First, apologies for yet another post about toilets. I know most readers don’t come here for photos of commodes, but I’m genuinely excited to share pictures of our new white toilet. The almond one that came with the house never felt fresh to us. Even after a good scrub, it still looked a little dated and never had that sparkling “new” feeling white fixtures provide. Switching to white brightens the room, fits our mid-century style better, complements the newly white trim and shower curtain, and just looks cleaner overall. We were so keyed up about the change we joked in bed the night before that “tomorrow is going to be awesome” — toilet shopping day.
The almond toilet that came with the house has a somewhat space-age look, though not as wild as the gag one we teased about on April Fool’s Day. Surprisingly, it was a fairly high-end model: the Kohler listing showed a price over $1,300 — and the almond finish was actually more expensive than the white version of the same model. Go figure. Even so, we’d been dreaming of a classic white toilet since moving in 15 months ago. Functionally there’s little difference between an expensive and an inexpensive bowl for most of us, so we decided a modest, reliable replacement made sense.
Before buying, we confirmed the critical dimensions: the rough-in measurement (distance from the wall to the bolt centers) and clearance for the door swing. Our rough-in measured about 11.5″, which made us nervous because 12″ is standard, but the existing toilet was listed as 12″ so we felt another 12″ model should fit. Because this is a small room, we avoided an elongated bowl that would have interfered with the door. We considered changing the door to swing outward, but that would block part of the sink nook and ruin the balanced look with the chandelier and mirror—so we left the swing as-is.
I won’t go into every step of removal and installation since we covered that process in a recent post, but here’s the obligatory shot of the old one coming out. This one-piece model was heftier than the two-piece toilets we’re used to, so Sherry helped haul it out after I snapped this photo.
And here’s the toilet equivalent of a chalk outline on the floor. The old rust and gunk wiped up more easily than we expected, so the space was ready for the new fixture quickly.
We ended up choosing an $88 Glacier Bay model from Home Depot. It wasn’t an exhaustive research decision—more a practical one: it fit our measurements, had a solid flush rating, is water-efficient (Home Depot lists potential water savings), looked right for the room, and was the right price. Several readers had recommended Glacier Bay in past toilet posts, so that helped too. We plan to add a dual-flush conversion kit down the line to save even more water.
The toilet arrived with most of the installation hardware, but because our flange sits a bit recessed into the tile we needed a taller wax ring. That meant buying a separate extra-thick wax ring kit — not a big cost, just a few extra dollars.
We tried a reader tip to slide drinking straws over the anchor bolts to guide the bowl into place. It really did help with alignment, and the extra length on the bolts made the “landing” smoother. The dark material near the old wax ring is just leftover wax we scraped up, nothing unsanitary.
The straw trick made the install much easier, with Sherry offering occasional “left a little” guidance as I nudged the bowl into position.
Installation details aside, I had to share this photo where the sun hit the bowl just right and made it glow like something out of a sci-fi flick. No teleportation involved—just nice morning light.
Here it is fully installed and looking bright and fresh.
The white bowl draws attention away from the beige tile and toward the white accents in the room—curtain, trim, door, switch plate, outlet cover, and even the roll of toilet paper. It also harmonizes with the other white toilets in our home and suits the mid-century ranch aesthetic better. Ignore the old brassy doorknob for now—that’s on the to-do list.
While the new fixture isn’t the high-end Kohler we removed, it functions well and is actually a bit taller, which I appreciate as a taller person. Sherry says she “feels less squaty” on the new seat, which she meant as praise. The dual-flush conversion kit will work with this Glacier Bay model, which wouldn’t have fit in the curvy almond Kohler. We bought the kit but are letting the new unit run as intended for a few days before installing the conversion, just to make sure everything performs correctly.
So our formerly beige little room is slowly becoming more our style.
There’s still work to do, but each change makes the space feel more like ours.
Other angles show the room’s progress, and remind us it’s not all about the toilet.
Our updated to-do list:
- do something to add privacy to the window
- remove the door so we can shave the bottom to allow for a rug/bathmat (and add a door stopper so it doesn’t squash the art)
- replace the border tile around the room (maybe in phase 2?)
- move the blue pendant light to hang centered in front of the window
- replace the floor tile down the road (to break up the expanse of tile)
We listed the old Kohler on Craigslist since it’s technically a high-end model even if it’s used. We’ve already had an offer and hope it finds a new home soon. But enough about our porcelain upgrades — has anyone else swapped beige or almond fixtures for white? Tell us about your updates or share pictures if you’ve posted them. We’re always curious what small changes made the biggest difference in your spaces.