Before & After: New Life for a Grim Brooklyn Bathroom

Some renovations are a long time in coming. In 2005, Felix got the opportunity to buy an apartment in the Williamsburg building where she’d been living for the past three years. She jumped on the chance, choosing an apartment with the exact same layout as the one she’d been living in on the fifth floor, just two floors down. The third-floor apartment came with a location that was much more convenient, and a bathroom that, while spacious, was also, in Felix’s words, a bit grim. She thought about renovating the bathroom at the time, but the project got put off. And put off. And put off.

More than ten years later, Felix finally decided she had lived with her drab bathroom long enough, and the project got underway. Besides the transformation of the old bathroom, the scope of work also included creating a new closet in the entryway, turning an existing closet into a powder room, and adding a washer/dryer.

Although the layout is the same (with the tub shifted forward a bit, to make room for a new linen closet), the bathroom now feels like a completely different space. The bright white of the walls feels clean and fresh, and pulling down the wall between the foot of the tub and the vanity dramatically opens up the space.

The new vanity floats, to allow room for a trash can and step ladder underneath. The vanity mirror with built-in lighting is a clean, modern touch.

As part of the work, the tub moved forward just a bit, to allow for a new linen closet right next to the bathroom door.

In the shower, a recessed shelf keeps the edge of the tub free from clutter. Felix had intended to install the tile in the shower horizontally, but when she saw how perfectly it fit when laid vertically — without having to cut any of the tiles — she decided to lay it that way instead, which makes for a beautiful and unexpected touch.

Felix found her contractor on Sweeten, a free service matching homeowners with local general contractors. You can read more about the project, see more photos, and find sources on the Sweeten blog.