Eco-Healthy Bathroom Remodel

It all started several years ago when I took my wife to the opening of a fancy tile showroom downtown. She fell in love with the fabulous variety of tiles, and developed an appreciation for the new lines of glass tile. "For our bathroom, someday" she said.

That day finally arrived in 2001. Our small upstairs bathroom desperately needed both an upgrade as well as a redesign to improve its use. Our family of four was crowding around a single sink and we needed to get another sink in. But how?

I decided to shift functions and move the towel/storage shelving to an underutilized upstairs closet off a child's bedroom. This made space for the second sink. And so our adventure was underway. This was also my opportunity to try out my idea for a "back-saver" cabinet design: providing knee space in the lower cabinet, similar to the toe-kick space for feet. (I think this idea could go over big with the aching-back set.)

Our bathroom is small: 5'-6" x 10'-0". I thought, "Let's just gut the whole thing down to the studs and start all over." Well, the first bid was nearly double our budget. I learned lesson one: apply professional judgment to my own project. I scaled the scope back and let go of the idea for a new tile shower. The revised bid was half of the first one, and we were ready to proceed.

As an eco-friendly designer, I had a list of sustainable and energy-conserving products to try out on my own home remodel:

• Genuine linoleum flooring made from plant material (tougher than vinyl).
• Locally produced, handmade glass tiles produced from recycled sources. The tiles surround individual mirrors over the sinks.
• Light fixtures with instant on, no-hum, color corrected fluorescent light bulbs.
• High performance convection electric heater (for an all-electric house).

Also on my list were procedures and products to maintain a healthy indoor air quality:

• Bleach out studs where mold had grown.
• Low VOC paints for both primer and finish coats to minimize off-gassing.
• Use of a one hour timer switch for the exhaust fan to prevent mold build-up.

Improved use items included:

• Roll out shelves for the under counter area.
• An extra deep medicine cabinet. The cabinet goes through a wall into an attic area. We made the cabinet 6" deep to hold hairbrushes and other longer items.
• Half wall separating toilet from sinks, creating usable wall area at counter height.
• Set back lower cabinet doors to encourage bending at the knees while standing.

It can still get busy in our family bathroom, but there is more harmony between us now. The logic of the layout plus the stylishness of the glass tiles make it a pleasure to wake up in the morning.