Master Bathroom Remodel — Mt. Washington, Baltimore

The homeowners called us in April 2023 for an estimate on their master bathroom. The room was large — larger than most master baths we see in Baltimore — but the layout wasted it. A drop-in tub took up an entire wall. The vanity, mirror, and lighting were original to the house. The floor was vinyl.

Then they went and met with several other bathroom remodeling companies.

In July, they came back to us.

What Was Wrong With the Old Bathroom

• A drop-in tub that ate an entire wall and rarely got used
• No separate shower
• Original oak vanity, cultured marble top, and a Hollywood light bar
• Wallpaper and vinyl flooring
• A layout that left the middle of a very large room completely empty

The homeowners did not need more square footage. They needed the square footage they already had to work.

We Took It to the Studs

This was a full gut, not a resurface. Every piece of drywall came off. The floor came up. What was left was bare framing and the original plumbing.

That is the only honest way to change a bathroom layout. You cannot move a toilet or add a corner shower by tiling over what is already there.

Before any of it started, the floors were covered, runners went down through the house, and the room was sealed off in plastic. The homeowners lived there the whole time.

The Part You Can’t See

This is where most of the money went, and it is the part no photograph really sells.

New drain line

We ran a new drain line for the bathroom. The old one served the old fixtures, and the new layout moved them.

Upgraded hot and cold supply

Once the walls were open we replaced the supply lines rather than tying new fixtures into old pipe. If you are already down to the studs, running new supply costs a fraction of what it takes to come back later — and coming back later means opening a wall you just paid to tile.

A waterproofed shower

The shower got a full waterproofing system before a single tile went on. This is the step that separates a shower that lasts twenty years from one that fails in three. It is also the easiest step to skip, because nobody can tell by looking whether it was done.

We are a licensed general contractor. The plumbing, the electrical, the waterproofing, and the tile were handled in-house — no subcontractor pointing at another subcontractor when something needed to line up.

Rebuilding It

What Went In

A corner glass shower. Full glass enclosure, rain head plus a hand shower on a slide bar, a built-in niche, and a tiled bench. It sits where the old toilet used to be.

A corner Jacuzzi tub. Set into a tiled deck on the wall where the old drop-in tub was, but turned into the corner so it gives back the floor space the old tub was stealing.

A custom double vanity. Dark cherry, furniture-style with turned legs, a marble top with two undermount sinks, and a matching arched valance with two mirrored medicine cabinets above it.

Tile throughout. Large-format porcelain on the floor and walls, a mosaic accent band through the shower, mosaic on the shower floor, and two framed diamond-pattern panels set into the wall above the tub.

Everything else new. Recessed lighting, crown molding, GFCI outlets at the vanity, one-piece toilet, and all new fixtures in polished chrome.

Why It Took Six Weeks

Six weeks is longer than a standard bathroom, and there is a reason worth being straight about: several of the plumbing fixtures and some of the tile had to be special ordered.

We would rather wait for the right material than substitute something the homeowner did not pick. A remodel you live with for twenty years is not the place to save two weeks.

Project Details

If your bathroom is the biggest room nobody wants to use, the problem is usually the layout, not the size.

We are a licensed general contractor, not a tile company. Demolition, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, and finish work are handled by our own crew.

MHIC #151449 — Serving Mt. Washington, Roland Park, Pikesville, Owings Mills, Towson and the rest of Baltimore City and County.