A Solana Beach master bathroom where the vanity stayed and everything around it changed.
Keeping the existing vanity
Not every remodel needs to replace everything, and a contractor who tells you otherwise is not looking closely at what you already have.
The vanity here was sound, well built and suited the room. Replacing it would have added time and disruption to produce something no better. So it stayed, and the work went into the surfaces and the tub — which is where this room actually needed it.
Working around a fixture that is staying is its own discipline. It has to be protected through demolition, the new tile has to meet it cleanly at the floor and the wall, and the layout has to be set out from it rather than the other way round. It is easier to rip everything out. It is not always better.
The freestanding tub
The tub is freestanding, standing clear of the walls with floor running underneath it.
The plumbing for that has to come up through the floor at precise points, set before the subfloor closes and the tile is laid. There is no adjusting it later without opening the floor. The framing underneath also has to be verified for the load of a filled tub, which is not the same as the load of an empty one.
In a master bathroom it is the fixture that changes the feel of the room most, because it is the only one that occupies open floor rather than a wall.
Tile floors and walls
Tile on the floor and up the walls, replacing the surfaces that carry the moisture in a bathroom that gets daily use. Setting out around a retained vanity means the courses have to be planned from its position, so the cuts land where they are least visible.
The result
A master bathroom brought fully up to date in three weeks, with a good vanity still doing its job.
