There was no question what room Solstice Interiors founder Katie Betyar would renovate first in her new San Diego home. The tiny corner shower in the primary bathroom was so small, Betyar, who was six months pregnant when she and her husband bought the place, could have barely moved around in it, let alone bend down if she happened to drop a bottle of shampoo. Luckily, it was really the only room in their roughly 1,900 square foot house that needed a major overhaul. The rest of its bones were solid and, most importantly, it had space for them to welcome their newborn daughter.
Before
After closing in August of 2023, the couple gave themselves two months to remodel while still living in their old two-bedroom, one-bath house nearby so they could power through construction. Her biggest tip for sticking to the tight timeline? Committing to quick-ship materials. “If I ran into a situation where something was out of stock or took too long, I just re-selected,” says Betyar. Ahead, the designer reveals everything that went into making the bathroom a mini sanctuary—pre- and post-baby.
The Layout Win
The bathroom’s skylight was the only thing Betyar didn’t want to mess with during the renovation. But the two reach-in closets in the hallway leading to the bathroom? She was happy to ditch those. “It just felt like such a waste of space, even when I was looking at it from a floor plan point of view,” she says. By stealing space from the water heater closet in the adjacent hallway (they decided to go tankless) and moving the clothing closets fully into the bedroom, they gained enough square footage for a double shower, private toilet room, and generous vanity.
The Palette Switch Up
Betyar had long envisioned swathing the bathroom in green tile, mostly because she’s just a fan of the color, but when her husband pointed out that he’d grown up with a green bathroom and didn’t want to go down memory lane, the designer pivoted to a honey yellow zellige from Cle. “I like it when a color can feel like it pops, but is also really subtle and earthy,” says the designer.
The Happy Accident
Betyar initially intended to use a limestone from Zia Tile for the bathroom floors but when she saw it was no longer in stock, she pivoted to a 2×8 option from Eco Outdoor that proved to be “a little bit more cost effective and just as beautiful.” Her order proved to be a smart one: At the end of the project, she had enough pieces leftover to cover the baseboards and make them a smidge more interesting (she just had her installer cut the rectangles in half before lining the walls).
The Lengthy Vanity
Coming from their last house where they had to share a single floating sink, Betyar and her husband went all out with a storage-packed vanity in this space, even carving out an open niche in the bottom where they can stash extra towels. To make the space feel even larger, the designer topped off the vanity with a 66″x36″ singular mirror that bounces around the natural light streaming in from above. Betyar stuck with a pared-back gray terrazzo from Concrete Collaborative for the countertop in keeping with the other earthy, neutral materials in the space. “I love a terrazzo, but sometimes when it’s really colorful, it can end up feeling trendy,” she says.
The New Home for Clothes
The biggest splurge during the renovation was easily the custom millwork, which expanded into the couple’s bedroom. In addition to carving out two closets for hanging clothing items, she lined a wall with a built-in dresser and a wardrobe decked out with extra shelves for folded jeans and sweaters. “I was really tempted to get an off the shelf dresser and a full height cabinet, but I also know that custom millwork will stand the test of time and make the space feel elevated,” she shares.
Not wanting the units to feel so one note against the oak wood floors, she swathed the wardrobe in a creamy white paint and topped the doors with sculptural pulls from Australian brand Linear Standard. Now, every step the designer’s morning routine—from brushing her teeth to putting on her socks—is an enjoyable one.
