Bathroom Renovation — Kelly Towart

I am so excited to share this bathroom renovation with you! What started out as just a project updating our shower ended up turning into a full gut renovation of our bathroom! I have learned so much over the last few months and I could not recommend the retailers we went with for this project more highly. They made this entire project go from what could have been a very overwhelming renovation to a fun and creative design project. Here’s how it all started…

When we bought our home, we quickly realized our bathroom had been added on and was not part of the original house. The quality of the bathroom addition was definitely lacking and it looked like they cut every corner possible during the build. There were a number of issues and “quirks” with the bathroom but when the handle broke off our shower it was the final straw. Initially we just planned to change the shower fixtures, but that led to us discovering that the shower was slowly leaking water into our crawlspace below, as it had not been properly waterproofed. The leak was causing wood rot and mold to grow below the shower. Justin and I thought about just ripping out and re-doing our shower but as we talked more about our future goals of moving in a year or two, we realized it might be a good idea to renovate the whole bathroom and make it more appealing to a future buyer. We knew there were other issues with the bathroom and fixing them now would give us a little time to also enjoy it ourselves before we sell.

Justin, being an Architect, had heard great things about TileAmerica and Torrco Design Center from other designers he had worked with in the area so we decided to reach out and partner with them for the tile and fixtures for our bathroom. That was hands down the best decision we made. Their employees are incredibly helpful and so knowledgeable which made the entire process go so smoothly. Their showrooms are also connected so we ended up feeling like we had a whole design team working together.

When we first walked into TileAmerica I felt incredibly inspired and also very overwhelmed. It was hard to know where to start with so much beautiful tile lining the walls. They did an incredible job of listening to what our vision was and bringing out tile after tile that fit what we were hoping for until we found the right combination of price and aesthetic. Justin and I really wanted to go with a light grey that had a more neutral feel so that anyone buying our home could envision the space as their own. Our thought was to keep everything neutral and add fun wallpaper (something easy for others to change out) that really would give the bathroom the character we were looking for. For the walls, we knew we didn’t want a standard subway tile but wanted something with a bit of texture to it. This took some time, but we finally found a high-end tile from Adex USA that we both completely fell in love with.

After finding the tile for our walls we started to look for the shower floor. Initially we thought about a penny tile but I found myself wanting something a little more unique. Tile America was amazing at showing us multiple options and eventually helping us find a beautiful marble stone pebble tile. The second I saw it I knew it was exactly what I wanted. Justin agreed and then we found a great tile that was sourced locally from CT for the floor. It was so much fun seeing all of the tile coming together and picturing it in our space.

Once the tile was chosen we headed over to Torrco Design Center to choose bathroom fixtures. Because their showrooms are connected it allowed us to bring bathroom fixtures over to Tile America to see how they would look next to our tile selections. It felt like we had this amazing design team working together making it incredibly easy to decide on the perfect pairings. After going through this process I honestly don’t know how people can make selections without seeing everything together in once place.

The Torrco showroom was a dream to walk around. Justin and I immediately fell In love with a gorgeous matte white sink fixture from Baril and knew it was a must buy for us. We found the perfect rain head shower and control valve (also from Baril) and were even able to mix and match brands to find the exact shower wand (Newport Brass) we wanted to go with our rain head fixture. Justin found a Toto toilet that was perfect for our space and the whole bathroom started falling together into place.

Once everything was chosen, we were walked through the importance of waterproofing our shower and were told that in terms of the highest quality waterproofing available, nothing compared to Schluter. After experiencing a shower that leaked we knew we wanted to go with the best. They helped us find everything from Schluter we needed to waterproof properly. There were so many steps that I knew nothing about and I found myself learning so much along the way. It was amazing working with people who were so knowledgeable and good at what they do to walk us through the steps. Having the ability to work together with TileAmerica and Torrco at the same time was such a game changer and we were so happy with how everything was turning out.

Once tile and fixtures were selected, Justin designed us custom cabinets with a built in washer and dryer. We knew we wanted the look of custom cabinets but we were not loving the price tag. Justin had become familiar with Discount Kitchen Direct cabinets through another architect friend. He had been so impressed with the quality and the price point that we decided to reach out to them for our project.

Discount Kitchen Direct uses solid wood cabinets (never fiber board!) so their products are professional grade and highly durable. They have a broad range of finishes from modern to a more traditional feel. Their team was great at helping us find solutions to make their not-so-custom cabinets totally customized to our space. They brought Justin’s design to life for a fraction of what it would have cost to get truly custom work done. The results were stunning. One of the reasons I love DKD is that they are making high-end cabinets accessible to a wider range of customers, like us. You would truly never know based on the quality and final look that this wasn’t a custom job.

I also found out through this process that while their cabinets are professional grade they are also DIY friendly and designed for easy assembly (you don’t need any specialized tools or extensive experience to install them). If you’re doing a job yourself, they are perfect for everything from a kitchen renovation to a smaller project like a bathroom, closet or mud room. If you go with DKD for your project you will essentially be paying more reasonable prices but will end up with high-end custom build quality and feel.

Discount Kitchen Direct was very generous and even gave me a code to give you all 5% off on your purchase for your next project. The code is KellyT5.

We started the renovation in the beginning of December, but it was not complete until the end of Februrary. Our contractor did an amazing job, but we definitely had a few hiccups along the way. Once he got started tearing up our existing floor we realized the floor was completely uneven and had to level it (and do some structural repair) before beginning work so our new tile wouldn’t crack when it was installed. There was also some time off for the holidays but start to finish, the project took about 3 months.

Once the bathroom was completed, we chose our wallpaper and some of the finishing touches like dried flowers, baskets for above the washer and dryer, fresh towels and a beautiful hamper. It was so much fun to see it all come together and to enjoy the finished project. It’s by far the nicest room in our house! While being one bathroom down for three months with three kiddos in the house was not my favorite, we had such a blast designing the room and it turned out beyond what I had hoped for! Now I can’t stop dreaming of moving to a new home so we can design the next room (and the next, and the next!)!