Fall 2021 One Room Challenge: Our Main Bath Renovation

I’m so excited to be participating in our first One Room Challenge! We’ve been in our house a few years now, and while we’ve done quite a few projects the timelines have never lined up right to join a ORC round. If you’re unfamiliar with the One Room Challenge, it’s biannual blog and Instagram event that happened every spring and fall. Each round, twenty design influencers are selected to take the challenge, as Featured Designers, and transform a space. Every Wednesday (Thursdays for Guest Participants), the designers document their process while sharing their sources and professional advice over eight weekly posts. Guest Participants are also welcome to join with the chance to come back as a Featured Designer the following round. Each season I enjoy following along with participants and am all for the most dramatic transformations.

When Ty and I were talking through the next steps on our bathroom remodel I realized that this years’ Fall ORC was starting in just a few days — so we decided to go for it. We love a deadline, and this is just the push we need to get this bathroom project finished amidst raising babies and busy schedules.

To catch you up: we gutted our main/guest bathroom nearly a year ago, had a baby, got busy with work, helped with a church plant and lots of other events in between that halted progress on the project. Ty got most of the unexciting elements wrapped up over the past few months (electrical, plumbing, drywall) and now we’re rounding the corner to start on some of the “fun” stuff.

Here is the bathroom in all of it’s before glory:

the before

problems with this space

– Problematic drywall and subfloor movement
– Poor layout = underutilized space
– Small shower
– Large, awkward & inefficient vanity
– Lack of usable storage

the design
multi-functional | textural | Warm

This bathroom design was tricky for me because it had to wears multiple hats: main bath, bathroom right off our mudroom and guest bath. It couldn’t be too fancy (not a primary bath), needed to feel a little laid-back and practical (living with little kids, right off of our mudroom) but also needed to feel special (guest bath).

When it came to finishes, I kept coming back to this image; I love all of the tonal texture and the high contrast of the black accents. It also feels elevated yet understated which is exactly what I was going for.

I spent a long time playing with different layout options and ways to make the most of the available space in this bathroom. We ultimately decided on making the most of the space without overhauling all of the plumbing by using a pocket door, turning the toilet, making a roomy shower & a vanity that better fit the space. I’m most excited for the big shower. We situated the turn on valve so that you can reach in and turn the water on without getting wet, and while it feels luxurious because of the size — the all-over 4×4 tile will have an unfussy and timeless feel to it.

Here are the scaled drawings & general design direction: