Musing on design: Upstairs Bath

To the horror of some people we engage in a discussion about our renovation plans, we are building just one upstairs bathroom with a shower and no tub. We're planning to share this space with our kids, even as they age out of diapers and funny-looking pjs.

To assuage fears of hostile teenager years, we remind our friends that there will be a full bath with tub on the main level (like in our current home) and another full bath with shower in the basement. The kids can each claim one of those if they want their own space.

On our modest budget, we're prioritizing one nice full bath upstairs and a complete redo of the main level bath over doing a much bigger upstairs with a master suite and extra bath. To do that would cost us a whole lot more money, and it would mean our first floor addition couldn't have vaulted ceilings. We live on the main level, so we're putting the beauty and comfort of that space at the top of our list.

We like the idea of one wall of glass tile -- probably green, like this one -- and the other walls clear Lustrolite.


We're considering a modern vanity of natural wood in a light stain, like this. We are doing a double, but the sinks will be inset, not bowls. We might bring the tile from the shower back as a backsplash like this one has. Thinking white walls. Not sure about counter material or color.


We like the idea of having storage in between the sinks like this, but I'm not sure we have the square footage to pull that off!