Recycled Elegance is a guest bath in the same French Normandy home as River of Stone.  It gets its name from the green marble used for the star-shaped medallion in the floor and around the boarder, and the back splash for the sink.  Originally part of a window seat in the master bath, the green marble was recycled in this project to maintain a tangible connection to the house's original builder.  The green marble was of extremely high quality, and it seemed a shame to discard it during the River of Stone remodel.  Its high contrast with the surrounding black granite tiles gives the small bathroom a much more elegant feeling, easily bringing up to the standards of the rest of the house.

The basic dimensions of the bathroom were unchanged, although during the remodel, Olson discovered a significant amount of unused space in the wall, and opened it up for a small countertop and cabinets, which really gives the small bathroom a feeling of spaciousness.  It is possible that this space was designed to house a heater or laundry chute (even though neither was ever installed), and the builder's reasons for walling this space up remain a mystery.

The Project:
Facelift a small guest bath.  Create storage space by opening up unused space in the wall.  Install new free-standing sink, but retain the original toilet and shower fixtures.  Use black granite and recycled green marble to create a sophisticated look in the small bathroom.  Update electrical systems to include ceiling heat and additional lighting.

Location:  
Shaker Heights, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland).

Size:  
Before:  1 room, 35 square feet
After:  1 room, 35 square feet

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