This loft in Chelsea, NYC, only had one bathroom. The owner wanted to gut renovate the existing bathroom, add a second bathroom, and add a new laundry closet to the loft.
I am Jorge Fontan, an architect in New York and owner of Fontan Architecture, an NYC architecture firm. At our office, we work on various project types, including interior renovations of loft apartments. In this post, I will review a project where we added a bathroom and laundry to a loft.
Chelsea Loft Bathroom Renovation
The client’s first bathroom was all white. Some people love all-white bathrooms, but many do not. They wanted a more textured feel. In the picture below, you can see the primary bathroom with a weathered porcelain tile. Porcelain tiles are a good option for bathrooms, as they are durable, nonporous, and come in countless finishes. We have another post discussing Porcelain Tile Bathrooms if you want to see more on the subject.
We used wall-mounted toilet in this bathroom for multiple reasons. Wall-mounted toilets are more modern and easy to clean. Aesthetics also play a major role in this decision, but that is personal taste. A less-known advantage of wall-mounted toilets is that in renovations, due to the manner of the installation, they allow more freedom in the location of the toilet. Wall-mounted toilets do not require a drain in the floor. With a wall-mounted toilet, you can, within reason, move the toilet location in the renovation with less hassle than a floor-mounted toilet. Check out another post we wrote on Wall Mounted Toilets Pros and Cons if you are interested.
One other great feature is the thermostat on the wall. We added heated floors to the bathrooms. Having a nice warm bathroom is a great luxury worth considering. In all reality, it will not raise the price of the bathroom by much if you are already doing a gut renovation in the bathroom.
Modern Grey Porcelain Bathroom Design in a Chelsea Loft Renovation
Product Coordination
I would think this is obvious, but all the fixtures and accessories need to coordinate. If there is anything I can assure you about design, it is that good design is consistent. Below you can see the tub and shower fixtures, all of which have similar aesthetics.
Matching Plumbing Fixtures
Modern Textured Bathroom
This bathroom is modern and has texture. There is a wall-mounted wood vanity with a simple white sink/countertop.
Chelsea Loft Bathroom Renovation
Adding a New Small Bathroom
We added a second bathroom next to the first one. Adding a bathroom requires a lot of planning, logistics, and scrutiny from your building management.
We installed a shower, a small vanity, and a wall-mounted toilet in the new small bathroom. We used smaller horizontally oriented tiles in this bathroom, with a bit of a warmer feel. The owner of the loft did not want to reconfigure the entire apartment to add a bathroom, so we were a bit limited on the layout. There was not much space for this bathroom, as we were turning a closet into a bathroom. The existing conditions resulted in minimal dimensions, but we made it work. After all, New York City has a lot of small bathrooms.
We have another post where you can read more about Adding a Bathroom to an NYC Apartment.
New small bathroom
NYC Loft Bathroom Renovation
New Laundry Closet
As I previously mentioned, adding a bathroom and a washer and dryer requires a lot of planning and logistics, as well as scrutiny from your building management. The gentleman living in the apartment directly below happened to be an architect, so he wanted to see all of our drawings and review them for soundproofing and waterproofing. I also met with him during construction to do a walk-through and show him all the precautions we were taking.
We have another post you can read if you want to hear more about Adding a Washer Dryer to an Apartment.
New Laundry Closet
Chelsea Loft Quirky Décor
One thing I tell all my clients is: This is your apartment. You can do anything you want. My favorite piece of home décor in this loft was the giant chipmunk. For scale, that’s my blurred-out figure in the picture, and I am six feet tall. I think Alvin could be a little creepy for some people, but I love it. They have a lot of art, paintings, and sculpture that is unique to them. They made it their home with this art collection and quirky décor, expressing their personal taste. It’s your home. So make it yours.
Chelsea Loft Quirky Décor
Thank you for reading our blog post on Adding a Bathroom to this Manhattan Loft.
I hope this was helpful. If you want to speak with an architect about a potential project, contact us at Fontan Architecture directly.
This post was written by Jorge Fontan AIA a Registered Architect and owner of New York City architecture firm Fontan Architecture. Jorge Fontan has earned 3 degrees in the study of architecture including two degrees from the City University of New York and a Masters Degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. Jorge has a background in construction and has been practicing architecture for 20 years where he has designed renovations and new developments of various building types.
