Main Line Remodeling: The Master Bath Conundrum

At Cottage Industries, we love the challenging remodeling projects our clients bring to us. To take a client’s vision and bring it to life is one of the most satisfying parts of what we do. A bathroom remodel for a home on the Main Line can present quite a few challenges, as this project will show. Our goal is to help you bring to life the bathroom you dream of with an eye towards carefully balancing budget and design.

In this 3-part series, we’ll be documenting the progress of this project. Follow along with us as we walk you along the entire construction process. If you have any thoughts or comments, please share them with us!

Scope of Project

This project’s scope of work was fairly straightforward. The Swarthmore homeowners originally contacted us to renovate three of their home’s five bathrooms, including the too-small master bath, a hall bath, and a powder room. The powder room was the simplest of the jobs, with most work there involving cosmetic changes.

The Challenge

After our in-home consultation, we realized the adjacent hall bath was going to present a problem with enlarging the master. There was simply no viable way to expand the master and preserve the hall bath at the same time. After discussing it with the homeowners, we all agreed that the entire area would have to be gutted and completely reconfigured and rebuilt.

In order to minimize the length of time it will take to complete the project, we also needed to find a way for the homeowners to shower while the work was in progress.

Creative Solution

Once our design team got to work, we discovered there was an adjacent dressing room that was underutilized that would work perfectly for the expanded master bath. Proposed design in hand, the homeowners were consulted about this possible solution. Fortunately, they loved the idea and the team set to work on the final plans. Work has just begun, and we’re as excited as the homeowners are to see the completed project.

The new design included a curbless shower, so we discussed with the homeowners whether they wanted to incorporate aging in place design. We also talked about decorating the updated bathrooms in a way that would complement the rest of the house. The homeowners gave an enthusiastic thumb up to that proposal.

We solved the shower problem by setting up a temporary one on the home’s third floor. This way, we’ll be able to get all three bathrooms completed at the same time.

Current Progress

It’s fairly early days for this project, but the site protection and demolition is finished and the plumbers have begun disconnecting things. The homeowners seem happy with the temporary shower solution, especially as it means a sooner completion date than if we had done the baths one by one.

There you have the current rundown for this 3-bath renovation job. Stay tuned for the next part in this series!