Bathroom Renovation Winnipeg: Make it all about you

by Lynn Fenwick B.I.D.

Next to your bedroom, I believe the bathroom is the most important room for personal rejuvenation.

The bathroom influences how you begin your day and how it will end. It can be a stressful or a stress-free environment depending on how well it functions for you and your lifestyle.

I would like to share a story about two bathroom renovations for the same client. Let me take you back to March 2019 ...

I have been working with Jill and her husband, David, for many years. We (Jill) has a master plan where she tackles one design job a year.

This year it was the ensuite and main bathrooms.

We met as we usually do, for a brainstorming session. The session involves discussing her thoughts along with some images of what she would like to see. Her thoughts are usually tag-teamed with my ideas and, between the two of us, we find the perfect solution for her needs and the aesthetics and character of the spaces.

The ensuite design was to be developed first. The door opening on the existing shower in their ensuite had always bothered Jill. It visually cut off the room and made it feel smaller than it actually was. The door prevented air circulation which trapped the shower’s heat and humidity in the room. I had a concern that most of the vanity was beside the toilet. There was not enough room around the sink! The soaker tub was a necessity, but the percentage of the room that it covered was out of balance.

There was no reason for the doorway to be so small. Since Jill is an avid antique hunter, I suggested she look for a set of antique doors that we could make into barn doors. The layout I presented to her included an opening large enough for two barn doors, a large shower and a good sized vanity, and the tub we found has a great shape to it that didn’t overpower the room.

The floor detail, in a marble basket weave and black granite inlay and baseboard, reflects Jill’s love of the classic design. The counter was the foil for the sink.

Note: A bathroom is not the place to use a low quality quartz product that contains large amounts of fillers. There are too many products used in a bathroom that could discolour a lower performance countertop. The sink and faucets, lighting and black framed mirror reiterate the black detail. The shiplap siding lines up perfectly with the tile in the shower. The vanity is presented to look like furniture instead of merely cabinets. Jill had several vanity mirrors that were removed and replaced with a lit makeup mirror that nicely recesses into the side of the cabinet. The tall cabinet also houses all of Jill’s bathroom essentials.

I will share the story on the second bathroom in our next article. This two bathroom project took more than a year from start to finish between design, material selection, holidays, tendering of the project, waiting for the contractor to be able to start the job, and detailed millwork that required more time than something standard. There is a lot of detail in a very compact space.

Per square foot, a bathroom can be the most expensive investment on the interior of your home. That is why it is so important to work closely with your designer so that they can help you achieve the bathroom of your dreams. Share your bathroom wishes and your inspiration, and Fenwick and Company will use our design expertise to create that vision, ensuring your bathroom is all about you!

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