1950s to Open-Concept: A Southern Pines Primary Bath

This 1950s Southern Pines primary bath had aged gracefully but stopped working for the people living in it — yellow 4x4 wall tile, a black-trimmed checkerboard floor, a tub-and-shower combo retrofitted with grab bars, and a layout boxed in by walls that had nothing to do with how the homeowners actually used the space.

The clients wanted light, openness, and a bath built for the way they live now. Working from a complete gut, we removed an interior wall and pushed the footprint outward to give the room real proportions. The new layout centers on a wide double vanity flanked by pendant lighting, a zero-entry walk-in shower with subway tile and matte black fixtures, and a heated Schluter DITRA-HEAT floor in dark hexagonal tile that warms underfoot in winter and ties the whole space together.

The original window was preserved and re-glazed with frosted glass — privacy without losing the natural light that drew the homeowners to the room in the first place. The result is a bath that feels twice as large as the one it replaced, with the calm of a hotel suite and the durability of a primary bath built to last another seventy years.