See a Couple’s New Spa-Like Bathroom From Lowe’s and Houzz
The sweepstake winners’ master bathroom gets a makeover with a new shower, tile and storage space
Becky Harris
April 3, 2016
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
“Our master bathroom was not functional at all,” homeowner Dawn Locke says. Luckily for her and her husband, David, she entered the $50,000 Dream Bathroom and Dream Laundry Room Sweepstakes Presented by Lowe’s® and Houzz® and won. As part of the prize, interior designer Brooke Eversoll and contractor Norm Walters helped Dawn and David transform their cramped and awkward master bathroom into a beautiful space that has plenty of storage space, a gorgeous mix of tiles and a new shower that makes them feel as though they are in a spa.
Bathroom at a Glance
Who lives here: Dawn and David Locke
Location: Inverness, Florida
Size: 73 square feet (6.7 square meters)
Ta-da! The couple’s master bathroom is now a beautiful, serene space with a mix of gorgeous tiles, soothing gray tones and plenty of elbow room. The dark glass tile wall in the shower adds a strong accent and visually makes the room recede. The knee wall allowed Eversoll to hide a shower niche on the other side so that shampoo bottles don’t clutter up the view.
Wall paint: Wave’s Crest in eggshell sheen, Valspar; Brazilian pecan white-glazed porcelain indoor-outdoor floor tile (common: 6 inches by 36 inches): Style Selections. Paint and tile from Lowe’s.
Who lives here: Dawn and David Locke
Location: Inverness, Florida
Size: 73 square feet (6.7 square meters)
Ta-da! The couple’s master bathroom is now a beautiful, serene space with a mix of gorgeous tiles, soothing gray tones and plenty of elbow room. The dark glass tile wall in the shower adds a strong accent and visually makes the room recede. The knee wall allowed Eversoll to hide a shower niche on the other side so that shampoo bottles don’t clutter up the view.
Wall paint: Wave’s Crest in eggshell sheen, Valspar; Brazilian pecan white-glazed porcelain indoor-outdoor floor tile (common: 6 inches by 36 inches): Style Selections. Paint and tile from Lowe’s.
Before Photo
BEFORE: “This was a classic 1980s design,” Eversoll, a certified kitchen and bath designer, says. It’s hard to believe this is the same space. The bathroom had this carpeted vanity area at the entry and a toilet-shower room to the right. There was no doorway to separate this area from the master bedroom.
Before Photo
BEFORE: “This bathroom was door city!” Eversoll says. Doors that swung into this part of the bathroom and the closet took up valuable space. In fact, the space was so small that the couple had to remove the shower-stall door and replace it with a curtain because the doors would bonk into each other. “My husband never even used this shower — it was so small and he’s tall,” Dawn says.
The clients had three main wishes for the bathroom renovation: a larger, more open shower, a door to close off the room from the bedroom and a second sink.
The clients had three main wishes for the bathroom renovation: a larger, more open shower, a door to close off the room from the bedroom and a second sink.
Before Photo
BEFORE: The plan helps explain what Eversoll did. Here you can see the awkward layout of the original space.
This plan shows where Eversoll moved the walls. The blue wall on the left side came out into the bedroom about a foot, and she pushed the bathroom wall into the master closet a little bit. If you look at where the door was in the “before” plan, you can see that she made up for the loss of space by replacing the swing door with a pocket door. Before, the bathroom was 56 square feet and the closet was 40 square feet; after the remodel, the bathroom was 73 square feet and the closet was 36 square feet.
AFTER: This plan shows you how all of the fixtures are now arranged. His-and-her vanities and a spacious shower now occupy one slightly larger, much more open room.
“The contractor was very flexible, which was a huge help,” Eversoll says of Norm Walters. “He was able to cut back the existing carpet perfectly. Sometimes a renovation like this can have a domino effect into the master bedroom, but he was able to prevent that here.”
Because of this flexibility, Walters was able to deal with issues larger than cutting carpet. “One thing to know about using multiple shower heads is that it can increase the budget,” Walters says. “With multiple shower heads, we needed to replace the existing half-inch pipes with three-quarter-inch pipes to get the flow required.” In this case, repiping required chipping below the concrete into the dirt. Moving plumbing can also set the schedule back; multiple plumbing inspections from the county were required along the way.
“The contractor was very flexible, which was a huge help,” Eversoll says of Norm Walters. “He was able to cut back the existing carpet perfectly. Sometimes a renovation like this can have a domino effect into the master bedroom, but he was able to prevent that here.”
Because of this flexibility, Walters was able to deal with issues larger than cutting carpet. “One thing to know about using multiple shower heads is that it can increase the budget,” Walters says. “With multiple shower heads, we needed to replace the existing half-inch pipes with three-quarter-inch pipes to get the flow required.” In this case, repiping required chipping below the concrete into the dirt. Moving plumbing can also set the schedule back; multiple plumbing inspections from the county were required along the way.
“As a designer, I love tile and fitting in multiple patterns and sizes in a small space,” Eversoll says. “When I first presented Dawn and David with four different tiles, their eyes lit up and they were nervous, but there was a lot of trust.” She used long planks with a wood-like texture on the floor, Carrara-like white tile on the walls, a river-rock pattern on the shower floor and a deep-colored glass tile on the shower accent wall.
“When I first saw all the different tiles [during the early design phase], I thought ‘Oh, my gosh!’” Dawn says. “I can’t visualize like Brooke can, and I couldn’t see how it would all come together. But it looks so good.… She was right, and she made us bold!”
Vanities: maple New Haven doors, painted in Harbor Mist, Schuler Cabinetry; highline classic white 1.28-gallons-per-flush (4.85-liters-per-flush) 12-inch rough-in WaterSense elongated 2-piece comfort-height toilet: Kohler; Selia brushed nickel single towel bar: Pfister. All from Lowe’s.
“When I first saw all the different tiles [during the early design phase], I thought ‘Oh, my gosh!’” Dawn says. “I can’t visualize like Brooke can, and I couldn’t see how it would all come together. But it looks so good.… She was right, and she made us bold!”
Vanities: maple New Haven doors, painted in Harbor Mist, Schuler Cabinetry; highline classic white 1.28-gallons-per-flush (4.85-liters-per-flush) 12-inch rough-in WaterSense elongated 2-piece comfort-height toilet: Kohler; Selia brushed nickel single towel bar: Pfister. All from Lowe’s.
The countertops are Curava, which is made of recycled glass and resin. It picks up on the colors in all of the different tiles Eversoll used. “We wanted to find something unique, different from granite or quartz,” she says. “This has beautiful flecks of blues, grays, ambers and whites.”
Counters: Savaii, Curava; Jaida brushed nickel 1-handle 4-inch centerset WaterSense bathroom faucet: Pfister; Verticyl white undermount rectangular bathroom sink with overflow: Kohler; 3-inch center-to-center satin nickel bar cabinet pull: Brainerd; brushed-satin nickel oval cabinet knob: Style Selections. All from Lowe’s.
Counters: Savaii, Curava; Jaida brushed nickel 1-handle 4-inch centerset WaterSense bathroom faucet: Pfister; Verticyl white undermount rectangular bathroom sink with overflow: Kohler; 3-inch center-to-center satin nickel bar cabinet pull: Brainerd; brushed-satin nickel oval cabinet knob: Style Selections. All from Lowe’s.
Remember that one sad vanity in the “before” shot? That was the only storage the couple had in the bathroom. Now they each have an individual vanity. The long, tall cabinet on the left is a 36-inch-tall cabinet customized to 8 inches deep, which makes it less bulky and perfect for finding small toiletries. Note the way it rests atop the 4-inch backsplash, which wraps around the base.
An angled wall across the room (see plans) made installation for the other vanity’s cabinets tricky. “Sometimes people think we have some sort of magic saw and can cut down a finished cabinet, but that’s not really true,” Walters says. “It was much easier in this case to cut into the wall.”
“We love the cabinets,” Dawn says. “Now we have his-and-hers, and it’s been really great.”
An angled wall across the room (see plans) made installation for the other vanity’s cabinets tricky. “Sometimes people think we have some sort of magic saw and can cut down a finished cabinet, but that’s not really true,” Walters says. “It was much easier in this case to cut into the wall.”
“We love the cabinets,” Dawn says. “Now we have his-and-hers, and it’s been really great.”
A new pocket door saves space in the master closet and provides a full-length mirror in the bathroom. Bumping out the plumbing wall created room for the door pocket on the other side.
“I have these same lights myself, and they are so wonderful,” Eversoll says. “The LEDs give off wonderful bright white true color, and they are also dimmable, which is nice first thing in the morning and at night.”
24-inch-by-30-inch brushed nickel rectangular bathroom mirror: allen + roth; 3-light Invite brushed nickel standard bathroom vanity Light: Progress Lighting. All from Lowe’s.
“I have these same lights myself, and they are so wonderful,” Eversoll says. “The LEDs give off wonderful bright white true color, and they are also dimmable, which is nice first thing in the morning and at night.”
24-inch-by-30-inch brushed nickel rectangular bathroom mirror: allen + roth; 3-light Invite brushed nickel standard bathroom vanity Light: Progress Lighting. All from Lowe’s.
When I asked Dawn her favorite thing about the new bathroom, she didn’t hesitate. “I love the rain shower head,” she says. “It feels amazing, like being in a spa.”
Eversoll is also a big fan of this shower head, at right in the photo, because it has not just a rain head but also a handheld head with an adjustable slide. Because it’s one piece, it doesn’t require extra holes and all the water comes from one place, which makes installation simple.
Calacatta white glazed porcelain wall tile and Calacatta white glazed porcelain bullnose tile: Style Selections; Architectural Surfaces 4-pack grain-textured glossy glass indoor-outdoor wall tile: Epoch. All from Lowe’s.
Eversoll is also a big fan of this shower head, at right in the photo, because it has not just a rain head but also a handheld head with an adjustable slide. Because it’s one piece, it doesn’t require extra holes and all the water comes from one place, which makes installation simple.
Calacatta white glazed porcelain wall tile and Calacatta white glazed porcelain bullnose tile: Style Selections; Architectural Surfaces 4-pack grain-textured glossy glass indoor-outdoor wall tile: Epoch. All from Lowe’s.
A new vinyl window and its Polywood shutters stand up to the moisture. “You can hose it down and it won’t warp,” Eversoll says. The exterior of the window is bronze to match the rest of the house.
A river-rock floor adds to the spa-like feeling in the shower. The stall is so roomy that there is plenty of space for a bench. Eversoll added an additional handheld faucet next to it for uses like a quick shampoo, rinsing off just feet and giving the pups a bath.
Delfino stone Arctic topaz honed natural stone mosaic wall tile (on shower floor): American Olean, Lowe’s
Delfino stone Arctic topaz honed natural stone mosaic wall tile (on shower floor): American Olean, Lowe’s
The new door to the bathroom is also a pocket type. The couple plans to replace all the doors in the house with doors in this style.
“The renovation is amazing,” Dawn says. “It feels like we put a new addition on the house.”
Selia brushed nickel wall-mount towel ring: Pfister, Lowe’s
Designer: Brooke Eversoll, Bee Studios Design Build Group
Contractor: Norm Walters Construction
Photographer: Rickie Agapito, AOFOTOS
More: Check out the bright new laundry room that was also part of the sweepstakes prize
“The renovation is amazing,” Dawn says. “It feels like we put a new addition on the house.”
Selia brushed nickel wall-mount towel ring: Pfister, Lowe’s
Designer: Brooke Eversoll, Bee Studios Design Build Group
Contractor: Norm Walters Construction
Photographer: Rickie Agapito, AOFOTOS
More: Check out the bright new laundry room that was also part of the sweepstakes prize
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Thank you for answering my question. That's why some of us have to hire the talented to design our spaces!
@Lee I believe you are taking about the wrapped backsplash under the wall cabinet? I always design me projects with this detail to conserve counter space! The user can leave a hairbrush, makeup or toothbrush laying on the counter and still open the door. Also it protects the cabinet from water splashes from the faucet. Good luck with your project!
YAAAAAY!!! Pocket doors, YES!!! At last, designers are paying attention to users' USE of bathrooms!!! I'm thinking that our great-great-grandparents were probably thrilled when architects and designers brought the "facilities" indoors. Good, but not good enough! But for the past 3-4 decades, how many sleek designer bathrooms have we seen featuring two washbasins side-by-side, much too close for comfort, (who does that anyway?), a single toilet for 4 people or more (on the wrong floor & hard to clean behind), "open" showers with no doors that look wonderful in catalogs and magazines, but with no place for the servant to stand with a mop to tidy up the inevitable splashing, lighting fixtures that are glorious-looking but almost impossible to clean or change bulbs, no bath linen storage or soiled laundry depository, no bath "goods" cabinets for extra tissue rolls and boxes, soap, toilet brushes and plungers, hair cosmetics and curlers/straighteners/blowdryers, etc.), no convenient way to wash dogs, aardvark pets and/or messy kids and elders who live with us and who may need bathroom help. And, shouldn't non-slip floors be mandatory? We need room, people, and conveniences that are just that . . . convenient!