Stockton, CA
Heather and Lowell are both scientists, and they approached their bathroom the way scientists do: Heather called it the ugliest bathroom ever thirteen times in one discovery call. (We tallied.) Worse, they couldn’t agree on a single finish, and the arguments were wearing on them. They needed a referee with a design degree.
We gutted the room. A hulking, unused soaking tub had been squeezing the shower, so the tub went, the closet was reconfigured to lend space, and the vanity moved to the adjacent wall. When moving second-floor plumbing and windows blew past the budget, we redesigned: same problems solved, with privacy shades standing in for new windows.
Three design schemes later, they liked the layout but split on tile: she wanted more of this, he wanted more of that. So we pulled our library and mixed combinations live for 90 minutes until both said yes. The winners: large-format shower tile in a sand-and-wave pattern, soft blue and gray Zellige tile laid in herringbone, chrome fixtures, and quartz counters.
Lighted, mirrored medicine cabinets fixed the storage and the terrible mirror light in one move. Heather got a dedicated makeup vanity of her own, and a proper door finally replaced the saggy closet drapes.
Heather says we saved their marriage. We’ll settle for the bathroom. This was a Turnkey Design project. Read the full story on the blog. Can’t agree on your remodel? Tell us about your project.
