If you listened to this week’s podcast, you heard John and me say we’ve finally moved past the very long phase of daydreaming and indecision about our master bathroom. After more than six years of renovating most of our house, the beach house, and our duplex, we’re at the point where we know what we want and we’re actively space-planning.
For instance, after years of debating whether to install a tub-shower combo or separate tub and shower, we’re now 100% on board with separate units. We have that setup at the beach house and it’s our favorite bathroom layout. On the podcast I even said this feels like the start of the renovation — gutting the room this fall or winter — and apparently I meant it. One day after the episode aired we were already demo-ing.
Learn from our single biggest rookie demo mistake: don’t leave toothbrushes on the counter when you start swinging hammers. We were excited.
We can plan and daydream for years — literally. We lived with a kitchen that had faux brick vinyl sheet flooring for three years before finally saving up and committing to a remodel. When that day came, I couldn’t grab the crowbar fast enough. Once I’m ready, I’m ready to get physical and start tearing things out.
About a week ago this project was about researching tiles and sketching layouts, and then it escalated into an impromptu plumber meeting when he happened to be in the neighborhood. We asked what it would take to move the tub, toilet, and other fixtures so we wouldn’t commit to a plan that ends up being prohibitively expensive.
Standing in the room and moving ideas around in real life made everything click. As the plumber drove away we were already prying down a few walls to better visualize the layout. Fortunately none of those walls were load-bearing, so the demo was straightforward.
You can use Floorplanner, paper sketches, or quick mood boards on Instagram Stories to test ideas, but nothing replaces standing in the space and taping out where things will go. Seeing natural light pour into the room once a wall comes down also changes your perception of the layout. We’ve even used cardboard boxes to mock up appliances at the beach house to test sightlines and flow — a simple trick that helped us avoid a cramped placement.
Mocking up a plan before you move plumbing or order a big vanity is crucial. Imagine ordering a 72″ double vanity and realizing after demo that a 60″ would have worked much better — that’s a frustrating and costly mistake. Visualizing the layout first helps prevent those regrets. That was our goal: finalize the layout so we can order fixtures and get the renovation moving.
To understand why opening walls mattered so much, here’s how the room looked for the last six years. It had dark blue shower walls, mismatched floor tile that only covered part of the space, and not one but two seashell-shaped sinks separated by a thick, light-blocking wall. That divider created two disconnected areas — a tiny “vestibule” with a single sink and a separate tub/shower/toilet area. The layout felt fragmented and dark.
If you can’t view the video here, you can watch it on YouTube to get the full sense of the awkward angles and multiple walls. Photos only tell part of the story because so much of the bathroom was hidden behind partitions.
From the closet doorway you could barely see the tub area due to the maze of walls. The single window sat to the right of the tub, and the rest of the space felt dark and closed-off. We’re thrilled to remove those barriers and bring light back into the room.
We also had a redundant linen closet in the bathroom. Since there’s a larger one just beyond the bedroom, we’re removing the in-bath linen closet to free up space and let light travel through the room. Below is a labeled photo to help explain the layout, but the video remains the clearest way to understand the space.
Standing in the tub and looking toward the closet you can see the second seashell sink tucked behind yet another wall. Open-concept bathroom designs weren’t always the norm — separate vanities and divided areas used to be considered luxurious — but we prefer one bright, open bathroom. We considered keeping a water closet for privacy, but that would mean adding more walls. We’d rather use that space for a freestanding tub and separate shower, which feels more indulgent to us.
Removing walls has already made a huge difference. There were four doors clustered within a four-foot radius when we moved in, and two of them were removed early on because they kept colliding and creating bottlenecks. As of this writing, the demo has reached the studs and the space feels dramatically better — brighter, more open, and much more functional.
Here’s a labeled view to clarify the layout. The doorway by the linen closet opens back into the bedroom; we’d like to widen that and install a frosted French door if possible. We’ll keep you posted on how much space we can create there.
Now that the walls are down, we also want to widen the closet access — the current doorway is only 22″ wide and feels cramped. The transformation is already visible from multiple angles.
Below are before-and-after photos from another angle so you can see the change in context.
Even standing in the bedroom it’s amazing to finally see the window from that vantage point now that the dividing wall is down.
For comparison, here’s what that same view looked like before demo:
We’re also saying goodbye to the seashell sink in the main vanity. The other matching sink is still in the separate area for now, keeping the bathroom functional while we wait for the new vanity, toilet, tub, and sink to arrive. Once both seashell sinks are gone, our home will have only two left total — down from the original five when we bought the house. Trends change; maybe seashell sinks were once the thing, and now tastes evolve.
If you’d like to see some other room makeovers we’ve completed over the years, here are a few favorites:
- a full bathroom renovation we completed in our first house for under $2,000
- our big kitchen renovation — before and afters that remain favorites
- a $51 bathroom makeover that still makes us smile
- our bonus room renovation — a whole new room added to the house
- painting our brick house white — not a room, but our favorite transformation