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Master Suite Bathroom Renovation Story

We have spent every Winter since our takeover in 2016 doing renovation projects on the building. Finally we got to the “Master Suite Bathroom Renovation” line of our list. Four years waiting to be ticked off and we are so excited that it’s been crossed off. Here’s how we did it. 

Before

First things first – the layout and design. 

The bathroom is connected to the dressing area that had an open doorway between two walls that didn’t quite go to the ceiling (3/4 length). One side was a plasterboard wall and the other was glass brick with the shower on the other side. Once inside the bathroom the shower was on the right, sink in the middle below the window and toilet and bidet on the left. The bidet is a funny thing in Portugal, it’s mandatory that every house has to have at least one. Personally we aren’t a fan, they are rarely used and take up valuable space. So we ripped it out along with the:

  • Shower
  • Sink
  • Toilet
  • Glass wall
  • Plasterboard wall
  • Wall tiles 

We decided to swap the room around and put the shower on the left and toilet on the right. 

Let Rip

Phase Two

The shower occasionally leaked over the years which had damaged the wooden floorboards below. Unfortunately that section of floor was beyond repair so it had to come out, along with part of the structural beam. Luis and our good friend Basil did a great job rebuilding it. For a little while though there was a big hole in the floor that opened into the kitchen, which was the perfect opportunity for a photograph to commemorate the job. 

All of the pipes needed to be replaced as well which meant tearing down the ceiling in the kitchen. That was quite a dusty day! Joao the plasterer did a great job fitting a new ceiling once the pipe work was all complete. 

Joao had work to do in the bathroom too, he built the new dividing wall to enclose the bathroom.

Phase Three

The sinks.

Whenever we go anywhere to stay that has dual sinks in the bathroom we get pretty envious, so we wanted our Master Suite to have this luxury. One day we were perusing our local antique shop when Luis spotted two old marble sinks. He immediately envisioned them in the new bathroom, so a few days later we returned and luckily they were still there so we snapped them up.

When the lodge was originally built there were beautiful hand painted tiles on the walls. Luis’ parents carefully saved them when they transformed the lodge from a ruin back in 2005 and we couldn’t wait to reuse them in this bathroom renovation. 

Luis designed the area for the sinks to be floating on a wooden shelf which would be tiled with our antique tiles. A homage to the building’s history and a little bit of old mixed with new. Sustainable and stylish. 

Phase Four

It took us a little while (and a lot of pinterest scrolling) to decide what kind of tiles we wanted on the walls. We found some gorgeous white rectangular tiles with a ripple effect from our favourite DIY store “Leroy Merlin” and we were sold. We loved how the ripple effect reminded us of the moving ocean and we wanted to keep things neutral with the white to let the antique tiles shine. In the shower cabin we flipped the tiles to section off that area and kept them straight for the rest of the walls. 

Phase Five

In two of our other rooms we’ve stripped the varnish off the floor and left it “rustic” looking then clear varnished on top. We love that look so much that we chose to do it again for this bathroom renovation and stripped the bathroom and dressing room floors. This time though Luis used a different finish and gave it a coat of semi gloss varnish compared to the matte finish in the other rooms. 

Luis had a challenge with the brand new square of floorboards that had to replace the rotten parts. We couldn’t have a patch that didn’t have a mark on it so Luis distressed the wood with a hammer and nails before staining it with the closest colour match he could find. It was a very difficult task to try to get it to blend in and it is still slightly noticeable but we’re all for a little bit of character! 

The walls needed painting too of course so the entire bedroom got a fresh coat.

Phase Six

The penultimate stage of our bathroom renovation. Fitting the shower hose and cabin, the taps and plumbing in the toilet. So we are proud to present the master bedroom’s brand new en-suite!

Taken By Surprise

Unfortunately due to Covid-19 taking over the world we haven’t been able to open yet (it’s the 9th May as I write this). So this lovely new bathroom isn’t getting the use we thought it would be by now. On the positive side, it is ready and waiting for you when this pandemic finally subsides!

We aim to open our doors again on June 1st, fingers crossed we will be seeing you soon!

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