Historic Charm Meets Modern Function: Inside an Ardmore Bathroom Remodel by Kendall Sharpe Designs
Renovating a historic home requires balancing architectural character with modern functionality. In the historic Ardmore neighborhood of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kendall Sharpe Designs transformed a cramped, outdated bathroom in a home over 70 years old.
Through strategic space planning, tailored cabinetry, and cohesive material selections, this 54-square-foot room was completely reimagined to deliver high storage capacity and abundant natural light.
Overcoming the Challenges of a 70-Year-Old Footprint
The original 6×9-foot space presented common historic home obstacles: zero built-in storage, heavy visual bulk, and aging behind-the-wall infrastructure.
Complete Demolition: We stripped the space down to the studs, eliminating a mismatched aesthetic and clearing the path to update all rough-in plumbing and electrical systems to modern building standards.
Cast Iron Tub Removal: The original, bulky cast-iron tub was removed to make way for an accessible, open walk-in shower.
Window Replacement: Outdated glass block was replaced with a clear architectural picture window, flooding the space with natural daylight while preserving privacy.
Sub-Surface Protection: High-performance waterproofing was applied across the entire floor and shower envelope before installing tile, ensuring long-term structural integrity.
Maximizing Storage in a 6×9 Footprint
Storage served as the core design driver for this remodel. To unlock every square inch without crowding walking paths, the design utilizes vertical space and custom-built architectural framing.
The 16-Inch Architectural Build-Out Wall
By framing a custom 16-inch interior divider wall, the design accomplished two functional goals at once:
Concealed Shower Niche: Built to maximize in-shower bottle capacity while shielding daily essentials from direct sightlines when entering the room.
Over-Toilet Cabinetry: Anchored a dedicated, shallow cabinet over the toilet for small bathroom essentials, finished in Sherwin-Williams Pure White (SW 7005) to provide a crisp contrast against the adjacent natural wood.
Custom Pantry-Style Vanity Storage
Rather than relying on an oversized sink base with hollow, hard-to-reach under-sink space, the vanity was re-engineered for daily efficiency:
Narrowed Sink Base: Minimized wasted plumbing cavity space.
Vertical Tall Cabinet: Integrated a pantry-style tower featuring rollout drawers in the lower section for effortless access and adjustable shelving on top for taller items and folded linens.
The Finish Palette: Organic Texture and Mixed Metals
The materials honor classic craftsmanship while establishing a clean, modern organic aesthetic:
3×12 Green Subway Tile: Vertically stacked along the walk-in shower walls to draw the eye upward and add rich, grounding color.
Star and Cross Flooring: Flows continuously from the main room floor directly into the shower floor, visually expanding the room by removing broken sightlines.
Vanity Accent Wall: The specialty accent tile from the shower niche was repeated behind the vanity mirror, creating visual cohesion across opposite sides of the room.
Curated Mixed Metals: Matte black finishes on the mirror and light fixture introduce modern contrast, balanced by timeless brushed nickel plumbing fixtures and matching hardware accessories.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you add ample storage to a small 6×9 bathroom without making it feel cramped?
Focus on vertical real estate and interior depth. Replacing a standard vanity with a narrow sink base and an integrated pantry-style tower adds rollouts and shelving without eating up floor space. Utilizing the wall space above the toilet for shallow cabinetry also captures storage without intruding into walkways.
Is it okay to mix metal finishes in a historic remodel?
Yes. Blending two finishes prevents a space from feeling one-dimensional. A reliable rule of thumb is using a timeless metal like brushed nickel for functional plumbing components while adding a bold, contrasting finish like matte black for lighting and mirrors.
Why run the same flooring into the walk-in shower?
Using an uninterrupted pattern, like star-and-cross tile, across the bathroom floor into a curbless or low-profile shower removes visual borders. The continuous pattern tricks the eye into seeing one unified surface, making compact bathrooms look significantly larger.
Comments