Caitlin’s Dramatic Bathroom Makeover With Kohler

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After months of hard work and renovations, Caitlin is excited to share her dramatic bathroom makeover that she completed thanks to the help of our partnership with Kohler!

I’m so relieved our bathroom renovation is over! As first-time homeowners, we learned so much throughout this process and it took so much longer than anticipated! I’ll walk you through all of the changes we made and show the pretty frightening ‘before’ photos! After browsing the Kohler IDEAS hub for inspiration, I came up with my plans for the bathroom that you can see right here. Our goal was to brighten up the space, replace the flooring and tile and maximize the most of our small space. With the addition of our sleek new vanity and new shelves, we were able to do just that!

Our bathroom had never been updated—original 1970s cabinets, terracotta floor tiles and an awful bath-fitter tub made the windowless space dreary and drab. While I was excited to finally have a bathroom in our bedroom when we bought the house, it offered little to no storage and my beauty products were stored under my dresser in baskets, always overflowing. It was an unorganized mess!

Before:

The bathroom also had a weird wall-mounted toilet that was in need of an update!

And after:

Such a breath of fresh air! We removed the entire tub and replaced it with a sleek shower! Because we utilized this streamlined, modern Kohler door, I wanted to do something fun with the tile on the walls! After much deliberation, we decided to go with an oversized subway tile in a herringbone pattern with gray grout. It really makes the gold Kohler faucets pop! We went with the Purist line, which we already have in our other bathroom. We also added shelves, replaced the toilet with a new sleek option from Kohler and installed cement floor tile. The most dramatic last-minute addition was that of a tube skylight. It floods the small bathroom with light nearly all day and makes it feel so much larger!

Before:

Here’s a ‘before’ view from the other side. The vintage medicine cabinet offered a few tiny shelves of storage space, so we gutted this whole section, took a few inches of our closet space on the other side and installed shelves. This gave us a huge amount of storage we didn’t have before! I also love that there is space for our laundry basket under the shelves instead of having it visible in the bedroom (such a pet peeve of mine).

And after:

Before: 

A dated vanity, huge wall-length mirror and poor lighting made this the least desirable place to get ready for the day.

And after:

And now we have a beautiful, bright white Jacquard Vanity with gold Purist faucets and hardware! A simple round mirror and sconces updated the space. After living without a proper hand towel bar for a year, we finally installed a sleek towel bar next to the sink.

My favorite part about the vanity is all of the storage, I was shocked that all of my beauty supplies easily fit in my side! Though, often not seen, the under-the-sink storage is pretty great in this vanity, too. We have an outlet strip for all of my hair tools (and a nice spot for my Clarisonic to charge) and a dedicated spot for my hair stuff to live.

All of our hard work certainly paid off with our bathroom remodel, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the bathroom we have today. Getting ready for the day is a breeze thanks to ample, organized storage in our vanity! The natural light makes a world of difference, too! Here are a few tips I learned along the way:

1. Sit with your design plan for a few months before you begin the project. I changed my mind so many times and really wish I would have simmered on the final choices I made at least for a few weeks before pulling the trigger.
2. Work with a reputable, insured and trusted contractor. We definitely learned this the hard way. With that being said, even if you’re working with a contractor who comes recommended, I highly suggest getting quotes from a few to ensure competitive pricing and to be sure you aren’t being undercharged (if you are, there is most certainly a reason why).
3. Monitor the progress. If you look at the photo above, you’ll see the tiles don’t exactly meet up on the left hand seam of our shower. I kick myself every time I walk into the bathroom because we could have avoided this mistake had we checked in on this crucial part of the renovation to be sure the tile was placed exactly what we had envisioned.
4. Have ALL your materials and supplies in hand before your contractor begins work. Again, I learned this the hard way and had a several week delay thanks to some of our tile being on backorder.
5. Choose quality pieces that will stand the test of time. I’m so grateful we have a Kohler shower, faucets, vanity and toilet. I know these investment pieces will stand up to the test of time and their sleek design is timeless.