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jagood

How To Update a 1997 Tract Home?

jagood
9 years ago
We are selling our large custom home and will be down-sizing, probably into a home in Del Webb Roseville, California, favoring the Hearthwood model on a large lot. After living in a home designed specifically for our taste and lifestyle, it is difficult to imagine how we will go about updating a 1997 tract home to reflect our style. The CC&Rs will make it difficult to make exterior changes, but we can make interior changes and changes to the landscape.

The room that bothers me the most in this model is the master bathroom. It is long and narrow. On the window side is a tub, surrounded on both ends by a single vanity. On the opposite wall is a shower, surrounded on both sides by closets. At the far end is a small toilet compartment. There are high clerestory windows as well as glass block windows around the tub. I am attaching some photos that I took from for-sale listings of this model so you can get an idea of the layout. I'm not sure that it would be practical to move the rough plumbing because of the concrete floors.

Suggestions for making this room look more like a bath in a very up-scale hotel would be appreciated.

Comments (15)

  • jagood
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    Attaching floorplan.
  • PRO
    ARHAM DESIGNS
    9 years ago
    Lot of renovation to do mail me your floor plan with measurements.
    jagood thanked ARHAM DESIGNS
  • PRO
    Lampert Dias Architects, Inc.
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago
    The space is great. It just needs remodeling........You can update the windows, doors, flooring, cabinets, mirrors, countertops and paint and you will have a fabulous bathroom.
    You might want to consult with a local architect or interior designer for help.

    I have a few images that I am posting to inspire you.........
    jagood thanked Lampert Dias Architects, Inc.
  • PRO
    ARHAM DESIGNS
    9 years ago
    lampard dias architects they are amazing projects.
  • PRO
    Lampert Dias Architects, Inc.
    9 years ago
    Only the first project is an LDA project ....the rest are from our file of images that we keep for inspiration.
  • PRO
    ARHAM DESIGNS
    9 years ago
    is there a way v can work together
  • apple_pie_order
    9 years ago
    I echo Lampert Dias Architects comments that the space is great. It can be renovated. There is no way a little paint, a new shower door and new window treatments are going to make it look like an upscale hotel of 2014. Your ideabooks are full of well organized spaces designed for real people to use and enjoy. If you want a sleek, elegant and well organized bathroom, collect some more photos and then call in an architect or bathroom designer and a contractor.
    jagood thanked apple_pie_order
  • PRO
    Jeffrey Brooks Interior Design
    9 years ago
    You might panel all of the walls, bath tub (etc) in wood to match the cabinetry. Frame out the windows and clad the sheet rock around the windows (at the tub deck) in the same, Beef up the crown molding and install cove lighting behind the crown. Upgrade the shower with frameless glass. You can take out the sheets of mirror above the vanities and add framed ovals. This will make space for sconces. Paint the ceiling in a light Blue and the walls in Venetian Plaster. Whatever the details you pick, think of the theme as a Library.
    jagood thanked Jeffrey Brooks Interior Design
  • jagood
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    Thank you all for the replies and ideas. It is reassuring that some of you think the space is great. As I said in my first post, we have not bought this home yet, but are considering doing so as soon as our present home sells and one becomes available on an acceptable lot.

    I am studying the floor plans of the various models in the Del Webb development and this one, the Hearthwood, would work well for us with some changes. We would turn the living room into an elegant library/office and redo the kitchen (big island with seating instead of putting a table into area designated as nook, and put a beverage/wine center near dining room), and use engineered wood floors (over concrete sub-floor) everywhere except the bedroom wing. We tend to feel most relaxed in rooms that I would describe as a fusion of Modern/Asian/Craftsman style or "soft contemporary". I'm having a difficult time envisioning the Hearthwood master bath as a space that incorporates that aesthetic.

    I currently have a fiberglass rectangular deep soaking tub; it uses far less water than a standard big tub and has a raised seat that is very comfortable. I would like to have a similar tub in my next home, with a safe way to enter and exit (step, railing). It's wonderful to sit in that tub, with the water over my shoulders, with quiet music in the background. Since a soaking tub of this kind is not as long as the one currently installed in the Hearthwood model, there would be space to build some sort of vertical structure on either end of the tub - sort of a niche for the tub. Because windows surround the tub I think this would become the focal point of the room.
  • PRO
    Jeffrey Brooks Interior Design
    9 years ago
    Maybe these photos will help
  • jagood
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago
    I really like those free standing tubs. I also like the idea of hinting at a shoji without actually making it a true shoji. It is hard to describe, but I am drawn to the Asian aesthetic without actually wanting to copy what is traditionally used to represent Asian decor. I think the photos you posted capture that feeling. I hate those glass block windows - they have to go for sure, and opening the space up to a private garden area would be ideal.
  • Kristin
    9 years ago
    This seems to be similar to the shape you're working with - much updated look.
    jagood thanked Kristin
  • jagood
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    Due to all of the input above, I am more confident now that this bathroom arrangement can be turned into a spa-like space that reflects our aesthetics, so that's one negative I can cross off the list when thinking about down-sizing to this model. Thank you to everyone who responded. I will return for more help when we actually own the space and I can do measurements and take on-site photos. I will continue to gather inspirational photos, and if anyone happens to find one that is similar to the shape of the room, I would appreciate seeing it. (Thank you kkam10 for attaching that photo.) And if by some miracle a person who has already done this in this particular floorplan happens along - please post photos! Houzz is so great because of the people who are willing to share. We appreciate it. I am going to share some photos of our current bath, where we have views of Butte Creek Canyon in northern Calif. which reflects our aesthetics at the time and the fact that the view is the focal point so we simplified the materials.
  • jagood
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    In the above bath: Loewen windows, Vellux operable skylight in shower with electronic controls and rain sensor, toilet is in niche to the left of tub with it's own window, light fixtures by Hubbardton Forge, cherry custom vanities, Kohler vessel lavs. Vertical grain fir trim around windows.