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Design

Modern Traditional Bathroom Refresh + Get The Look

Hey all it’s Ginny here with a quick bathroom refresh makeover. This is at the same house we did the traditional eclectic kitchen remodel and we’re currently helping with some updates on the open plan living and dining room so we’ll be sharing that soon on the blog, but today we are walking you through what we did to the bathroom.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Refresh_Modern Traditional_1

This room is their guest bathroom/powder room which is located between the laundry/kitchen and the guest bedroom (which has now become the nursery). There was a lot of unused space in there that we wanted to maximize, so we started by adding a larger vanity that had more storage and worked better to fill the space functionally. The bathtub was also really big and the client didn’t need for it to be quite that large so we decided to swap it out for a smaller tub and add a full height linen closet next to it. By doing that, it meant that we had to move the window, which to some people might seem crazy and an added expense but was achievable in the overall budget. You can see it a little bit more clearly in the floor plan below where we have highlighted what we changed.

Bathroom_Storage_Drawing_Emily Henderson_Floor Plan

Speaking of budgets, I know a lot of readers are really intrigued as to how much things cost so I’ll try to break this project down a bit. The client wanted to spend between $50 – $75k for the entire renovation which included the full kitchen remodel, the bathroom remodel, painting the entire interior of the house including ceilings, trims and doors, adding new lighting throughout, installing new AC grills, adding a new window to the nursery, building a new bookcase in the living room as well as a few other small bits of things like patching up a random dog door. In some cases, the clients like us to take on all of the budgeting, however with this project the client dealt directly with the contractor. So while the budget was set between 50-75k I don’t know exactly what the overall renovation ended up costing but including the materials it was on the upper end of that range. Considering the amount of work involved, that really isn’t a bad price, but I will note that we didn’t swap out the floors in either the kitchen or bathroom and we kept the existing kitchen appliances which saved us a ton of money.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Refresh_Modern Traditional_Construction

You can see in the above and then below where we added the little nook to create the full length storage area adjacent to the bathtub and how it was built out with custom cabinetry to suit their needs.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Refresh_Modern Traditional_Progress

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Design_Modern Traditional_Full Service_1

And here is the finished room! We kept with the black and white vibe mixed with cararra marble so that way it flowed in from the kitchen well. To save money we opted for a pre-made vanity pre-made vanity with a cararra marble top and swapped out the hardware for something a little nicer. Considering this was bought online, the vanity is actually pretty great, the lines are simple with the shaker fronts and has a ton of storage and fills the space really well. We got all the plumbing fixtures from Pirch which made the process easier and faster.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Design_Modern Traditioanal_Full Service_7

The round mirror, sconces and hardware are from our friends at Rejuvenation. I liked the idea of bringing in a round mirror to soften up that corner and it works well with the cute sconces. I actually just realized that we finished this project a year ago which is crazy and we’re only now just blogging about it. As always we styled it for everyday use by corralling items onto a tray like a toothpaste cup, cotton balls in a neat glass canister and a tube of toothpaste. Items like this are always nicer when they are grouped together on a platform of some sort and that way they’re not feeling scattered around. Since the soap is on it’s lonesome this is ok to be sat closer to the faucet.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Design_Modern Traditional_Full Service_13

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Design_Modern Traditional_Full Service_18

This room is pretty tricky to photograph so unfortunately you don’t get really get to see the full pulled back view of where we added the linen closet. But you can kinda see it peeking through there. It really did help to transform the space and means they now have a lot more storage in there for towels. We retiled around the bathtub with a simple subway and white grout to keep it feeling clean. I’m now wondering why I used those crazy bright orange bottles to style with … ah you live and learn right?!

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Design_Modern Traditional_Full Service_22

To add a little hint of colour we painted out the walls in Sweatshirt Gray from Benjamin Moore. It’s a blue grey that has a little hint of purple in there which makes it feel warm and inviting in there.

Bathroom_Storage_Drawing_Emily Henderson_With Copy

 

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The door between the bathroom and the laundry/kitchen is a pocket door which is ideal for the tight space. You can see the pantry/laundry cabinet which we custom designed to have pull out laundry baskets at the bottom, an appliance station in the middle and then additional storage at the top. There wasn’t really any other space for either the laundry baskets or coffee maker (since the client wanted to hide them away), so we combined it into one space which can be closed off from the kitchen when the washer/dryer is in use.

There you have it, a quick, modern, bathroom refresh. Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions below.

Emily Henderson_Bathroom_Refresh_Modern Traditional_Before_After

If you want to get the look the product links are below:

Emily Henderson_Modern Traditional_Bathroom_Redesign_Full Service_Get the Look

1. Shower Head | 2. Shower Slidebar | 3. Shower Hose | 4. Gray Paint | 5. White Subway Tile | 6. Hand Towel Holder | 7. Turkish Hand Towel (similar) | 8. Round mirror | 9. Sconce | 10. Sink Faucet | 11. Vanity | 12. Hand Soap | 13. Oval Plate | 14. Cabinet Knob | 15. Drawer Handle | 16. Shower Curtain | 17. Curved Shower Curtain Rod and Clip Set | 18. Tub | 19. Loofa (similar) | 20. Ceramic Toothbrush Cup | 21. Glass Canister | 22. White Ceramic Vase (similar) | 23. Pressure Balance | 24. Tub Spout | 25. Penny Hexagon Tile | 26. Bath Mat | 27. Bath Towel | 28. Toilet Paper Holder

More from this project: Traditional Eclectic Kitchen

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Mindy
6 years ago

Wish the fixtures and shower rod were not black, but otherwise pretty!

J
6 years ago

Hi Ginny, love to see the process of this bathroom! Question: the bath seems quite low/short in height versus regular baths (in Europe). Is this true and what was the reason for that? thanks!

Ginny
6 years ago
Reply to  J

Hey J, yes the tub is lower than the typical (european/British) tub. A lot of clients, especially with kids here like to have a low tub so that it makes it easier to bathe their children. Thanks for your comment x

Kim B.
6 years ago
Reply to  Ginny

I live in Europe, and how I miss the low tubs! My mother can not step up high enough to get into our tub/shower here.

Morgan
6 years ago

Really feeling this! I’m currently updating my cottage bathroom and this is just what I needed. I’ve already painted a similar colour, white wall tile and marble floor penny tiles in the shower. My dilemma is the hardware… I’d love to do black/oil rubbed bronze hardware to tie in with the rest of the house which has iron hinges, handles, etc (it’s a 70s pine house). Buuuut the previous owner had just installed beautiful new high-end chrome hardware in the shower and I’d like to keep that. Is it OK to mix metals (chrome for the showerhead, sink faucet, etc and black for towel rod, cupboard pulls, etc) in one room? Or should I go all stainless?

Vicki
6 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

Another designer’s opinion. I was a kitchen/bathroom designer/re-modeler and I’d say yes to the dark finishes that you would like to do and still leaving the bright chrome. To me if you went Stainless it would be like you were trying to matching but didn’t make it. It was surprising to me that several didn’t like this bathroom with the dark fixtures and paint. I loved it. Sounds like yours will be wonderful! Go for it!

Erica
6 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

I would do all chrome (which is in again now), not a mix of chrome and stainless. I probably wouldn’t mix chrome and black either unless you’re a pro, but at least that will look more intentional than the chrome/stainless mix.

Erica
6 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

What makes this a refresh vs. a remodel? I would think that once you replace the tub and move a window, it’s definitely in remodel territory. Is it because you didn’t tear it down to the studs?

Ginny
6 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

Hey Morgan! Thank you for your kind words. It’s totally cool to mix metals. I would probably not mix chrome with stainless in a bathroom but say chrome with black would look great. Good luck with the update! x

Lindsay
6 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

I think its OK to mix! There are a lot of designers mixing metals in kitchens and baths and when its done right, it looks really good! I suggest making a “mood board” to give you an idea of how things might look together. Id maybe keep from mixing more than 2 finishes because they may not look as purposeful. I personally plan to use matte black and chrome in my own upcoming bath remodel. Hope that helps 🙂

Morgan
6 years ago
Reply to  Lindsay

Thanks everyone!
The “stainless” in the last sentence was a mis-type and should have said chrome. But I think this has given me the confidence to go ahead with the black and chrome mix!

K
6 years ago

Like the pictures and glad the owners are happy with the remodel. Think you did a great job for their needs. If it were me I probably would have just put in a new vanity and cleaned it up a little. The original shower/bath looked beautiful to me. And I get the tub may have seemed to big, but when toddlers turn older those small tubs are a real bummer. And for adults those small rubs are a waste. Maybe it’s just because you have such high quality photographs, but the previous stall seemed really well done, pretty new and great quality materials. It would have seemed like throwing away money to me just to redo it, but to each their own. Thanks for sharing. Everyone has their own needs for their families and spaces!

Ginny
6 years ago
Reply to  K

The owners really wanted extra space and storage and I agreed with them on the changes. The tub isn’t actually that small but maybe hard to tell from the photos. The old vanity was just from IKEA that had little to not practical storage and the sink was teeny. Thanks for your comment K. x

6 years ago

I’m just going to give myself a little pat on the back…we recently redid our guest bath and used virtually the same matte black tub kit, sink, and vanity as you guys! I guess I’m doing something right around here if I’m putting something together that looks like the pros did it 🙂 Our walls are actually still white, because I just couldn’t decide if painting the walls a color would work with all the other black and white (and brass) going on in the room. But seeing these photos is giving me some inspiration (although it’s mostly the kids’ bath and I’ve currently got some teal blue accents – maybe I could find a really soft pastel teal for the walls? Is doing an accent wall (vanity wall) a crazy idea in a bathroom?) I think the gray would be too dark in my space. We mixed and matched metals and have almost identical sconces, but in brass, and we switched out the hardware on the vanity for brass as well! I really love this bathroom and seeing some other matte black fixtures out there. And is it just me or is there a real shortage of modern matte… Read more »

Ginny
6 years ago
Reply to  Kayla

Yey! I think if you look around Kayla there are some pretty modern fixtures – we got these from California Faucets and they have some good matte black options. Pastel teal scares me a little but swatch away and see what works. If there’s not a lot of wall space in there I’d just go for it and paint all the walls instead of just one feature wall. At the end of the day it’s just paint and if you don’t love it you can always re-paint it. Thanks for you comment! x

Amy Jones
6 years ago

Love it! Modern & fresh. ?

nikki
6 years ago

Loving the black hardware in the bathroom, great job!

http://www.shopthecococonutroom.com

Megan
6 years ago

I’m surprised at all the negative reactions to this! I think it looks great. The before pics have a kind of cold institutional feel to me so I think you made a big improvement. I get why changing the tub might seem unnecessary to people, but in my own experience having that extra closet space is so incredibly useful I can see why they wanted to add it. Having a linen closet in my bathroom has made such a difference in being able to actually keep it looking nice and uncluttered every day. Nice work!

Idril
6 years ago

If the owners are happy that’s what counts.

This is not for me though. First, putting in a smaller tub is a non-starter! We taller people yearn to stretch our legs in a tub instead of having our bent knees poking out of the water. The dark metal everything is too matchy-matchy and looks cheap.

What I do like about the after is getting rid of the (gross and dirty looking) dark grout, adding a curved shower curtain rod, and adding any vanity that looks more proportional.

Elizabeth
6 years ago

From the comments, it seems a lot aren’t loving the new bathroom, but I’m COMPLETELY feeling it! In my next home, I plan to do something very similar and I LOVE the dramatic black fixtures and door. Seriously that door is so sleek and sexy. I love the larger vanity and the added linen closet. The added storage is especially great for a guest bathroom because I like to keep all the guest amenities, extra towels and bathroom cleaners all there, but hidden. Great work!

6 years ago

Every time I see black on Style by Emily Henderson my heart skips a beat. Keep it coming! <3

Melissa
6 years ago

This is so cute! It’s simple and attainable and I love how easy and livable it feels. AH you guys can do no wrong. XX

Jill
6 years ago

Ooooh, I love this bathroom! I loved the kitchen, too, so I’m thinking that maybe THIS is my style. Great job!

Es
6 years ago

oh darn. I was so excited to see this! i’m desperate for great modern, traditional bath examples as i’m remodeling mine at the moment. i love your work, ginny, but this does not make my eyeballs happy : ( i actually thought the first photo was the BEFORE!
it feels like an ice queen’s powder room. strange because the individual pieces are pretty. storage is also excellent. when will emily reveal her other two, new bathrooms? really keeping my fingers crossed it will be very soon!

rachelle
6 years ago

Beautifully done! Mostly, on that budget, the fact that you did a bathroom AND kitchen is INSANE. People don’t realize that most kitchens alone cost around $50k-$75k in LA. So considering what you had to keep and try to make work with a new design, this is AMAZING! Bravo!

Sarah D.
6 years ago

Loooooove this bathroom! That wall color is so soothing and the black & white combo is cool and clean looking. It looks bigger somehow, even though the vanity grew and a linen closet was added…amazing! Quick design question – when do you wrap the backsplash down the side wall and when don’t you? It looks like this backsplash isn’t flush with the side wall, perhaps that’s why or maybe because the vanity didn’t come with that piece? Looks beautiful!

Jen
6 years ago

LOVE.
Was this an e-design service? I would love to do something similar with the kid’s bathroom.

Christine Schwalm Design
6 years ago

That vanity is a great deal! And I really like how you customized it a bit by adding new hardware. I bet you could also use Rustoleum paint on the hardware that came with with if you were on a tighter budget.

Erin Marie
6 years ago

I like it! The wall color is so lovely, and the black and white make a nice contrast. Nice to have a change from the usual bronze & chrome. I also love the black door, round sconces, and round mirror. Do your thing Ginny! I’m sure the client was interested in black as well and seemed to have very specific layout needs.

Milky
6 years ago

Okay maybe the small tub thingy is growing on me, considering it’s a kids bathroom not the main one. It’ll be useful for a couple of years for bathing toddlers, then when the kids are older, the tub is not too tall to step over and into the shower.
What’s the rationale for a curved curtain rod? Is that a US thing? I haven’t seen it before and can’t figure the reason, seeing as you have to put the curtain inside the tub during showers …
Also wondering if the doors on each side lock? I always wonder how that works (for jack n jills too) – doesn’t someone always just annoyingly leave one side locked so you have to go all the way around? 😀

Idril
6 years ago
Reply to  Milky

Milky, curved shower rods are great. By angling the curtain away they give more room to move around and somehow stop the curtain from being sucked into the shower and onto your legs. I first saw them in hotels then eventually saw them in retail stores.

Liz
6 years ago

It’s really weird that y’all removed all of the negative comments from this morning…not the kind of transparency I have come to expect from this site!

jill
6 years ago
Reply to  Liz

it may be because this is actually somebody’s home. so if the comments were more critical than constructive in tone, maybe they want to spare their client – who they are still working with.

es
6 years ago
Reply to  jill

oh no. not cool to remove people’s opinions, EHD peeps. If your client agrees to take the work public on the blog, they should be able to handle criticism. no one said anything rude or out of line. just honest feedback.

emily jane
6 years ago
Reply to  jill

YES!!! i agree -wholeheartedly…

emily jane
6 years ago
Reply to  emily jane

i agree wholeheartedly with Jill (above) -client is definitely more important than negative commenters…

es
6 years ago
Reply to  Liz

oh no. not cool to remove people’s opinions, EHD peeps. If your client agrees to take the work public on the blog, they should be able to handle criticism. no one said anything rude or out of line. just honest feedback.

Kelsey
6 years ago
Reply to  es

I agree, that feels icky. If it was derogatory or offensive I could understand, but to do it because people voiced a negative opinion seems very disingenuous. Overall I think the Bathroom is ok, I like it but it doesn’t scream EHD to me. I feel like it is lacking charm, and that bath rug just throws me off. It looks like something you would see in a dorm room. I do love the sconces though.

Megan
6 years ago
Reply to  Liz

I agree! I saw the negative comments this morning and then purposely came back later hoping to see a response to them but instead they were removed. After the whole political thread I would have expected the EHD team to be able to handle a little criticism about a design. Overall the negative comments were not mean spirited and were stating things they saw about the design. Not every design can be a winner and that should be ok. But removing comments just feels wrong.

Idril
6 years ago
Reply to  Megan

Agree with all of you that the deleted comments from early morning were not derogatory, offensive, or rude.

Very disappointed that someone on the blog decided to delete the comments because they expressed an honest negative opinion about the design and shut down the conversation instead.

It makes me think twice about spending my time posting a comment.

Michelle
6 years ago
Reply to  Liz

I completely agree! I noticed the negative comments when this was first posted and I came back today to see if there were any responses. None of the comments were rude and I believe that if a client agrees to have the content be public then they should also agree to allow honest comments on the post. I think less of this site as a whole because comments were deleted. Bad form.

CM
6 years ago

Functionally, I think it is a big improvement. I am sure the client is loving the added space. Aesthetically, I like all the big pieces, but the purple undertones in the paint and heavy use of black finishes throws it off for me. A warmer gray or a white paint might have been better, as well as some natural or warm finishes, like a wood or rattan mirror, maybe white pulls, softer sconces. Nickel or chrome might have been nice with the gray in the marble. Or maybe a black and white patterned wallpaper would have helped tie the black finishes in more. This is all just my opinion of course. If the clients are happy that is what is important.

Nicole
6 years ago
Reply to  CM

Dont want to get this comment erased, but agree! I can understand doing things just because the client requested it, since it is their house, but maybe its not great design anymore?

Anna
6 years ago

I am in the “love it” camp, but I love cool tones without any warm. I was really surprised that so many people had critical things to say. But NOW I am really scandalized by the fact that you deleted the comments! Weird!

I appreciate that you posted a makeover on a Friday. I’m always bracing for outfits.

emily jane
6 years ago
Reply to  Anna

(I think maybe the negative comments were deleted because the EmHendo team were being considerate of their client..?)

BrookeJ
6 years ago

Loving the black fixtures, really pops against the white! (so do those orange shower bottles, I think they look fun in there or it would be super duper neutral)

Tiffanie Hall
6 years ago

Beautiful bathroom!

Sylvie Rozon
6 years ago

Hi, Love everything about this bathroom refresh. I was looking at the shower head on California Faucets website and they don’t have it in matte black. The tub spout is listed. Is everything in the picture all matte black?

Sandy
6 years ago

Ginny, the bathroom is pretty, but I honestly cannot read posts you write, as the grammar is distractingly awful. Seriously, it takes away from the otherwise professional appearance of the posts.

This should be three sentences, not one: “This is at the same house we did the traditional eclectic kitchen remodel and we’re currently helping with some updates on the open plan living and dining room so we’ll be sharing that soon on the blog, but today we are walking you through what we did to the bathroom.” Also, you are missing a word–“at the same house where we did the traditional …”

Things are not “built out”–they are built. Similarly, you do not “paint out” something–you paint it. I don’t even know what “Since the soap is on it’s lonesome this is ok to be sat closer to the faucet” means.

It is “carrara,” not “cararra.”

I don’t understand why a post that took you a year to write has so many mistakes in it.

Michelle
6 years ago
Reply to  Sandy

Ginny is from England. Perhaps her choice of words reflects her English roots. Regardless, I didn’t have any difficulty understanding anything that she wrote.

CM
6 years ago
Reply to  Sandy

Yes, errors can detract from the professional appearance of a post. However, despite the run-on sentence and spelling error, I understood what Ginny was saying. Additionally, it isn’t uncommon to hear “paint out” and “build out” in construction/design trade lingo. I didn’t have a grammatical problem with being told where it is okay to put my soap, but I did think it was such a basic thing – items on a tray, soap by the sink – that it didn’t need description.

6 years ago
Reply to  Sandy

Sandy, I think this is a really great time for you to embrace the lesson we all learned as kids: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

This is a post about design; Ginny has not asked the audience to chime in on her grammar, so maybe we should just embrace the spirit of the post and discuss the design?

Also, if her conversational syntax is so troubling to you, maybe just stop reading the post and, you know, move on. Know-it-all comments like yours just really don’t add anything to the conversation, and they spoil the fun!

xx Hannah

6 years ago

Amazing! I love it! So inspired by you!

Eden
6 years ago

I love this bathroom! Particularly the wall color and the dark fixtures. Also, the shorter tub is so smart for bathing kids. My back is killing me from all the baths I have given our now 3-year-old in our higher tub.

6 years ago

This bathroom is awesome, my fav piece is the vanity! Great job
XO
Anna From Italy

https://pineapplemakeup.wordpress.com/

Amy
6 years ago

I think this bathroom is adorable! Orange bottles and all 😉

My question- as I anticipate a kitchen remodel approaching…is what kind of little microwave you fit into the pantry? Hoping to do something similar with microwave storage…

Thanks!

Josh
6 years ago

The black hardware is a bit harsh. Brass would brighten up the space a lot and give some polish. The design is very good overall, but not a fan of the high contrast using the black fixtures.

Kim B.
6 years ago
Reply to  Josh

I love love love the black hardware, and the mixture of the marble top and the tile. I also like the paint choice — I don’t think I would have “seen” it if you hadn’t actually talked about it, so thank you.