Cheryl Conlin had an unusual goal for her bathroom renovation: to source as many materials manufactured in the United States as possible. “I wanted to highlight the beauty of American craftsmen,” she says. “I didn’t want, as I told my designer, that white marble bathroom that everyone has. … I don’t find beauty in that.” As such, several of the materials in the final product are bespoke.
Conlin had planned for years to renovate her condo’s only bathroom (which still wore its original 1980s style), so she’d saved enough to bring her specific vision to fruition — even when that meant paying over $1,000 for a custom tile delivery. “I was just really impressed and carried away by the beauty of it all,” she says. “It was a ‘sky’s the limit’ sort of thing.” Her original budget of $50,000 ballooned by $20,000.
She began working with a designer in March 2022, though the renovation didn’t begin for over a year, in part because of the unique materials.
Demolition posed a potential challenge, since contractors told Conlin to plan on her only bathroom being out of service for two to three weeks. Luckily, an out-of-town neighbor gave Conlin access to their unit.
The shower has tiles from California-based Heath Ceramics, a company founded by one of the first American female ceramicists. Builders also added a niche to hold bath products, plus a bench. The shower fixtures, some of the few items not sourced from the United States, arrived several months after they were ordered from a small factory in Italy. Conlin’s cabinets, made by a custom builder in Washington, Va., were designed in an L-shape to maximize drawer space. Conlin had a preferred cabinet shade in mind, but it took several samples, paint cards and a handcrafted wood stain to achieve the olive/khaki tone. To highlight the woodwork, she opted not to include handles or pulls.
Conlin’s old bathroom felt cramped due to bad design choices, such as a door that swung inward toward the toilet. She originally wanted to replace it with a space-saving pocket door, but when builders found the wall was too thin to accommodate one, she instead chose a sliding barn door with hidden hardware.
Despite a lengthy and pricey renovation, Conlin says she wouldn’t change anything about it. “It’s the nicest room in the house now,” she says. “It’s really exactly what I wanted.”
Plumbing fixtures: $5,213.
Vanity lighting and mirror: $1,878.
Toilet installation: $600.
Shower tile delivery: $1,238.
Project management: $4,500.
