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Before & After: A Bathroom, Unused for 30 Years, Gets a Gorgeous New Life

Carrie McBride
Carrie McBride
Carrie is a former Apartment Therapy editor and the original editor of Apartment Therapy Media's first site for kids: Ohdeedoh. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two kids..
published Mar 4, 2017
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(Image credit: Laura Breisch)

Interior designer Laura Breisch of Making Home Interiors took on her toughest client — herself — when she purchased this Detroit home that had stood empty for 30 years and she purchased in a foreclosure auction. Instead of working with contractors, she enlisted her boyfriend and father and the three of them remodeled this bathroom from head to toe.

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(Image credit: Laura Breisch)

From Laura:

“Originally I had hoped to save the beautiful tile that had been installed over 100 years ago, but there was just too much damage so everything had to be demoed. The house was empty for over 30 years so it needed all new electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, insulation, etc.. My goal was to create a space that was easy to clean, comfortable to spend time in, utilized every inch with purpose, and was beautiful to look at!

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(Image credit: Laura Breisch)

After playing with many different layouts I decided to incorporate the laundry machines into this room. The bathroom is central to the three main bedrooms, so it’s the perfect spot for a laundry room. It’s also a large-ish bathroom, at about 10×10 feet, and there would have been wasted space with just a toilet, sink, and shower.

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(Image credit: Laura Breisch)

I had wanted to do an open shower for a long time and envisioned being able to clean the floors easily with no awkward obstacles, like shower curbs or walls. We also wall-mounted the toilet and vanity for this same reason. Added benefit: no gross shower curtain and no spotty glass doors!

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(Image credit: Laura Breisch)

The floors are heated and I can’t recommend this feature enough, they are amazing! They not only warm our toes, but they also heat the entire room and help to dry the floors quickly after showering. Our cats are big fans of the floor heat as well. We also installed an exhaust fan with a heater that can be switched on during a shower for extra cold days.

I love to mix and match finishes and fixtures and there’s a lot of that happening here with the natural slab of quartz on the wall, penny tiles, black slate herringbone floors, walnut butcher block, wood ledge and trim, painted light fixtures, planked ceiling, sparkly quartz counter, bronze and silver…all grounded with timeless white subway tiles from floor to ceiling.

This bathroom is our little oasis in the middle of a construction zone!

Thanks Laura! Readers, you can follow along with Laura’s personal and professional projects on her Instagram and contact her via her blog Making Home.

*Re-edited from a post that originally appeared 03.04.2017. – AH

Filed in:
Baby Rooms
Bathroom
Before & After