Project overview - The Cobbler's Children have new shoes! The upstairs galley bathroom the kids share in Susan's 1959 split-level finally got a facelift,  just in time for them to move away to college. Here's hoping it compels them home from time to time —the true measure of renovation success for any family space!

Client description - When your profession is designing homes for others, your own spaces can sometimes fall to the bottom of the priority list. Susan’s Bloomington split-level home serves as both family sanctuary and occasional laboratory for testing design concepts. The renovation needed to balance practicality for active teenagers with thoughtful design that would showcase Susan's personal style.

Design solutions - Our design team approached this bathroom renovation with the same care we bring to every client project. The compact galley layout presented familiar midcentury challenges: limited natural light, outdated fixtures, and inefficient storage. We ushered sunshine back in with a new skylight, having stolen the original window years ago for an ensuite bathroom addition. We updated the midcentury-era plumbing, electric and ventilation and raised the countertop from old-school 30" to now-standard 36" - a win for Susan’s not-short kids. Bright white walls became a canvas for colorful finishes, and new tile (concrete in the shower and porcelain on the floor)  replaced dated vinyl flooring and a dull ceramic shower surround. Best of all, we ensured ample towel bars, hooks, vanity storage and shower niche space: plenty for everyone, plus sleepover friends and exchange students! Every element of this remodeled bathroom was purposefully placed to enhance both function and joy in this everyday space.

Outcomes & testimonials - All the kids and their friends love the bright, happy effect of this made-over bathroom — or at least that's what they're saying to the adults. There was this charming bit of dissent, overheard when Susan's 17-year-old son took his 19-year-old cousin upstairs to see it for the first time: "I'm gonna be honest, Bruh, I miss the old bathroom. It was my childhood." But otherwise, only rave reviews!

Photography by Nolan Calisch. Construction by Rusty Peterson Construction.