How to Transform a Bathroom With Tile: Fort Myers Bathroom Makeover

Bathrooms can make or break a space - especially a retail space. If they're beautiful, they tend to relax and inspire all who visit them. If awful, bathrooms can cast seeds of doubt about the business.

In this article, we share with you our own experience transforming the bathrooms in the Fort Myers Tile Outlets store in 2012 so we could truly inspire store visitors with the design versatility of tile.

(This is in anticipation of the bathroom makeover soon to be completed for Tile Outlets in Tampa which we can't wait to share with you - another #TileRemodel story.)

How to Transform a Bathroom With Tile: Fort Myers Bathroom Makeover Details

What makes a retail bathroom makeover different compared to a residential one is that the store has to keep on operating. Time is of the essence so as to minimize the inconvenience to customers. At the same time, we felt it critically important to create with our bathroom makeover project a space that would truly inspire visitors.

With that in mind, here's the timeline for the Fort Myers store bathroom remodel project.

Bathroom Remodel Project Timeline

We started the project by demolishing the men’s restroom on Sunday, Sept, 16th, 2012.

The completed men’s room went into use on Friday, October 5th

The demolition of the women’s restroom occurred on Friday, October 5th.

The completed women’s restroom went into use on Thursday, October 18th.

Both restrooms were gutted to their studs including all the plumbing fixtures, ceiling tiles, etc.

During the install, we turned the other restroom into a unisex restroom with a lock.

We had two last minute emergency product modifications that had to be made in the women’s restroom. Both new products ended up as excellent substitutes.

The installer for the Tile Outlets of America Fort Myers bathroom redesign was Jesse Decicco of Majestic Enterprises.

As you may remember from Why Buy From Tile Outlets? Majestic Enterprises' Jesse DeCicco Explains, Jesse has a great eye for design and takes great pride in his workmanship. He routinely walks his customers through their remodel step by step starting with product selection, going above and beyond simply laying tile.

'Before' State of the Tile Outlets Fort Myers Bathrooms: Awful!

Yes, awful! The bathrooms had never been renovated since the building was built over 17 years ago. Not only were they well worn with many years of retail use, but they also reflected out-of-date styling: floor to wall gray ceramic tile with gray Formica countertops and partitions.

They were so awful that even kids were impressed! We once had a young brother and sister (approximately 8 to 10 years old) who, after coming out of each's respective bathroom, noticed the inspiring tilework outside the restrooms. The boy agreed saying, “it’s a whole lot better than the bathroom” and the sister responded “yeah, not so good for a tile store”.

If the condition of the restrooms was that apparent to kids, they were obviously a disappointment to adult customers. For most people the first room that comes to mind when initially thinking about tile is the bathroom; this was the one area of the store where we hadn’t done a good job of inspiring how tile products could transform a space.

Transforming a Bathroom With Tile: A Dream Becomes Reality!

The restroom remodel completed the flow from the Inspiration Center through the back hallway of the Fort Myers store. Rather than disrupt the "dare to dream" creative process, the bathrooms now support it. They provide additional opportunities to show off how tile, stone, mosaics and more make dreams become reality. (See Tile Design Inspiration from Tile Outlets Fort Myers for additional perspective.)

Pebble stone mosaics on one wall

As you can see from the images, we used every surface available in the bathrooms to show off design possibilities. Hard to believe this is the same space, isn't it?

Even though the old restrooms were cleaned three times a week by an outside service they never felt clean because of the worn condition. Generally, customers relate the cleanliness and overall condition of the restroom to the rest of their store visit and the type of service they expect to receive. Now customers can enjoy bright, clean, and stylish restrooms.

The men's bathroom in the Fort Myers store

We featured on the wall behind the vanity/mirrors in the men’s room a porcelain wood plank tile that many people would only think of putting on the floor.

When selecting the designs for the restrooms we took numerous things into consideration. Of course, product selection was important but we also wanted to show different ways to install tile and stone products to truly inspire and spark creativity in our customer’s minds.

We used travertine, porcelain, glass, pebble stone mosaics, glass bridge mosaics, porcelain planks, split face mosaics, etc.

In the ladies’ restroom, we combined porcelain floor tile with 18” travertine point set on the walls to show that you can combine the two in one job and to show how a large format tile looks on the wall.

Now, we find that customers regularly visit the restrooms looking for ideas and to see how the products we used look in a finished project. They have become a great sales tool for our sales reps who can often be found holding the door to the bathroom while a couple is in them looking for ideas.

For additional perspective on this bathroom transformation, read New Bathrooms for Tile Outlets of America Fort Myers: Bathroom Blogfest.

If you're ready to be inspired, we hope you'll visit Tile Outlets in Fort Myers. Let us know what you think of the tile design ideas you find in bathrooms!