So we added an extra bathroom in our Lucca remodel, with pretty terrazzo tile everywhere. It was the first decision we made...
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| The terrazzo Bathroom, ceramic shower and grey Cotto D'Este floors |
One of the first decisions we made when renovating the Lucca pad was what to do with the awkward room behind the living room. It wasn't that big but still had two entrances. Before, it was a closet, a walk in closet with an armoire. On the left, a lot of unused room remained. We plan to rent out the apartment, so guests would use this room to store their luggage. But still, a whole place to only leave your bags and coat seemed a waste of space in a two-bedroom apartment. And there was only one bathroom.
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| The space before |
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| The two doors leading to the small space |
Like it is usual in a condominio, an apartment complex in Italy, there is a common room with a washer and dryer; Ours was on the last floor. There's an elevator, but still, can you imagine having to change the sheets for a turnover four floors above, hoping the washer isn't occupied.
So we knew we had to include space for a washer and dryer in the bathroom. It is amazing how much you can fit in a smaller bathroom with good planning. Long story short, we needed a second bathroom.
It is strange how small a room looks when it isn't utilized. Marlon was sure we could never fit a bathroom in the 'closet' room, but we realized it was bigger than the other when we planned it. We could even get a bigger shower.
So we made one of the bathrooms the practical workhorse and made the stylish one. That informed all the design decisions.
The practical bathroom had a window that looked out on an interior opening, with the neighbor's balcony, above it. Useless and leaky. Depressing even.
After discussing it with our upstairs neighbors and coordinating the work to prevent leaks unchecked by the previous owner, we decided to add a large open closet in that bathroom, creating a mini laundry room.
This bathroom was dark, and depressing before, clad in an awful tile. I wanted it to look bright and inviting, down to earth.
We divided the back wall into two partitions: the washer and dryer, the other for the shower. We used a soft white tile with a beautiful matt texture on the sidewalls and let the floor tiles run-up to the shower wall. And choose to use wood in the closet and the sink.
I love how it turned out; the stone on the shower's wall has a beautiful texture when water runs along with it, and the bathroom is unassuming and cozy.
Only a black sink would look good against it. I could have gone all fancy, adding brass faucets. However, I still wanted to keep it a bit masculine and 'invisible'; this is a house that we will probably sell at some time. I didn't want to put off potential buyers, so it made sense to make it more universal; I only have brass on the original lovely door handles.
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| The black ceramic sink to offset the terrazzo tiles |
We choose ceramics bases for the showers, in muted tones, instead of the standard white ones.
Now I only still need to install the ceiling lamps in both bathrooms, and then we are done. Better high res photos coming soon.
We had an estimate done the moment the remodel was ready, and the first thing the agent told us was that adding a second bathroom upped the value of the house. And Marlon, who was skeptical at first, has already claimed the fancy bathroom as his. Like I knew he would.
It can be tricky when two people make design and remodel decisions, but it all worked out fine. Marlon pushed in the kitchen for something he wanted, where I was the skeptical one, but again it all worked out.
More on that later....
