Primary and guest bathroom remodel in Vienna, VA: a checkerboard floor, a freestanding tub and a new closet wall

What did the homeowners want?

For the primary suite: a bigger, better organized bath with the closet separated from it by a new wall, a walk-in shower with a hand shower, a freestanding tub, a double vanity with sconces, and a checkerboard tile floor. For the guest bath: a new tub, a double vanity in place of the single one, the toilet moved, and tile to the ceiling around the tub.

How we designed it: two baths, one plan

Our design team drew the guest bath first, then the primary bath and closet, and built the primary bath in 3D so the homeowners could see the new layout before the final selections. The vanities, tile and fixtures for both baths were chosen before demolition, and each bath got its own job-start binder for our crew.

In the new primary layout, the freestanding tub sits by the window, the shower takes a corner behind an angled glass front, and the double vanity runs along its own wall. The closet sits behind the new wall, with a wood-look floor of its own.

The primary bath: a new closet wall, and everything in a new place

The old bath

Before, the primary bath had an oak vanity with a single long top, a shower behind sliding glass doors and a terracotta-colored tile floor.

Our crew framed a new wall to separate the walk-in closet, with its own door into the bath and a pocket door into the closet. The vanity, the shower, the tub and the toilet all moved, so the plumbing was rebuilt for the new layout, along with new recessed lights, a new exhaust fan vented outside and wiring for the sconces. The popcorn ceiling in the work area came down too.

A corner shower with an angled glass front

The new shower takes a corner of the room behind a custom glass enclosure with an angled front. Its walls are MSI Dove Subway, a white 3 by 12-inch tile stacked vertically, and its floor is a 2-inch khaki hexagon mosaic.

A Delta Raincan head and a hand shower in champagne bronze share the wall with two recessed niches, one on each side of the valve.

Tiled

Finished

The vanity wall

The double vanity is ProCraft shaker cabinetry in a natural stained wood: two sink bases with drawer stacks between and beside them, and satin-bronze Jeffrey Alexander bar pulls. An MSI quartz top holds two undermount sinks and Delta Nicoli J-Spout faucets in champagne bronze. Two arched gold mirrors hang over the sinks, with three Kichler Meller sconces between and beside them, and Delta Trinsic towel bars and hooks match the faucets.

A checkerboard floor, and a freestanding tub by the window

The floor is Best Tile Portico porcelain in two colors, Marfil and Dolomite, 13-inch matte squares turned on the diagonal so they read as diamonds, with a bone-colored grout.

A Bordeaux 59-inch freestanding tub stands by the window on the checkerboard, with a brushed-gold floor-mounted filler and its own hand shower beside it.

The walk-in closet

Behind the new wall, the closet has its own room: a pocket door from the bath, and an MSI Nove Reserve luxury vinyl plank floor in a wood look, and new recessed lights of its own.

The guest bath: a new tub, a double vanity and tile to the ceiling

The tub wall

Before

After

The old jetted tub came out, and a Woodbridge 60 by 30-inch soaking tub went into the same alcove. The tile now runs to the ceiling: Elon Opal, a white 3 by 12-inch tile stacked vertically, with a recessed niche on the back wall in MSI Icelandic green hexagon mosaic. The tub and shower trim is Delta Nicoli in matte black, and a new recessed light sits over the tub.

From one sink to two

Going in

Finished

The single vanity became a ProCraft white shaker double vanity, two 30-inch sink bases with matte black Jeffrey Alexander pulls, which meant new plumbing for the second sink. A white MSI quartz top holds two undermount sinks with Delta Nicoli faucets in matte black, under two black-framed mirrors and two three-light vanity lights. The toilet moved, the floor is a gray hexagon porcelain, and a new Panasonic exhaust fan clears the room.

What happened in what order: the Vienna primary and guest baths, step by step

Every job sets its own schedule, and your contract gives you a written estimate for yours. How our process works →

1. Design: the guest bath plan; the primary bath and closet plan and its 3D designs; the vanities, tile and fixtures chosen; the contract; a job-start binder for each bath; the materials ordered.
2. Demolition: both baths taken out, including the old jetted tub, and the popcorn ceiling in the primary work area.
3. Framing: the new wall between the primary bath and the closet, with a door into the bath and a pocket door into the closet; the shower sized and framed.
4. Rough-in: new drain and supply lines for every moved fixture in both baths, including the second guest sink; wiring for the recessed lights, sconces, vanity lights and exhaust fans.
5. Shower pan and walls: the primary shower pan built and waterproofed; drywall; the shower walls waterproofed.
6. Tile: the primary shower walls with their two niches and the hexagon shower floor; the guest tub wall to the ceiling with its green niche and the gray hexagon floor; the checkerboard laid out on the diagonal and set.
7. Vanities: both vanities installed; the quartz tops templated and installed.
8. Trim-out: faucets, mirrors, sconces and vanity lights; the shower, tub and tub-filler trim; the closet floor and the pocket door hardware; the walls painted.
9. Glass: the primary shower enclosure installed.

Who built it: our design team planned both baths and the closet with the homeowners, and our crew built them. Only the quartz vanity tops and the shower glass were made by our fabrication partners, under our supervision.

Budget: about $75K–$80K for the whole job: the primary bath, the closet wall and the guest bath.

What came up during the design and build, and how we solved it

• A floor joist under the shower drain. With the floor open, the spot planned for the new shower drain landed right on a joist. We made the shower a few inches longer so the drain sits cleanly between the joists, which also gave the shower a little more room.
• A path for the new drain lines. With the shower and the tub moving, the new drain needed a way down through the house. Our crew ran it inside a first-floor wall, built that wall out slightly to fit the pipe and refinished it.
• A niche around a hidden outlet box. An electrical box sat in the wall behind the guest tub, so the niche was sized and placed to fit around it.
• Two niches, not one. In the primary shower the niches went on both sides of the valve, and the hand shower on the side the homeowners preferred, decided with them on site before the tile went up.
• Lights and mirrors placed before the finish. Our design team marked the sconce, mirror and recessed light positions on the walls and confirmed them with the homeowners before the walls were closed in.

Vienna primary and guest bath materials: checkerboard porcelain, champagne bronze and matte black

The exact products in these two baths and the closet, from our order records.