Project 04 — Bathrooms
A dark, dated basement three-piece rebuilt as a bright marble-veined shower room — plus a matching powder room down the hall. Same footprint, twice the house.
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Category
Lower-level bathroom
Scope
Full gut, waterproofing, tile, glass, two vanities
Year
2025
Duration
Approximately 5 weeks
The brief
The lower level had a cramped fibreglass shower stall, a builder-grade vanity and a single bulb overhead. Guests used it once and never again. The family wanted a basement that could actually host people — an in-law, a teenager, a weekend visitor.
Bright, easy to clean, and finished to the same standard as upstairs: a large glass shower with a low curb, a lit mirror that works without a window, and a small powder room down the hall in the same palette.
The idea
The build
Below grade, waterproofing and ventilation decide whether a bathroom lasts. Both were solved before a single tile went up, and the same project manager ran every stage from demolition to final trim.
Everything came out to the block and the slab. The old stall drain was reworked, supply lines re-run for a wider shower and relocated vanity, and a new inline fan ducted properly to the exterior — the single most overlooked item in a basement bathroom.
A membrane over the shower walls and pan before a single tile went up. Large-format marble-veined porcelain runs to the ceiling with the veining sequenced sheet to sheet, so the pattern reads as stone rather than repeat. Grey plank porcelain underfoot handles boots and wet feet.
A two-tier recessed niche was framed into the stud bay and trimmed in mitred tile — no bulky metal edging. Inside the shower, a chrome slide bar, hand shower and overhead rain head share one thermostatic valve so the temperature never moves when a tap runs upstairs.
A deep green shaker vanity with a one-piece ceramic top, brushed chrome pulls and a backlit oval mirror. In a room with no window, the mirror is the light source that matters — warm, even, and dimmable, so it never feels like a utility room.
Down the hall, a second small room got the same treatment at a smaller scale: matching green vanity, the same floor tile carried through, an arched niche wall left clean, and a framed oval mirror. Two rooms, one palette, one trade crew, one mobilisation.
Details
Outcome
The lower level now works as its own suite: a full bathroom that guests are happy to use, a powder room for everyone else, and finishes that match the main floor instead of announcing that you've gone downstairs.
See more of our work“A basement bathroom fails on ventilation and light long before it fails on tile. Get those right and the rest is just finish work.”
Start your bathroom
Tell us how you use the space and what's missing — we'll come back with scope, options and a firm quote.
We typically respond within one business day.
