Master Bathroom Remodel – Fort Washington, PA
This 100-square-foot master bathroom in Fort Washington had been unchanged for over 30 years. The remodel removed the original tub and replaced it with a walk-in shower with sliding glass doors, tiled in marble-look tile with subtle gray veining throughout. A double vanity replaced the original single-sink unit. The bathroom was painted soft gray to coordinate with the veining in the tile — a deliberate finish decision rather than a default neutral. A lighted mirror was added above the new vanity.
After the project was done, the homeowners immediately booked two additional projects with Belmax: a powder room renovation and hallway updates, including door installations. That kind of sequential rebooking is the strongest signal a contractor gets that the first job went well.
What This Project Included
- Removal of the original bathtub
- New walk-in shower with sliding glass doors
- Marble-look tile with gray veining on shower walls and floor
- Double vanity replacing original single-sink vanity
- Lighted mirror above vanity
- New toilet
- New exhaust fan
- Soft gray paint coordinated with tile veining
30 Years Between Remodels
A bathroom that has been in place for 30 years without updating has typically outlived its fixtures, its tile, and its layout logic. The finishes that were current in the early 1990s — cultured marble, single-sink vanities, tubs in master bathrooms that nobody uses — are the elements that define a before photo in 2024. The Fort Washington homeowners had reached that point and decided to address it properly rather than incrementally.
At 100 square feet, this is a master bathroom with enough room to work with — large enough for a double vanity and a properly sized walk-in shower without the layout compromises that come with smaller spaces. The scope that was possible here (double vanity, sliding-door shower enclosure, marble-look tile throughout) reflects what 100 square feet allows.
Marble-Look Tile with Gray Veining
The tile selected for the shower walls and floor is a marble-look porcelain with subtle gray veining. Marble-look porcelain tile delivers the visual qualities of natural marble — the movement, the veining, the stone-like surface — at a fraction of the cost and with significantly better durability and maintenance characteristics. Natural marble is porous, requires sealing, and is susceptible to etching from acidic products. Porcelain tile in a marble pattern is not.
The gray veining in the tile is what connects the tile selection to the paint choice. Soft gray paint on the walls coordinates with the vein color running through the tile, so the room reads as a considered palette rather than a tile job dropped into a room painted a default color. This kind of intentional coordination between tile and paint is simple to plan and execute, but makes a significant difference in how finished the room reads.
Single Vanity to Double: What Changes
Replacing a single-sink vanity with a double vanity in a master bathroom is one of the more impactful functional upgrades a remodel can deliver. It is also one of the more involved ones: a double vanity requires two sets of supply lines and two drain connections. In a bathroom that was originally plumbed for a single sink, those connections have to be added — new supply lines run and new drain work tied into the existing drain stack.
The result is a vanity where two people can use the bathroom at the same time without competing for the same sink. In a master bathroom serving two people, this is a daily-use quality-of-life change rather than a cosmetic one. The additional storage that comes with a wider double vanity cabinet is secondary to the functional improvement.
Sliding Glass Shower Doors
Sliding glass doors on a walk-in shower — as opposed to a hinged door or a frameless door — have specific spatial advantages. They require no clearance arc into the bathroom when opening, which matters in a room where the shower, vanity, and toilet are all within a relatively compact area. Sliding doors also provide a clean visual boundary for the shower enclosure that is consistent whether the door is open or closed. In a 100-square-foot master bathroom, this is a practical consideration as much as an aesthetic one.
The Lighted Mirror
A lighted mirror above the double vanity provides illumination directly at the vanity surface — at the level and from the direction where it is most useful for daily grooming. A lighted mirror eliminates the shadow that a ceiling fixture casts downward onto a person’s face when they are standing at the mirror. In a double-vanity configuration spanning a wide wall, lighted mirrors also provide consistent illumination across the full vanity width rather than a single overhead source that lights the center better than the edges.
The Follow-On Work
The homeowners booked a powder room renovation and hallway updates with door installations after this project was complete. That pattern — completing one project and immediately commissioning additional work — is common when the first project goes smoothly: the homeowner has seen how the contractor operates, trusts the execution, and decides to address other things on their list while that trust is fresh. It is the most direct available evidence that a project was delivered on what was promised.
Bathroom Remodeling in Fort Washington
Fort Washington is a Montgomery County community with significant residential development from the post-war decades through the 1980s. Master bathrooms in homes from that era are now at or past the point where a meaningful update delivers real return in daily function and property value. A full remodel — tub out, walk-in shower in, double vanity, coordinated tile and paint — is the appropriate scope for a bathroom that has been in place for 30 years.
Belmax Remodeling works throughout Fort Washington and Montgomery County. For more on our bathroom work, see our bathroom remodeling service page. Homeowners in Fort Washington can also visit our Fort Washington bathroom remodeling page for more completed local projects.
Considering a Similar Project?
Master bathroom remodels in the 100-square-foot range with a tub-to-walk-in conversion, marble-look tile, double vanity with plumbing work, and a lighted mirror typically fall in the $13,000–$16,000 range in Montgomery County. This Fort Washington project came in at $13,800, completed in November 2024. To discuss what your bathroom would involve, request a free estimate.