Looking for inspiration for a bathroom remodel? This Primary Bathroom Makeover features classic, rustic, and coastal touches and blends them all together to create a timeless look.

It’s an exciting day now that I can finally reveal the final results a project that’s been in the works here in the Hendrick house for months: our Classic Rustic & Coastal Primary Bathroom Makeover!

Primary Bathroom Makeover Project

Follow along on YouTube

If you’re just tuning in, you can read here about the project plans, check out the mood board, read about how I mix bathroom tile, how we planked the wall with PVC, and last but not least— what to do when projects don’t go according to plan— and you can bet they won’t during any renovation, but particularly during a 2020 renovation!

I also can’t begin to tell you how much I L.O.V.E. how this room came out! It was well worth the wait. Here’s a reminder of the before.

Primary Bathroom: Before

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The room was extremely dated and beige as well as being weirdly divided in two. It already wasn’t the biggest room for a primary bathroom, and the middle wall wasted a bunch of space with a crumbling linen closet and doors that hit one another. If you want to see the floorplan changes and more before photos you can check out this post!

Primary Bathroom: After

Now, the primary bathroom is the perfect coastal meets rustic retreat with classic finish choices that I believe will stand the test of time. As I mentioned in the mood board post, I wanted to capture a coastal New England feeling (inspired by a trip to Bar Harbor) while sticking within the color story of our entire home.

Speaking of colors, the fresh plaster got a nice coat of moisture-resistant Benjamin Moore aura paint in Paperwhite and the planked wall, trim, and ceiling are painted BM Simply White. Both are colors we’ve used elsewhere in the house but it’s the exact same combo that we used in our Kids’/Guest bath a couple of years ago. In my opinion, they’re the perfect bathroom paint color choices!

This primary bathroom makeover is one of the last major projects we’ll complete inside this house, which feels a bit crazy to say. However, I’ll be completely honest… it’s also a major relief! An almost decade-long whole home renovation isn’t for the faint of heart, and we’re ready to cross the finish line and stop tripping over power tools in random spots around the house.

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Adding a Freestanding Tub in the Primary Bathroom

The space we saved by knocking down the middle wall allowed us to add this freestanding tub where there was once a linen closet. At first, I was nervous because it wasn’t the largest tub you could buy, but it also wasn’t the smallest. After using it, I now feel reassured that it’s a perfect size and it’s such a great addition to this space.

If you’re flipping a home or considering selling someday, I recommend adding a tub (if you can). While we don’t have any plans to move and we rarely do projects with resale in mind, we thought that in this case, the choice added to the overall appeal of the house. Plus, I really just love having it!

The Vanity & PVC Planked Wall

One design element that I knew would tie the Primary Bathroom to the other updated rooms in our house — and, bonus, add coastal New England style — was a planked wall. Since this is an area that would get damp from the shower, I decided PVC would be the best material. You can get the tutorial here!

I know there’s a lot of chatter about planked/shiplap walls being “done”. I’m going to take a hard stand on this one: I was planking walls before it was trendy, and I’m going to keep on doing it from time-to-time. I believe it’s like wainscotting and beadboard and never truly goes out of style, especially when used purposefully and/or in coastal-inspired designs.

A design element that didn’t go my way was being able to install lights between and beside the mirrors. There was enough room to do so, but once it was gutted we realized that this room had a truly absurd number of studs. It was much easier to leave the existing wiring in place above the mirrors. Call this one a marriage compromise— you win some, you lose some. However, I do like the pretty champagne gold light fixtures and they match the mirrors perfectly (I know they say aged brass— but this particular finish seems to have a lot of names).

The vanity and linen cabinet are part of the same Shutter Collection from Restoration Hardware but have since been discontinued. You can get a similar look with this vanity. I swapped out the hardware with these champagne gold knobs.

As I mentioned earlier, we knocked down a linen closet in the awkward center wall. However, we still need a place to store our linens. This linen cabinet does the trick perfectly! Again, it’s sold out/discontinued, but this linen cabinet would go well with the vanity alternative I shared.

Decor Ideas Above the Toilet

Our primary bathroom isn’t large enough to have a water closet, but we made the best of the situation. I kept the shelving above the toilet to the depth of picture ledges (24″ in Seadrift).

The challenge with this was finding pretty decor that would fit! I repurposed a couple of little faux florals from elsewhere in the house. I purchased these abstract coastal printables on Etsy and added them to champagne gold frames.

Primary Bathroom Glass Shower

Instead of a traditional bath mat, I decided to go with this waterproof synthetic rug in 3×5′. I’m sure you’ve seen the buzz about this brand, so I want to mention that this wasn’t sponsored. I bought it and I’ve been very impressed with the quality!

I’ll also go ahead and share the link for our herringbone floor tile right here. You can read about how I chose the tiles and mixed-and-matched in this bathroom here.

The glass shower surround was a definite learning process and ultimately what slowed down our project. I think I’ll write a longer post on the topic because we ultimately had to find a workaround due to our expanse of glass, which I think could be helpful to others. In the end, we ended up with the sliding glass door style, and I’m really happy with it!

The niche was another place where things didn’t go quite according to plan, which I’m attributing to a combination of a language barrier mixed with social distancing during the tiling process. It was originally supposed to feature the small herringbone tile to tie in with the shower floor, but since we were staying away while workers were in the space, it was too late by the time I caught it. Live and learn.

So that’s a wrap on our Primary Bathroom project! The next projects in the space are strictly organizing related, and I’ll make sure to link back when the time comes. I’ll leave a full source list below, and make sure to follow along on Instagram because I’m planning some video reels!

Primary Bathroom Source List

Wall Color — Benjamin Moore Paper White OC-55 in Aura Bath & Spa
Ceiling Color — Benjamin Moore Simply White OC-117 in Aura Bath & Spa
Trim & Plank Color — Benjamin Moore Simply White in Advance Semi-Gloss | Read my post about planking with PVC here!
Vanity, Vanity Top & Linen Cabinet — Restoration Hardware Shutter Collection (Discontinued)
Towel Hooks — Champagne Bronze
Large Towel — White-Grey
Vanity Faucets — Brushed Nickel
Vanity & Linen Cabinet Knobs — Golden Champagne
Towel Ring — Champage Bronze
Hand Towel — Grey
Mirrors — Lanesborough
Soap Bottles — White & Gold 32 oz.
Vanity Lights — Aged Brass
Floor Tile — 6×24″ Honed
Bath Rug — 3×5′
Tub — 59″ Freestanding
Tub Faucet — Brushed Nickel
Abstract Canvas — Wrapped Canvas
Rattan Light — Belden
Tub Tray — Hearth & Hand, similar here
Sponge — Pack of 3
Hand Towel — Set of 4, Grey
Shower Stool — Dark Grey
Shower Floor Tile — Herringbone Pattern 12 x12″ Honed Marble
Shower Wall Tile — 4×12″ Honed Cararra
Shower Ledge/Niche Shelves — Cararra Marble Threshold
Shower Head System — Brushed Nickel
Soap Bottles — White & Gold 32 oz.
Scrub Brushes — Set of 2
Favorite White Towels — Bath Sheet Size
Toilet — Kohler
Toilet Paper Holder — Champagne Bronze
Picture Ledges — 24″ Seadrift
Gold Frames — 8×10″
Abstract Watercolor Printables — Etsy
Wood Blinds — 30″ x 48″

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