client added to her W.C. walls.
The Third Bathroom Vanity
And finally, here is the third bathroom vanity! While most bathrooms aren’t large enough to hold so much cabinetry-I love the fact this one does. This is one more area for extra counter and storage space. And I love these charming oil paintings my client hung over the space:
Neutral Bathroom Makeover
There you go! An entire bathroom designed over 2,000 miles away. Don’t you just love technology? If you want to know more about how this whole Online Interior Design thing works, you can check out How It Works and check out my Room Packages and Pricing, plus you can always email me at kristin@postboxdesigns.com and we can chat all about your project!
Want Some Free Designs?
If you’re not ready for a full custom design, here is a great way to gather up some free design ideas. I created my Free Resource Library chock full of free designs for every single room of your house. When you sign up, you will get an email with a link and password so you can access everything 24/7!
One of the things you will find in there is this Guide “75 Ways To Update Your Bathroom (Without a Full Remodel)”. Plus you’ll find this Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Design + Shopping List inside:
A huge thank-you to my fabulous client to allowing me to share her bathroom with you today! And thank YOU so much for stopping by! I’ll see you here next week with another design to share….
Cheers,
Kristin
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