Stately Boston Historic Home: Part One - Adding A Master Bathroom
You can find some beautiful, stately circa 1800s homes in the heart of Boston. Many of these homes have avoided any renovation for decades, and some have been well cared for during these decades so as not to experience further decay.
One of my clients recently contacted me when they bought one of these Victorian beauties. I had worked with them on their previous home, so I was excited to work on their new home, knowing that it would give them the much-needed space they needed for their growing family.
My clients knew that the best way to approach their new project was to call me in right away to help them develop a plan, and that is exactly what they did.
We knew that, eventually, all of the rooms in this 3 story beauty would need to be designed and renovated.
After discussing their goals and likes and dislikes about the new home and also reviewing what needed to be done in the construction process, I knew that the best place to start in this home was to add a second-floor master bathroom.
One of the reasons that we started with this master bathroom space is because we knew that we had to run Plumbing through the first-floor space to create a bathroom in this area of the home where there was no existing plumbing. Starting here gave us the ability to open up any first-floor walls that were needed to run piping before any of those first-floor rooms were renovated.
There was currently no master bathroom in this home. However, with an abundance of bedrooms and small rooms adjacent to the master bedroom, which we often see in these 1800s homes, we came up with a perfect location for the new master bathroom.
There was a small pass-through space right off the master bedroom, it contained a small closet and a door that led to another bedroom. By removing the small closet, removing a small hallway closet behind the space, and closing up the doorway to the 2nd bedroom, we were able to create a well-shaped large space just off the master bedroom for us to design and build a luxurious master bathroom.
Since our clients were currently using the very small and inadequate closet in the master bedroom, we decided to take this small closet space and incorporate it into the new bathroom space as well. Knowing that we planned on creating a new master closet/dressing room in another space in the house. (you will hear more about the dressing room in Part 2 Next week).
Once we found the best way to create where the new master bath space would be located, my clients and I discussed all of their needs for the new master bathroom and I went to work designing the space.
I created a very large master shower with a shower seat, hand shower, showerhead, and niches for storage. I created a beautiful focal point on the back wall of the shower using a translucent glass tile. I tied this into the amazing floor tile that we used on the bathroom floor. The floor tile had a traditional pattern with fresh colors and a modern interpretation. This was the perfect look for a home with traditional architecture, giving the space an updated look for this young family.
We designed custom shelving and a custom vanity, giving this bathroom an abundance of storage. Beautiful quartz countertops on the vanity reflected the glow of the decorative lighting fixtures which we used for task lighting but also to create a beautiful rhythm as your eye moved through the space. Gleaming hardware and decorative vanity mirrors completed the look of this bathroom space.
The color scheme in both the dressing room and the master bath used a blend of soft blues and grays, which created a soft and serene feeling throughout these spaces.
My skilled team of master craftsmen finished out the space with such detail that you would never know that this 2nd-floor space did not even have a bathroom previously. The extra skill and care that it took to create woodworking details that tied into the existing architecture and concealed plumbing that ran up to this space was truly appreciated by these clients.
Look for Part 2- The Dressing Room next week.
Until next time,
Gia