Now that we’ve worked out the basic checklist of needs for this small bathroom remodel in the Main House Fixer Upper, its time to plan out the specifics. This post will show you my planning process and the design evolution as I worked through the checklist. This is a modern classic small bathroom design with the goal of really optimizing the space and making it easy to use while feeling open and uncluttered. Whew! That’s a big ask. Ok. let’s get designing.
I dimensioned everything out as best I could and basically built the bathroom in my head before any demolition work started.
The Before:
Here is the existing bathroom in all it’s dark and sad glory. The flooring smells and is squishy in some areas. We’ll definitely replace it, and I am hoping there is not too much water damage in the subfloor. I guess we’ll just cross that bridge if we need to.
The vanity is really grimy and has years of pee splashes from the toilet. UGH! Sorry if that was TMI, but its got to go. Neither the toilet nor the shower work properly. So, long story short, this small bathroom is getting gutted and fully replaced.
You may be able to see that there is some extra space inside the bathroom on the left of the door. That is a laundry area that I will also be remodeling. But more on that later. This post will mainly focus on the bathroom part of this remodel.
To keep costs and the need for permits down, we’ll be keeping the general layout the same. So no need to change plumbing lines and hopefully little to no electrical changes.
Schematic Planning for a Modern Classic Small Bathroom:
Even though this small bathroom needs be highly functional and carry some serious weight, we need to let go of the seriousness during the early planning to let our creative juices flow. Woohoo! Loosen up! Put on some good music and get happy. Once you’re in a good creative state, just start sketching. Try new things. See how they feel.
So that’s exactly what I did. Here are some of my sketches. I only had highlighters and pens for color, but you get the idea.
Here are some more sketches. This one includes the laundry area as well. I wanted to have a cohesive design for the full room.
These sketches are not to scale. They are just free hand approximations to get a general feel for a layout and design. You can see I’ve played around with full wall tile or half wall tile on the vanity wall. And I thought about various vanity cabinet, mirror, and lighting options. I found inspiration and sourced different items from Pinterest, IKEA, West Elm, Pottery Barn, and Target.
I’m thinking about using large black hexagonal tiles on the floor as you can see in the last sketch.
Dimensioned Wall Elevations:
Once I had a general design sketched out, I moved on to creating dimensioned drawings. If you can’t tell already, I’m a planner, and I want to know, as best I can, exactly how everything fits together before actually moving forward with the remodel.
To get dimensioned drawings, I simply measured the bathroom with a measuring tape, noted those measurements on a piece of paper, and then transferred everything to computer drafting program. There are a ton of drafting or design programs out there. I happen to use AutoCAD in my professional life. Yes I have a day job along with all this Fixer Upper and blogging stuff! Keeps me busy! So AutoCAD LT was my go-to drafting program.
You can download their programs here. They offer free trials which, last I checked, were 30 days free.
Here is a screen shot of my dimensioned and meticulously designed bathroom vanity wall. Stay tuned for a “Shop My Bathroom” post soon if you’re interested in sources for everything.
Dimensioned drawings help check for things such as:
- Is there enough clearance between the tub, the toilet, and the vanity? Can I ft a toilet paper holder on the side of the vanity cabinet?
- If I use a medicine cabinet, is there clearance between the bottom of the mirror and the sink faucet so it wont hit the faucet when I open the mirror?
- Where is the centerline of the vanity, sink, mirror, and light so they all line up nicely?
The next image shows the shower walls with each tile planned out. Yes, a bit excessive maybe? This is me having fun AND working to optimize the bathroom. Woohoo!
I plan to build out two niches that match the size of the small upper window. I like the idea of a niche for the shower and a lower niche for the bath. Side niches are preferred instead of back wall niches because you’re less likely to have a heavy shampoo bottle fall on your head if you’re in the bath with side niches.
Here is the elevation for the laundry side even as I am trying to keep a cohesive design in this room.
The laundry area is not as finished because I still have time to work out the small details. But the overall fit of the washer and dryer I want are there. I opted for side-by-side washer and dryer instead of stacked so that I can add a countertop for folding laundry.
This area will also have some long storage shelves and a cute accent light. I’m thinking about hanging plants from the ceiling if you’re wonder what those are. 🙂 The dashed lines show the water heater behind the shower wall.
Dimensioned Floor Plan:
I’m working on a really cool flooring option that will level up this modern classic small bathroom design. Without further ado, here is the dimensioned floor plan.
See those yellow lines in the floor? Those will be brass accent bars between the tiles (!!!). In theory this should work. I’ve never seen anybody do this, but I think it’s going to be really cool. Stay tuned!
If you remember, I had toyed with the idea of using black hexagonal tiles here. I still think they would look good. But I decided to go lighter in hopes that white walls, tiles, and flooring would would make the space feel bigger. So I plan to use 12 inch x 24 inch Carrara marble looking porcelain tiles on the floor with brass accents in the main walk area.
Now that the modern classic small bathroom design is ready, it’s time to start demo! Stay tuned.
