CONTACTSage Green Tile Bathroom Remodel
in Pasadena, California
Subway Tile Full Remodel
- LOCATION
- Pasadena, CA
- DURATION
- About 10 days, start to finish
This one was a guest bathroom in a fourth-floor lofted apartment in Pasadena. Our client wanted to bring earthy colors into the room and create a tranquil space, and had a clear enough picture of it to source the vanity mirror and the light fixtures themselves. Our part was the tile, the tub surround, and the decisions underneath both.
The niche was supposed to go in the shower wall. Opening that wall turned up plumbing we had not expected to find there, which is just the sort of thing you deal with in a multi-unit building: the drawings, when there are drawings, describe one unit and rarely describe yours. Rather than reroute someone else's plumbing, we moved the niche.
First we framed out the area around the drop-in bathtub to create a tileable surface, which put as much of the green tile into the room as possible instead of stopping it at a bare tub apron. The niche went on the wall opposite the shower, where the wall cavity was clear.
For all of the shower corners we used Schluter FINEC, a trim with a very fine exposed edge that gives a minimalist, subtle appearance rather than a chunky metal line. It is worth knowing what that choice costs in labor: every tile that meets the trim still has to be cut at a 45° angle. It is very labor-intensive, and it provides a level of protection on the corners that a traditional miter on its own would not.
The rest of the room is about keeping a small bathroom from feeling small. A floating vanity leaves the floor running unbroken underneath it, and a single glass panel on the tub, rather than a framed enclosure or a track, keeps the sight line to the far wall open.
Honestly, the most challenging part of this job was dragging materials, tools, and waste up and down four flights of stairs. It reminded us of our old days in New York City, where our company had its original roots.
The first thing our clients noticed when they saw the finished bathroom was how spacious and open it felt for such a small area.
Questions about
this project.
Why frame out a drop-in tub instead of leaving the tub deck as it came?
Because it lets the tile carry through. Framing a tileable surface around the tub turns the deck and apron into part of the wall treatment instead of a break in it, which is what puts the most color into a small room. It adds framing and waterproofing work before any tile goes down.What is Schluter FINEC trim, and why does the tile still need a 45 degree cut?
FINEC is an edge profile with a very fine exposed face, so the corner reads as a thin line rather than a band of metal. The tile that meets it is still cut at 45 degrees. That is the labor-intensive part, and it is what gives the corner more protection than a plain miter would have on its own.Can the shower niche go wherever we want it?
Usually, but the wall gets a vote. On this job the wall we had planned for turned out to carry plumbing, so the niche moved to the wall opposite the shower. That is a normal outcome, and it is much cheaper to move a niche than to move a pipe.Is a bathroom in a multi-unit building different from a house?
The tile work is the same. Everything around it is not. Access, elevators or the lack of them, where materials can be staged, what hours you can make noise, and shared plumbing that does not always run where you would expect are all part of the job in a building.
More on this kind of work: see the full service.
Similar projects: Olive Green Bath, Altadena Zen Bath.
MALIBU CRAFTSMAN ENTRY
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