Mirrors may make a space feel larger, but when they’re glued to the walls they also magnify existing flaws—in this case, dated chocolate-brown tile and beige fixtures from the 1970s. “It was bad news,” says one of the Englewood, NJ, homeowners of the drab primary bath she shares with her husband. Dreaming of modern upgrades like a walk-in shower and heated floors, the couple called in designer Jennifer Vreeland to see what she could do.
Outdated finishes can make even a spacious bathroom feel dreary. Designer Jennifer Davis puts it bluntly in This Old House Magazine: “Dark granite, heavy wood, chunky mirror trim, and ornate crystal chandeliers all had their moment—and all look dated now.” Swapping those heavy materials for cleaner, lighter finishes is often the single most transformative change in a bath remodel.
“They really wanted the bath to have a spa-like feeling,” Vreeland says. “But anything too modern would have been jarring with their home, built as a carriage house in 1869.” Gutting the space exposed the 12-inch-thick stone exterior wall, and pipe and vent stacks that couldn’t easily move. So, keeping the footprint and general fixture placement, Vreeland put a large shower where the tub had been, giving it a bright, airy look with pale tumbled marble tile and frameless glass.
Designer David Heide took a similar approach when remodeling a bath in an 1890s home in Saint Paul, Minnesota, retaining the original layout down to the placement of the fixtures. “Almost everything in the room is new, but it appears as if it’s always been there,” Heide says. Like Vreeland’s use of pale tumbled marble, Heide opted for Carrara marble trim tiles and flooring to keep the look authentic while delivering modern performance.
A traditional wood vanity and a custom built-in offer needed storage space; layered lighting makes it comfortable at every time of day. The owners’ reaction? “They love everything,” Vreeland says of the relaxing result. “The large shower feels luxurious, and the space is so much lighter and more open.”
Pro Tip: Homeowner Bridget Alexander of Edina, Minn., used a similar strategy in her bath remodel, shared in This Old House Magazine: “To amp up the light, we used lots of reflective glass—from the chandelier to the mirrors, shower enclosure, and mosaic tile.” A frameless-glass shower enclosure, like the one in this bath, is one of the most effective ways to keep a bathroom feeling bright and open.
The shimmering quality of mosaic-tile floors is a detail that This Old House teams have admired on many projects. On one recent renovation, homeowners Allison and Raveen discovered an unexpected benefit of their mosaic floor: “It really glistens and glimmers just like the light hits the river outside,” they noted, proving that a well-chosen mosaic can echo the natural surroundings and bring an organic sparkle to the room.
Floorplans
Working with the bath’s existing footprint and general fixture placement, the gut renovation turned a tub/shower alcove into a large walk-in shower.
- Took the bathroom down to the studs removing the drop-in bathtub and its decking; seized the opportunity to install in-floor heating and a high-efficiency vent fan.
- Built a partition wall to create a new walk-in shower with a bench seat and a ceiling-mounted rainfall showerhead.
- Added a custom built-in with open shelves over a closed cabinet in the corner between the bedroom and shower walls.
- Made room for a wider 551/2-inch single-sink vanity with a 40-inch medicine cabinet above it by shifting the toilet closer to the exterior wall.
- Swapped a cluttered open shelf under the window for one that looks like a marble-topped window seat; it holds a lamp and a few select accessories.
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