Before & After: Hollywood Bath

Another home improvement before & after.  This time, a fairly extensive makeover of what Branelle calls a "Hollywood Bath".  Some call these bathrooms "Jack & Jill" baths because they are shared between two bedrooms.  In our case, this one is between my walk-in closet (which used to be a bedroom) and our office (which should be a bedroom).  It's really like a 2nd bathroom on our master suite.  Whatever you want to call it, it was hideous!

Here are some 'before' pictures:

Some of the issues were cosmetic, like the peeling floral wallpaper, the aged and flaking paint on all the cabinets, the awesome Saltillo tile and equally awesome carpet in the sink area, and the cultured marble counter with chrome faucets.  Other issues were functional including the toilet that you had to hold down for five seconds to flush, the leaking valves in the shower, and the box lighting that wasn't bright enough to be useful.  

The first thing I tackled was the lighting.  It was pretty simple really.  I just wired three recessed lights into the three existing lights and then used drywall to box in the opening. 

Here are the lights after I put them in but before they were finished or textured:

    
When I did this, I wasn't really planning on doing anything else immediately, but once again we were strolling through Lowe's and they had a special order counter that had been returned.  We measured it and decided it would fit if we cut a little off each end so we snatched it.  I started tearing down everything in the bathroom.

Notice the three layers of wallpaper, each more spectacular than the last!

I had my plumber come install all new pipes, valves, and hardware in the shower, converting it from the old three-knob style to a modern single-arm control.  We had the entire room stripped, textured, and painted, including refinishing the cabinets and built-ins.  We installed the new counter and new faucets, including changing all the valves, we added an accent wall of glass tile behind the sinks and installed two mirrors instead of the wall of glass that was there before, we had a really nice tile installed that looks like wood, we put a new toilet in, and we changed all the hardware, plugs, and switches.  

Here is the finished product (sorry for the pictures, it's hard to take shots of a bathroom):

   

I think the recessed lights were a big improvement, especially with the addition of the accent wall.

The floors turned out very nice.  It has a nice texture to it and everybody keeps acting shocked that it's not real wood, even though you would NEVER put wood in a bathroom.

The counter was the starter for the whole job.  A special thanks to my brother for helping me cut and install it.