Modern Mood

Eden Prairie, MN

Completed 2024

The homeowners, residing in a 1990s home, sought to update their primary bathroom to create a fresh, open space that still felt warm and cozy. The existing layout presented several challenges, including an undesirable first view of the toilet as you entered the room. They also wanted to reconfigure the tub and enlarge the shower for a more functional and luxurious experience. Additionally, the current vanity placement caused problems, as the door would frequently collide with someone using the sink.

We rotated the tub 90 degrees to allow for more openness and room for the new toilet location. We changed the built in standard size tub to a deep freestanding tub with waterfall filler. The vanity was moved away from the entrance, helping with the flow in and out of the room. We also built a dedicated space for seating in the shower, along with convenient niches for shampoo and soap.

Before

Bathroom Reno - Modern Mood - Mom's Design Build

TA-DA!

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A 1990s primary bath where the toilet greeted you at the door, the vanity fought the door swing for elbow room, and the built-in tub took more than it gave.

The Idea

Rotate the plan. The tub turns 90 degrees and becomes a deep freestanding soak with a waterfall filler, the toilet moves out of the sightline, the vanity retreats from the entrance — and the shower grows, borrowing a storage nook from the garage attic so the floor plan never pays for it.

After

Herringbone tile underfoot, Italian subway tile and a glass-tile nook in the shower, penny-round on its floor, brass sconces on dimmers — fresh and open, still warm, and nothing colliding with anything anymore.

The Brief

—A larger shower with real storage
—A deeper tub
—Hide the toilet from the doorway view
—Better flow, better lighting, updated finishes

Materials & Craft

2×10 Olvia Italian subway tile
12×24 herringbone tile floor
Penny-round shower floor
24×48 polished porcelain shower walls
Freestanding tub with waterfall filler
Brass sconces & frameless glass enclosure

The 90-degree turn

Rotating the tub and toilet unlocked the whole room — openness where the layout used to pinch, and a proper home for each fixture.

The borrowed nook

The shower expanded into the garage attic for a built-in storage niche — more shower without taking a single square foot from the bathroom floor.

A seat and a system

Dedicated bench seating plus niches for shampoo and soap — the small architecture that makes a shower livable.

The hard part

Moving the plumbing to the far wall and carving the nook into the attic framing — the invisible work that let a modest footprint behave like a much bigger room.