Bathroom of the Week: Pamper-Me Features and Marble-Like Tile
An Orlando, Florida, couple’s former cramped, dated master bathroom gets an elegant, contemporary update
Tim and Merigan Barton bought their Orlando, Florida, bungalow-style home 11 years ago and are no strangers to renovation. They spent nine of those 11 years doing some form of rehab, including adding two bedrooms, pool and outdoor kitchen, building a garage where one hadn’t existed and completely reworking the kitchen.
More recently, it was time for a master bathroom update. Merigan knew she would need help, given the specific challenges the bathroom presented: a cramped layout, dated finishes and an awkward entrance. “We’d done a lot of remodeling, but this one I just couldn’t visualize,” she says.
She hired Julie Lampe of Paradigm Interiors. Lampe moved the entrance to increase the bathroom by 15 square feet and then reconfigured the layout to make it feel more open even with the inclusion of a new double vanity, larger shower with all the bells and whistles and a soaking tub.
More recently, it was time for a master bathroom update. Merigan knew she would need help, given the specific challenges the bathroom presented: a cramped layout, dated finishes and an awkward entrance. “We’d done a lot of remodeling, but this one I just couldn’t visualize,” she says.
She hired Julie Lampe of Paradigm Interiors. Lampe moved the entrance to increase the bathroom by 15 square feet and then reconfigured the layout to make it feel more open even with the inclusion of a new double vanity, larger shower with all the bells and whistles and a soaking tub.
After: Lampe pushed the diagonal entrance wall out to a 90-degree angle (see floor plans below) and moved the entrance to a shorter end wall, freeing up the two longer walls. On the right-hand wall she placed the new toilet and a custom double vanity, which significantly increased storage in the bathroom.
On the other wall is the freestanding soaking tub and an enlarged shower with a steam feature.
Lampe covered the floors, shower and walls around the tub in nonslip marble-look porcelain tile for a unified, luxurious look. The warmth of the beige veining complements the rich wood tones of the vanity. A slab of Arabescato Venato marble tops the vanity.
Tim, a mechanical engineer at Disney, likes high-tech things and a top-of-the-line toilet was a must for him. The lid to the Toto brand toilet opens when someone approaches and comes with a remote that controls that and other features.
Wall paint: Drift of Mist, Sherwin-Williams
Shop for double vanities
On the other wall is the freestanding soaking tub and an enlarged shower with a steam feature.
Lampe covered the floors, shower and walls around the tub in nonslip marble-look porcelain tile for a unified, luxurious look. The warmth of the beige veining complements the rich wood tones of the vanity. A slab of Arabescato Venato marble tops the vanity.
Tim, a mechanical engineer at Disney, likes high-tech things and a top-of-the-line toilet was a must for him. The lid to the Toto brand toilet opens when someone approaches and comes with a remote that controls that and other features.
Wall paint: Drift of Mist, Sherwin-Williams
Shop for double vanities
Increasing the shower space gave Tim the pampering spa system he wanted. The shower includes a steam feature, wall and overhead jets, rain shower head, handheld shower wand, ambient lighting and Bluetooth speakers. The shower door, when closed, seals off the area to capture steam when the feature is used. A separate pipe releases the accumulated steam. The small control pad on the far wall runs all the features.
Lampe used 20-by-40-inch marble-look porcelain tiles for the shower walls and ceiling and 2-by-2-inch tiles for the shower floor.
Shower system: F-Digital Deluxe shower kit, Grohe
Lampe used 20-by-40-inch marble-look porcelain tiles for the shower walls and ceiling and 2-by-2-inch tiles for the shower floor.
Shower system: F-Digital Deluxe shower kit, Grohe
Tim got the high-tech shower and toilet he wanted and Merigan got “my tub and pretty tile for a feminine touch,” she says, as well as a “big, girly crystal chandelier.” The latter can be seen here in the medicine cabinet mirror above the vanity. “Julie found three options and I chose the most offensive one,” Merigan jokes.
Ella wall sconces, Craftmade
Ella wall sconces, Craftmade
Increasing space in the bathroom allowed Lampe to add a larger tub than the bulky built-in. She mounted the brushed stainless steel spout and handles in a half wall wrapped in more marble-look porcelain tile, here cut to a slim rectangle.
A custom Roman shade in gray Sunbrella fabric picks up the gray tones in the real marble countertop.
A custom Roman shade in gray Sunbrella fabric picks up the gray tones in the real marble countertop.
Mother-of-pearl hexagonal tile was used as an accent on the back of the niche.
After: Lampe brought the wall out to 90 degrees, which increased the usable space by 15 square feet. She then moved the entrance and installed a pocket door to remove the issue of door swing into the bathroom. Moving the new tub to the newly created extra space made room for the larger shower and vanity while still keeping things feeling light and airy.
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More on Houzz
How to choose a bathroom sink faucet
See more Bathrooms of the Week
Find home design and remodeling professionals
Shop for bathroom products
Bathroom at a Glance
Who uses it: Merigan Barton, a real estate agent; her husband, Tim, a mechanical engineer at Disney; and their two children
Location: Orlando, Florida
Size: 69 square feet (6.4 square meters)
Designer: Julie Lampe of Paradigm Interiors
Before: The Bartons’ existing bathroom, seen here, was cramped by an angled wall with French doors that ate up floor space and pushed the vanity, built-in bathtub and shower toward one corner.
For Tim, who is quite tall at 6 feet, 7 inches, the shower was a particular nuisance. He could hardly move around and the shower head hit him at chest level. After 11 years of daily frustrations with their bathroom, “we were ready to go all in,” Merigan says.
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