This was part of other work for these clients. The dining room ceiling had profound deflection in it. Previous plumbers had gained pipe space by indiscriminately removing great gouts of wood from the joists of the bathroom above and then the tile setters poured great quantities of concrete between and on top of the joists as a substrate for the tile. To maximize the surface area of thickened concrete to set tile on they would chamfer the top corner edges of the joists – further reducing the amount of wood in the joists. Not everything done in the good old days was necessarily better. After replacing some of the joists and sistering others, we leveled the ceiling further, added some concealed lighting and then dry walled. Then we moved upstairs to the master bathroom.

This was a free-range design. I was not fenced in and had a fairly free hand within some fairly loose limits. The clients knew my work, trusted me and were willing to risk some playful experimentation. This is a wonderful combination of conditions. It was then just a matter of providing the essentials in a confined space.

They wanted the privacy of a suite, so we in filled the hall door and opened up a pocket door to the bedroom. He wanted a shower – she wanted a bath. We tore out the dated, leaking stall shower, gained valuable inches by loosing the wet bed walls and the heavy old framing and put in a soaking tub/shower combo in the same space as the old shower. We removed a half utility closet that closed up the space above the previous tub end wall and put the water closet in place. That left an entire wall for a double bowl vanity.

Many nice details such as the black granite horizontal surfaces, Runtal towel warming radiator, concealed storage for TP, unobtrusive custom medicine cabinet and soft rope for operation of the old school skylight. Then I got to play. See more photos here.