Room of the Day: A Closet Helps a Master Bathroom Grow
Dividing a master bath between two rooms conquers morning congestion and lack of storage in a century-old Minneapolis home
There was only so much that could be done to update an 80-square-foot bathroom in the third-floor attic of a 100-year-old home in Minneapolis. The homeowners wanted more room, more built-in storage and a double shower. “[It was] really tired and worn out and all jammed together in one 8-by-10 space,” says designer and builder Rick Severson. Built in the 1970s or ’80s, the bathroom also wasn’t original to the house.
In converting the attic into a master suite, Severson decided to expand the bathroom into the closet across the hall. Breaking up the bathroom into two rooms not only gave the family more space for storage and amenities, but it also made the couple’s morning routine easier. ”We had this luxury of having more space than you usually have in the bathroom,” Severson says.
In converting the attic into a master suite, Severson decided to expand the bathroom into the closet across the hall. Breaking up the bathroom into two rooms not only gave the family more space for storage and amenities, but it also made the couple’s morning routine easier. ”We had this luxury of having more space than you usually have in the bathroom,” Severson says.
The expanded half of the bathroom lies across the hallway, replacing an old closet. It features double sinks, a vanity area and lots of built-in storage. The 3-foot-wide walkway between sinks and vanity gives both homeowners room to get ready. While Severson eliminated the window on the shower side of the bathroom, he replaced the window on this side with a much larger one.
More built-ins was a main request from the homeowners, providing them with more storage as well as helping to make the space look less like an attic. The cabinets’ flat fronts, done in a traditional style, counteract the sloping ceiling and make the room feel less triangular.
The challenges of remodeling a 100-year-old house presented themselves to the design team as soon as they installed the first custom cabinet that didn’t fit. Though they had accounted for sloping walls, they hadn’t expected sloping floors and ceilings too. “We couldn’t correct it,” Severson says. “You can’t take the roof off, and you can’t take the floor off.” Each cabinet piece had to be made individually, based on a cardboard mock-up that had been fitted on-site.
“This was, by far, the most challenging [project] in a long time,” Severson says. ”Because we incorporated so much plumbing, countertops and cabinetry, we really needed to figure out how to make these crooked walls look straight.” In many cases, the back of the cabinets don’t even touch the wall, since the angles are so dramatic. The wall behind the towel storage unit slopes 3 to 4 inches from top to bottom. “We probably had to make that cabinet a couple of times,” Severson says. The countertops overhang the back and front of the cabinets so that everything appears flush. Mirrors also correct some of the lines by sitting off the wall a bit and concealing the transition from wall up to ceiling.
Wall and cabinet color: Cloud Cover, Benjamin Moore; countertop: Calacatta Nuvo, Caesarstone; sinks: Mirabelle; fixtures: Delta; floor tile: Heritage hexagon in black, Akdo
More built-ins was a main request from the homeowners, providing them with more storage as well as helping to make the space look less like an attic. The cabinets’ flat fronts, done in a traditional style, counteract the sloping ceiling and make the room feel less triangular.
The challenges of remodeling a 100-year-old house presented themselves to the design team as soon as they installed the first custom cabinet that didn’t fit. Though they had accounted for sloping walls, they hadn’t expected sloping floors and ceilings too. “We couldn’t correct it,” Severson says. “You can’t take the roof off, and you can’t take the floor off.” Each cabinet piece had to be made individually, based on a cardboard mock-up that had been fitted on-site.
“This was, by far, the most challenging [project] in a long time,” Severson says. ”Because we incorporated so much plumbing, countertops and cabinetry, we really needed to figure out how to make these crooked walls look straight.” In many cases, the back of the cabinets don’t even touch the wall, since the angles are so dramatic. The wall behind the towel storage unit slopes 3 to 4 inches from top to bottom. “We probably had to make that cabinet a couple of times,” Severson says. The countertops overhang the back and front of the cabinets so that everything appears flush. Mirrors also correct some of the lines by sitting off the wall a bit and concealing the transition from wall up to ceiling.
Wall and cabinet color: Cloud Cover, Benjamin Moore; countertop: Calacatta Nuvo, Caesarstone; sinks: Mirabelle; fixtures: Delta; floor tile: Heritage hexagon in black, Akdo
While the new cabinetry and window casing echo the home’s original details, decorating touches, driven by the homeowner and interior designer, add modernity to the space. Antique-brass hardware and black hex tile floors, though typically traditional details, are given modern treatments. “One hundred years ago, the hex would have been 2-inch-by-2-inch,” Severson says.
Wall sconces: Visual Comfort; stool: West Elm; door and drawer pulls: Ashley Norton
Wall sconces: Visual Comfort; stool: West Elm; door and drawer pulls: Ashley Norton
The floor plan of the attic master suite shows the new master bathroom. The sinks and vanity are in one room, and the shower and toilet are in the other.
Designer and builder: Rick Severson (designer) and Danny Hecker (project manager), Clairmont Design Build
Interior designer: Lucy Interior Design
More
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Designer and builder: Rick Severson (designer) and Danny Hecker (project manager), Clairmont Design Build
Interior designer: Lucy Interior Design
More
10 Things to Consider Before Remodeling Your Bathroom
See more bathroom remodeling guides
Who lives here: John and Sara Biondi, and their two toddler children
Location: Kenwood neighborhood of Minneapolis
Size: 160 square feet (14.9 square meters); two separate 8-by-10-foot rooms
For usability and more space, the original bathroom now houses only the shower, toilet and a built-in bench, with the sinks and a vanity area moving across the hall. The contractors demolished the bathroom, reframing and resupporting the floors. The toilet occupies its original spot (across from the built-in bench), the bench takes the place of the old vanity, and a double shower replaces the oversize tub.
Though the ceilings in the bathroom are 10 feet tall, the subway tile in the shower stops at 8 feet. The sloping attic ceiling, paired with the century-old walls’ undulating irregularities, made mounting a flat piece of tile difficult. “It was just getting worse as we were getting higher,” Severson says. Cutting off the tile at 8 feet also brought the ceiling down visually. “Lower ceilings dictate a sense of intimacy and enclosure, which I prefer in bathrooms,” Severson says.
The design team tiled over a window during the renovation, which now forms the shower niche. They decided that it would be easier to avoid waterproofing a window, and they also didn’t want to have a single vinyl window, as the shower would have required, in a home filled with wood windows. “It was just going to be better not to have that window,” he says. The rest of the room is centered on that niche.
Shower drain: Kohler; shower fixtures: Delta