The client had been wanting to update the front section of the house, after they had done a full renovation of the large kitchen and family area facing the views at the back, some years earlier.

The front section had Terracotta tiles throughout the entry and into the front sitting room and the attached guest bathroom, wet room and the laundry. The clients wanted to retain all the terracotta tiled area as it flowed into other parts of the home. We had to accommodate the request to keep the original tiled floor.

On the left side off the guest bedroom there was an ensuite with original and untouched 1970’s purple mosaic floor tiling and old fixtures. The most dominating aspect in the ensuite, was a huge shower ‘monolith’, in brick and closed off to all light. It sat in the middle of the room, was a big eyesore and there was a white vanity and toilet that needed replacing. Not a lot of light came into the room as the shower walls were all brick.
The clients wanted a light, bright, sleek, modern ensuite for guests to use and the entire wall and floor removed in the ensuite; with a new walk in shower, to allow someone with disabilities or a wheelchair, to use it. They wanted a timber wall hung vanity, to add a sense of space and glamour.

They asked for light grey and white, large tiles and a large mirror. The shower was to have channel drain and a frameless glass screen fixed to the wall. Conversely, in the guest bathroom, it was our challenge to find a suitable new wall tile that would ‘fit with’ the existing terracotta tile, which was to be retained. Then a new vanity needed to be custom built to cover where the old one was being removed. The shower recess had a wall going to the ceiling that made it dark inside the shower and closed the corner in.

It was decided to remove the upper section of the shower wall, creating a half height wall, to get more light into the shower. The timber look vanity has a stone marble top and vessel basin. All new tapware, rail shower and a new Glass semi framed shower screen were all added. Again, we used a huge round mirror to create space in the smaller room. All bathrooms have new overhead LED lighting.

The laundry also had terracotta tiles that were to be retained; so, we used a white tile splashback. The cabinets in the laundry were added to the left side and a new Caroma Metro ceramic trough and new mixer tap. There is space for a laundry hamper under a stone bench top. The right -side cabinets were all existing, but had all the door fronts replaced.

So, we installed custom cabinets in guest bathroom and laundry and a shop bought vanity in the ensuite. The mirrors and all fittings were all supplied by Highgrove bathrooms. Tiles were only $20m2 from a ceramic tile warehouse and we used ‘off cuts’ of engineered stone to save on costs.

The renovations took about 6 weeks with a cost of about $47,000 materials and Labour and $6,000 project fee for the renovation management.