Most homeowners hope their home has that “wow factor”—whether it’s their landscaping, kitchen or bathroom. But while one Grandview Heights couple’s guest bathroom had a definite “wow” factor, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Chances are likely that upon entering the 70s-era space guests may have thought, “Wow! This is definitely a dated bathroom.”
“It was quite a mess,” Matthew Ray president of Custom Classic Renovations says of his clients’ bathroom. “Not abused or neglected…just blue. Blue tub, blue sink, blue fixtures and white tile.”
The homeowners purchased the home in 1997 from the wife’s mother. The house has been in her family since the sixties, and it’s where she grew up. The couple knew their lower-level guest bath needed work when the sink began having drainage issues and the toilet used a large amount of water to flush, but they were skeptical about another renovation project due to a negative experience on a previous kitchen remodel five years earlier.
The homeowners took their time selecting a contractor and explained that it was an internet search that led them to Custom Classic Renovations’ website. The two were impressed by the company’s slogan, “Cheap Work is Never Good, and Good Work is Never Cheap.”
The homeowners’ wish list centered on the need for a walk-in shower. “As we get older, we know we’ll want an accessible shower on our lower level,” the wife explains. “We also wanted to update our fixtures to make the space more energy efficient.”
The homeowners turned to Ray’s team and interior designer Kellie Toole to transform their dated space into a contemporary, spa retreat. “The bathroom was modest in size, but we gave it a large feel,” Ray says.
The design team gutted the bathroom down to the studs and then worked together to maximize the 5×9-foot space. “The door being in front of the commode made things tight, so we pushed the commode into the wall framing,” Ray says. “This created a space above for storage, which was an added bonus.”
A floating cherry countertop also opened the space, and it was design compilation. “My husband picked the vanity,” the wife explains. “He took a picture of his vision to Matthew, and his team made it a reality.”
The guest bath is located off the remodeled kitchen, and Ray says the cherry wood was selected to carry the material of the kitchen floor into the space. Three coats of clear polyurethane were applied to protect the wood from water damage.
The glass block window opposite the vanity was the only design element kept from the original space. Ray explains that glass block is not only making a comeback aesthetically for its clean lines, but it allows for maximum daylight. “If we’d installed a regular window, we would have lost two to three inches of the light source on each side.”
A Zen mirror, wallpaper and shower tile, selected by Toole, finish the space with a natural, calm feel. “The bathroom really was a combination of the three of us,” the wife says of the homeowner, contractor and designer trio.