Planning for One Level Living
A few years ago, the owners added two stories with finished basement to their Edina home. It was a big project that greatly expanded and enhanced the first-floor kitchen, dining room and living room. The project also added a second-floor bedroom/home office.
Their home has another two bedrooms and ¾ bath on the first floor, plus a beautiful master bedroom and ¾ bath on the second floor which they’ve been using for years.
Looking into the future they began to consider aging in place: What living on one floor might look like. They determined that the only thing that needed attention was the first-floor bath – it was pretty dated. So, they built their dream bath. They began with tearing everything out, right down to the studs.
The new 5’ X 9’ ¾ bath includes a 5’ X 3’ walk-in glass enclosed shower, with a twist. The shower control has been moved from the typical location (just below the shower head) to the opposite wall, just inside the shower door. This allows one to turn on the shower and wait for it to get hot without having to step into the shower and then just stand there and get wet with cold water. A small detail that has proven to be a good idea.
The shower floor is made using 3/4″ x 3/4″ Penny round matte Porcelain mosaic tile set in charcoal grout. The back shower wall and the remaining bathroom floor is constructed with Aster 9″ x 10″ hexagon glazed Porcelain patterned wall & floor tile. More. Hexagonal tile adds an unusual feature that establishes a unique, interesting, repeated design.
The main bath’s walls feature white matt finish 6″ x 18″ ceramic Subway Wall tile in white grout. A TOTO center flushing toilet looks great on the dark hexagonal floor tile. The custom vanity features a walnut base with white Silestone top and undermounted Kohler sink with brushed nickel fixtures.
Another interesting feature are two 3” X 6” X 18” floating Walnut shelves – just the right touch to add character to the bath without taking up too much space.
Finally, the dimmable can lighting is enhanced with two black cylinder slotted pendant lights on either side of the vanity.
This project fulfills the promise of down-the-road one floor living with an efficient, comfortable ¾ bath.
