Spa-Like Basement Master Bathroom Remodel (Springfield MO)

This award-winning bathroom remodeling design demonstrates how you can overhaul even the most challenging space into something amazing.

Modernizing a 50-year-old home

This family had a nice home in a great part of north Springfield, Missouri. But it wasn’t perfect. 

It was built for an architect in the early 1970s, so it had a mid-century style with a 1970’s flare. The homeowners liked the contemporary feel but wanted to modernize the home and fix some minor age-related problems. So we began a whole-house remodel. 

Remodeling the bathroom into a parental oasis 

In remodeling projects, you often find opportunity moments to make something better. We work with the mindset of, “Let’s get it right.” This mindset allowed us to focus on the area surrounding the master suite during this project. 

This large family enjoyed the expansive upstairs and frequently entertained guests from church. So we wanted to make the master suite into a retreat for the parents. The master bathroom remodel was part of that effort. 

Identifying opportunities for improvement 

This master bathroom remodeling project had several obvious issues to address: 

• The bathroom was deep into the back of the basement, so there were no windows for natural light or airflow.
• It felt very small and cramped.
• It was originally laid out in an odd fashion that did not make the best use of the space.
• It had a tub/shower combination, which has fallen out of fashion.
• It had a long vanity on the back and a very small vanity across from it.
• It had closets within the bathroom itself that were not separated from the bathroom in an ideal way. 

A total master bathroom remodeling transformation

After a great deal of planning and hard work, the result is a bright, clean, spa-like oasis. 

I used lots of light to raise the visual height of the room, including light-colored materials. White paint on the walls and ceiling help the space feel large and bright.

We painted the cabinets a soft grey to offer a subtle color difference. White cabinets still dominate the marketplace as the most common cabinet color, but light grey coordinates well with those white tones to help give it a little bit of contrast and not be stark white everywhere.

To make the room feel larger, I flanked mirrors on either side. The mirrors are also medicine cabinets, so they add storage in this space. 

Natural earth tones set the mood 

I anchored the front and back walls with woodgrain tile to give the room a contemporary feel with some earthy tones. I also included lovely walnut doors and trim.

I continued the same earth-tone feel on the unique countertops. The quartzite stone has a very earthy feel, and there’s a very subtle green vein in the natural material. This custom-built feature came out beautiful. 

I also chose some green towels to carry the color subtly over. 

Thoughtful bathroom design with modern features 

I designed equal his-and-hers vanities with ample storage. Under each sink, I designed a drawer below the cabinet – instead of the false drawer usually found directly in front of the sink. This allows for more storage, so there’s plenty of room for towels and linens.

One special cabinet features a pull-out carriage for hair dryers and curling irons which are plugged in all the time. You just pull it out, turn it on, use it, and put it back in the cabinet. That’s becoming a very desirable detail.

Luxury shower design 

Showers are now very important to home design, so I designed a luxury shower space featuring multiple shower heads: an overhand rain can, body sprays, a handheld sprayer, and a standard head.

This up-scale shower design also includes a trough drain, which is becoming more common in modern homes.

The unique bench design resembles the niches that we created for soaps or shampoos. The niches are placed up high to create visual height – they are decorative and functional.

Most of the hardware in the bathroom is brushed nickel. I mix metals more often these days.

Every surface choice needs to work well in relation to the other pieces around it. It doesn’t need to be the same three colors or materials on every surface throughout the house. Each surface just needs to coordinate and compliment the other surfaces.

Smart home design features 

The porcelain-tile floor has radiant heat. It’s programmed to come on at a certain time, at a certain temperature, depending on how the homeowner wants it. For example, it can come on in the morning before the homeowners get up, so it’s nice and warm when they are getting ready for work. Then it shuts itself off and comes back on in the evening. A mobile app easily manages this “smart home” feature. 

The LED lighting throughout the house is also controlled wirelessly with the mobile app.

Each bathroom mirror includes a clock embedded into the glass, plus a defogging feature.

We always install a humidistat-driven bathroom fan to control odor and steam. Moisture can become a really bad problem in a home, especially inside of a basement where you don’t have any airflow from a window. The humidistat senses the humidity in the air and turns the bathroom vent on automatically to clear out the steam. It then shuts itself off. And we always direct the bathroom air outside, not into an interior space or an attic. 

A better layout

I caution all homeowners that the four most expensive words are: “While we’re at it.” Adding to a project can make the budget skyrocket. But good planning on the front side helps keep costs under control.

In this remodeling project, we were able to transform this bathroom – and the space around it. The laundry room, utility room, and master closet all shared walls with this bathroom.

So we reworked all of these spaces to make them work well together. We shifted square feet between the rooms to make each the best they could be. Everything is now snug in its place, perfectly puzzle-pieced together.

I separated the master closet from the bathroom. It’s still accessible from the bathroom, through a door on the left. I also created a semi-private space for the toilet.

Could your master bathroom use a remodel?

Award-winning bathroom design

417 Home, by 417 Magazine, chose this space as the best bathroom in their 2021 Design Awards.

It’s the classic basement bathroom dilemma: A lack of natural light paired with low ceilings creates a cramped space. Chad Holgerson of Keystone Creative, LLC used workarounds to make this primary bathroom feel bright and spacious using color, material sizes and layout reconfiguration. The result is this luxe bathroom that exceeded client expectations.

Tessa Cooper of 417 Home

Keystone Creative is an award-winning residential design firm, specializing in whole-house transformations and new-home designs. The team reimagines kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, and even laundry rooms to fulfill homeowners’ dreams and increase the value of homes. Keystone Creative can handle the entire process, from the initial concept and detailed blueprints, to interior design and material selection, to construction and quality control management.