A small en suite bathroom gets a modern vintage remodel using influence from Art Deco, Hollywood Regency, and modern day design inspirations.
Merry Christmas to us because our en suite modern vintage bathroom remodel is a wrap! Get it? Christmas… wrap? I’ll see myself out.
Seriously though there is nothing I could have ever ever asked for that would possibly top this!
Our Bathroom Before
If you were around back when we first moved into this colonial house of ours 4+ years ago, you might recall when our bathroom looked like this…
Bathroom 3 Years Later Post-Refresh
Then, a year and a half ago, we gave it a much needed refresh painting the walls and cabinet, adding peel and stick wallpaper, covering the icky tile with vinyl sheet flooring just enough to get us by until we could save up for a massive renovation in several years.
Bathroom Water Damage
And then life had different plans. Surprise! This bathroom renovation happened a year or so earlier than we planned.
But when does life ever go to plan anyway, right?
En Suite Modern Vintage Bathroom Remodel Tour
I really scrambled to design this bathroom because I knew I wanted it to feel vintage with plenty of modern conveniences and storage, so when the water damage incident happened, that stressed me out the most.
I hate feeling rushed when I’m trying to feel inspired by a room, but maybe I should design our rooms under pressure more often because this is by FAR my favorite room in the house now!
(I take it back… I don’t ever want the pressure of having our house implode from an HVAC leak again, but you know what I mean.)
The biggest challenge for me was working in a rather small space, not changing the footprint at all, but still trying to make it feel larger with timeless finishes that wouldn’t go out of style any time soon if ever.
I wanted it to combine the 1920s (an era that always comes to mind to me when I hear “timeless”), the 1960s (the decade our house was built), and now, a little French, a little Italian, a little Hollywood Regency.
I think we just might have pulled it off this time/style blending in this bathroom.
Marble Backsplash
I am so completely in love with our scalloped marble backsplash! It was one of the few things I absolute knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted in this space.
We chose a marble remnant from a local fabricator, which saved us quite a chunk of the budget, and the fabricator sealed it with a UV treatment so we don’t have to worry as much about etching, one of our initial concerns.
This one backsplash detail alone makes this bathroom feel so upscale! Since we’d bought the remnant, we might as well use it all, right?
Wood Vanity
Since we were aiming for a light and bright space with lots of white walls and porcelain tile, I didn’t want this bathroom to feel cold and sterile. So a wood vanity added much needed warmth and texture. Plus, a mid-toned wood vanity is always classic.
To add even more warmth, I chose brushed gold hardware and fixtures. These knobs added the perfect interesting detail to this vanity.
They have an Art Deco feel, and since I wanted a touch of 1920s in this space, they worked perfectly.
Enclosed Small Shower
By far, one of the biggest challenges in this bathroom was the small shower. I wanted it to feel luxe without the grandiose factor.
After polling many of you asking if a large shower or small shower is better, many of you surprised me saying a small shower is actually warmer and more comfortable for use than large shower that can feel drafty.
Now that we’ve had time to use it, I couldn’t agree more! I’m sold on small showers forever!!! It’s so warm and cozy and feels like a steamy spa-like cocoon.
This is how it looked before. We didn’t add a single inch of space! Just ripped out that old surround, encased it as a shower room, and tiled it right up.
Choosing a clear glass shower door helps the bathroom and shower feel larger too.
Shower Door Knob
One of my other favorite details is this shower door knob inspired by Katie Martinez Design and Chris Loves Julia.
That glass knob detail just oozes elegance, don’t you think?! Ahh I can’t get enough! Our contractor totally made magic happen on that one.
Shower Niches
Choosing the shower niche layout was a total panic move when I was having to make decisions on the fly during the beginning stages of the renovation, but I couldn’t be happier!
We went with his and hers shower niches so Robert and I could each have our own soap shelves. I requested a leg shaving niche a foot from the floor, and it makes ALL the difference.
I also had the niches positioned on the wall to the right of the shower door so that they weren’t completely visible upon walking into the bathroom. Our shower seems larger that way without having any immediately visible obstructions.
As an added detail, I continued the hexagon tile from the shower floor to the back of the shower niches.
Marble Look Porcelain Tile
In choosing the tile, I wanted the classic and bright look of white marble without the high maintenance of real marble.
This polished marble look porcelain tile from Alexander James was the absolute perfect choice!
The best part is we don’t have to baby it, the tile is cheaper when compared to real marble, cheaper to install than real marble, and it totally looks like the real thing. I’d hardly be able to tell if I didn’t already know it was porcelain because the veining design on the tiles is so convincing.
Using this large 12×24 Statuary polished tile creates fewer grout lines and helps the shower seem larger as a result.
This hexagon Statuary polished tile adds a hint of the 1920s (and also ties in the hexagon shaped tile from our other bathrooms to help our entire house flow together).
For the floor, we used this 4×16 Statuary polished tile to create the herringbone pattern. And we had it all finished off with Timberwolf gray grout to create definition in the patterns and also require less maintenance since it won’t show as much dirt over time.
Bathroom Faucets
I absolutely love this Delta Champagne Bronze finish because while it’s a brushed gold, it’s a muted gold, not bright yellow.
We chose this modern Trinsic shower faucet kit for its clean lines along with a handheld sprayer and slide bar to make cleaning the tile and glass door easier. (It always drives me crazy trying to clean a shower without a sprayer.)
These wall mounted Trinsic sink faucets are everything! So clean, simple, and sleek, and I love that having a wall mount prevents water from collecting all over the countertop versus a standard faucet.
Bathroom Mirrors
These mirrors were totally a happy accident. We originally planned on using black arched mirrors, but it was going to be too tight of a fit, and I couldn’t find any in stock that were tall and slim.
Then these Venetian mirrors walked into my life and immediately stole my heart.
These mirrors make the room feel so much bigger! And add even more of that European / Hollywood Regency characteristic.
Bathroom Lighting
I found these designer dupe shaded sconces that worked perfectly to make the light feel soft in here, perfect for putting on makeup. I much prefer individual wall sconces on either side of mirror rather than above mirrors so that the face is lit without creating shadows.
In the shower, we added this canned light fan to make it seamless and prevent humidity.
Bathroom Wall Molding
Per usual, we love a heaping dose of picture frame molding like we did in Regan’s bedroom and in our dining room. We wanted to add some interest to the bare walls without being fussy, but we didn’t want to add more to the budget by installing tile on the walls either.
Picture frame molding was the perfect solution, and it makes the bathroom ceilings feel taller since it draws the eyes upward.
It’s hard to believe this was before…
Wood Toilet Seat
Since we didn’t get our toilet closet like we had hoped and kept the same bathroom layout, I wanted a way to make the toilet “pretty”.
This wooden toilet seat (similarly to how we added the black toilet seat in our girls’ bathroom) and adding this Champagne Bronze flusher did the trick. If you can’t hide it, might as well make it look good, right?
Vintage Bathroom Art
I didn’t want art that would be a huge focus in this bathroom, so just this black and gold frame and this vintage gold frame with this painted landscape and this floral etching was all it needed. It’s just understated enough.
Open Bathroom Shelves
We definitely needed some wall storage but didn’t have a ton of room to make it happen using a cabinet as we had hoped. So I spray painted the brackets on this wall shelf to coordinate with the rest of the brushed gold fixtures in the room.
Small Bathroom Storage
I styled them up with this perfectly patina’d brass vase I found at the thrift store and a few apothecary jars and bins for small toiletry items like Q-tips, cotton balls, and bobby pins.
This double hamper helps us sort our dirty clothes and blends right in with the white walls so it’s storage in plain sight without an unsightly distraction.
And that’s the grand en suite modern vintage bathroom remodel tour! It’s small but mighty. Like if Audrey Hepburn punched you in the face, that’d describe this bathroom, I guess. 
It’s elegant and fiesty, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.
I still can’t believe it’s ours. Even though we had no idea we’d be faced with a bathroom renovation a few months ago, and this entire process created so much stress for us this year, we would do it all over again to end up with this finished space.
I’ll share a full budget breakdown soon since it’s all too much to put into one post. And maybe a handy post with all of the bathroom’s measurements too in case you’re ever face with a bathroom remodel yourself.
If you’re in the Charlotte, NC surrounding area, our contractors Paul Davis and Mike Bates at Home Rehab were absolutely amazing every step of the way.
If you missed any of our renovation journey, you can catch up here:
- Water Damage, Demolition, and Where We Go From Here
- Choosing the Best Bathroom Designs – 10,000 of Our Followers Voted What They Would Pick
- Modern Classic Bathroom Ideas Giving Us Major Inspo for Our Remodel
- Our Classic Bathroom Design Plan
- Marble Tile vs Marble Effect Tile: Which Is Best?
- Wood Bathroom Vanities We Love For Every Budget
- Faux Marble Herringbone Tile & Shower Progress
- Our Scalloped Marble Backsplash in the Bathroom Reno
- Our En Suite Bathroom Remodel – We Have Faucets!
- Rub n Buff Colors Tried and Tested
Got any questions about it? I feel like my brain is just one big bathroom renovating swirl at the moment.
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