Our Beautiful Half Bath Remodel

This past fall we gutted two bathrooms in our home and gave them a much needed update! Today, I am finally sharing with your our beautiful half bath remodel! Last summer, we were thrilled to finally get the ball rolling on this project. We had help from a local designer, Melanie Kimbrow. Melanie looked at the existing bathrooms, listened to what we were looking for, and presented us with plans.

We loved her ideas! With my husband’s busy work schedule and me out of the house every day teaching, we also hired Melanie to oversee the entire project. From sourcing materials for us to consider and choose, to meeting with the plumber, electrician, and contractor – Melanie took care of everything.

We remodeled two bathrooms: a downstairs half bath and an upstarts full bath that was the kids’ bath when they lived at home. Today, I am sharing the downstairs half bath remodel. I will share the full bath remodel separately. They are both so beautiful; I want to highlight them one at a time.

Our Beautiful Half Bath Remodel

Our home was built in the 1980s and this bathroom is original to the build. Other than new paint, it is exactly the same as it was on day one with its first homeowners.

Before the Remodel Photos:

Notice the large floor tiles, one piece vanity, and the huge wall-to-wall mirror.

Notice the outdated light fixture and the crown modeling (that we actually added three years ago to cover up a flaw) that made the small space feel even smaller.

This half bath is small. It is completely functional and serves it purpose, but it was dated! I could not figure out how to update it with that awkward open shelving. There is not enough space to add cabinet doors there. As a half bath, we don’t need to store much in this bathroom. The shelving really became a place to dump “stuff”.

Well, Melanie presented us with plans that we loved. Her plans, with the open shelf, floor to ceiling tile, smaller mirror, and a hanging light fixture seemed light, airy, and it gave the small bathroom a big room feel!

We looked at lots of tile, hardware, flooring, sink and toilet options. My husband found this amazing sink on Etsy. The vessel sink was purchased by a plumber in Brazil and sent to us from Canada. It arrived beautifully. The kids have nicknamed it the dinosaur egg.

During the Remodel Photos:

The bathroom was gutted and the remodel began with the base shelving. The contractor kept the original toilet in as long as possible so we still had a downstairs toilet to use. When the project was close to wrapping up, they installed the new toilet.

With the light fixtures gone, it was dark in there!

The tile flooring went in! This door leads to the garage. the tile was laid in a vertical pattern from the family room to the garage, but we laid it on the horizontal inside the bathroom. this was actually my husband’s idea as he thought it would make the room feel larger with it taking your eye to the farthest corner of the room. I simply think it’s beautiful!

The wall tile was laid in a herringbone pattern to give the room a sense of height. I love that it goes all the way to the floor! The bottom shelf is bamboo. Notice the pattern on the quartzite shelf, the design wraps down the front beautifully! I love the craftsmanship that went into this room.

We were so excited to see the project progressing! Small problems did pop up, but Melanie handled everything. Both bathrooms were done in record time! Even with the pandemic going on and supply chain issues. Melanie was great about sourcing in stock materials and our project went according to plan.

The Final Bathroom Photos: