Before and After: The Tile Goes from Dated to Dramatic in This Bathroom Makeover
If you’re thinking of making a color change in your home this year, consider going dark. After all, darker hues like burgundy, forest green, chocolate brown, navy, and black are in for 2024, according to designers.
Homeowner Carrie Goldin is one such homeowner who’s going to the dark side. “We have been introducing lots of dark colors, focusing mainly on greens and blacks throughout the house,” she says. “The dark colors bring a coziness to our home that was absent before.”
In her primary bathroom, that meant swapping “plain and dated” tile with darker, more maximalist picks — in addition to other upgrades. “Our house was built in the early 2000s,” Carrie says. “The master bath was green, white, and light wood with chrome accents.” The early aughts aesthetics were part of the reason Carrie wanted to make a change, but “several key features, like our tub, were broken beyond repair,” she adds.
The $20,000 redo makes significant improvements “with no changes to plumbing, layout, or overall placement of the bathroom features,” Carrie describes.
The clunky 2000s fixtures were demoed out.
Carrie and her husband worked with a contractor on the bathroom remodel, and the first step was demoing and removing all the fixtures and cabinetry.
Those were swapped with a more contemporary vanity and tub. “Figuring out plumbing fixtures was tough!” Carrie says. “I visited a local shop which offered various shower, bath, faucet, and drain bundles that took the guesswork out, but the pricing seemed unreasonable; it was important for me to choose products that were off the shelf, not custom.” Carrie opted for a tub from Wayfair, which she loves, and a vanity from Restoration Hardware that came with the sinks and countertop and decided to splurge on (some of the) tile and wallpaper instead.
The tile design is totally custom.
Carrie says selecting the tile for the bathroom — especially the shower tile — was easier than expected. “I looked and looked for an inspiration pic online, but could not find exactly what I was looking to do,” she recalls. “I went to a local tile shop in search of some budget solid tiles I could mix up,” she says.
After she found the perfect (wallet-friendly) pink tile she was after, she came up with a clever solution for communicating her design vision. She printed out an excel sheet with the exact number of tiles her bathroom wall would have and shaded where the pink tiles should go. The contractor followed it to a T. (Who needs fancy design software when you have Excel or Google Sheets?)
Carrie also incorporated swirled green malachite tiles, which add color and pattern, and smaller handhewn black square tiles. The large-format veined black tile that covers most of the space was budget-friendly at around $3 per square foot.
Wallpaper and paint add even more drama.
Carrie says the biggest splurges were tile and wallpaper. The wallpaper is from Divine Savages, and the deep green paint color on the non-tiled walls is Benjamin Moore’s Hunter Green.
In all, Carrie is proud of the “dark, moody feel” she created. “There is enough natural and overhead light to be completely functional, yet it is dark and relaxing for an evening soak,” she says. For more dark and dramatic bathroom inspiration, check out this plant-filled dark green one, this maximalist wallpapered half bath, and this black-meets-rainbow powder room.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.