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For more than a decade, the owners of the 1948 home in Palo Alto’s Barron Park neighborhood lived with an unused bathroom just steps from their bedroom. Water damage and mold from an earlier homeowner’s “fix” had made the room so unappealing that they preferred to climb the stairs to use another one.
The couple, who had lived in the home for nearly 40 years and were now in their 80s, finally decided they’d had enough of trudging upstairs and called in Harrell Design + Build in Mountain View to turn the neglected space into a functional primary bathroom.
Senior designer Gloria Carlson focused on balancing the couple’s needs while making the most of the existing space and maximizing storage.
First thing to go was the pocket door separating the sinks from the toilet and tub.
Today, the grotty tub has been replaced with an accessible, curbless shower with a triangular seat in the corner ideal for shaving legs or foot care. A storage shelf is built in for soap and shampoo. Even the shower heads reflect the couple’s different styles: She favored the gentle rain mist (doing her best thinking there), while he liked the blast of the wall-mounted version.
This bathroom was unusable and not used for 15 years. The tile was coming off the wall. A past installer tiled over the bottom half (of a window), and it was rotted out.
Gloria Carlson, Senior Designer at Harrell Design + Build
With a Diamon-Fusion coating on the glass, it’s a breeze to keep the shower wall and door clean, using a squeegee after each shower.
Their differing tastes extended to the color palette, too. She wanted serene. He favored cheery, with the possibility of change.
The final choice was a calm, neutral gray from Emser’s glazed porcelain Terramor collection.
While the wife wanted to continue the large floor tiles into the shower, Carlson pointed out that small tiles would prevent slippage, as well as make it easier to slope the floor to the drain.
“This bathroom was unusable and not used for 15 years. The tile was coming off the wall. A past installer tiled over the bottom half (of a window), and it was rotted out,” Carlson said.
The wife said they worried about cost and mold and “just didn’t deal with it.” One of her husband’s birthday presents was a stack of Post-it notes reading “Procrastinate on…,” she said.
The couple hadn’t really thought much about the concept of “accessibility” or what they might need as they got older. Carlson pointed to three important issues: creating a curbless shower, installing grab bars and adding a seat.
“It’s important to have them before you need them,” Carlson said.
That became abundantly clear soon after the project was completed. When the renovation started, the couple had no major mobility issues. But one night, the wife slipped off the bed (which had been stacked with an extra mattress while changes were made to their bedroom) and cracked her pelvis, which led to a “tremendous recovery period,” she said. With the primary bathroom remodeled and accessible, there was no need to go up the stairs to the bathroom.
Barron Park bathroom makeover Embarcadero Media | designed by Linda TaaffeCarlson noted that while the shower is more accessible, it’s not wheelchair-ready. For that, they could have chosen a shower curtain rather than a glass door.
A mirrored, underlit, recessed Keuco cabinet is divided into three sections, with separate areas for each of them. One drawer in the vanity is devoted entirely to “first aid,” complete with a variety of bandages.
The “integrated” Silestone double sink makes cleaning very easy. And the old toilet was replaced with a Toto wall-mounted one with a Washlet seat.
Today, the wife’s side features tiny plants, while the husband’s has cheery pottery. And there’s plenty of room for colorful art.
