West Auckland

A two-bathroom renovation in brushed gold and warm American walnut, designed for a timeless, classic-contemporary feel

Completed August 2022

Quick answer: We turned two tired bathrooms in a Massey home into a classic contemporary bathroom renovation finished in brushed gold and warm American walnut — a guest bathroom, then a small, awkward main bathroom reworked to feel far bigger than its footprint.

From a Leak to a Full Bathroom Rebuild

Most people start a bathroom renovation for one of two reasons: the layout doesn’t work, or the look is well past it. For Chris and Hang, it began with a leak.

“Instead of just repairing the leak we thought we might as well do the whole thing,” Chris told us. They’d never renovated before, so they weren’t keen to pull both bathrooms apart at once. The plan was sensible — do one, see how it went, then carry on. It went well. They carried on.

Why They Came to Us

Chris and Hang first thought they’d manage the trades themselves. That idea didn’t last long. “We would be able to manage the different trades but then quickly realised that we didn’t want to do that,” Chris said. “We contacted a few companies but you guys got back to us the soonest.”

What sealed it was clarity. “We got quotes from other companies but they didn’t give us the same reassurance,” he said. “When we talked to you guys, it’s like everything was clear — the steps, the costs.”

Their consultant was Dorothy Li, our lead designer, working with our in-house design team and project manager Nick. Nick ran the trades, kept things on schedule, and stayed the couple’s only point of contact from first day to last.

The Same Space, Three Stages

The original bathroom, the design concept, and the finished room.

BEFORE

DESIGN CONCEPT

AFTER

The Guest Bathroom: Brushed Gold and American Walnut

The Design Brief

Chris and Hang arrived with a rough idea but leaned on Dorothy for the practical calls — what works day to day, not just what looks good in a mood board. The direction clicked at our renovation showroom in Wairau Valley. “Oh, we went to your showroom and I just fell in love with the gold,” Hang said. The showroom’s bathroom display pairs a warm wooden vanity with brushed gold fixtures — the exact combination that ended up in their home.

“Gold can tip into flashy fast. The trick here was grounding it — warm walnut, soft neutral wall tiles, light timber-look floors. The gold reads as a finish, not a statement, and that’s what keeps the room timeless rather than trendy.”
— Dorothy Li, Lead Designer, Superior Renovations

Project Management

Nick ran the build day to day. “It was very smooth,” Chris said. “Nick who was managing the process was informing us every step of the way. We had a couple of problems and he would show up within 30 minutes and resolve it.”

The Fittings

Two suppliers did most of the heavy lifting on these bathrooms: Reece for the fittings and The Tile Depot for the floors and walls.

Reece Fittings

• 1500 Ravani Double Basin Vanity in American Walnut
• Toni Rectangular Vessel Basins
• Tate Shower Mixer in brushed gold
• Tate rain column shower in brushed gold
• Tate Wall Mounted Basin/Bath Mixer
• Posh Domain Inset Bath 1525 x 800 x 500
• Mizu Drift toilet roll holder
• Mizu Drift DN40 dome pop-up waste in brushed gold

Tile Depot

• Urban Cement White Alyssum 600 x 1200 wall tiles
• Casserto White 600 x 1200 glazed porcelain floor tiles — R10 anti-slip rating

The Main Bathroom: Making a Small, Awkward Room Work

This one was the harder of the two. The main bathroom was small, dated, and badly laid out, and a bulky acrylic shower made it feel smaller still.

What We Changed

Dorothy reworked the layout — moving fittings around so the room actually functioned — and we custom-built a tiled shower with custom shock-proof glass. The glass does the heavy lifting here: clear panels instead of a boxy enclosure let your eye run all the way to the wall, so the room reads bigger than its real footprint.

“In a small bathroom, the enclosure is usually what’s eating the space. Building the shower in and glazing it with clear panels lets the eye carry through, so the whole room feels larger without us touching a single wall.”
— Dorothy Li, Lead Designer, Superior Renovations

The Fittings

The main bathroom carried the same brands as the guest bathroom, keeping the gold-and-walnut language consistent across the house:

• Ravani 1500 American Walnut stone-cast vanity in matt white
• Toni rectangular basin
• Tate shower mixer in brushed gold
• Evoke towel rail in brushed brass
• Mizu Drift dome pop-up waste

This Massey project is one of many bathroom renovations our Auckland team has taken from first concept through to final finish.

Why So Many Massey Bathrooms Need This Kind of Rework

Massey grew westward from the 1960s, and a lot of its family homes are the brick-and-weatherboard stock of that era. The bathrooms tend to share a trait: small, boxy, and built for a different decade. Chris and Hang’s main bathroom was textbook — tight footprint, dated layout, a shower that swallowed the room.

The fix is rarely “add more space,” because the walls are where they are. It’s smarter layout and finishes that buy back the feeling of space — exactly what we did here. If you’re in a similar Massey home, that’s the lever worth pulling before you start knocking out walls.

What a Bathroom Renovation Like This Costs in Auckland

Every bathroom is priced to its own scope — the size of the room, the fittings, the tiling, and how much plumbing you’re moving all shift the number. Two bathrooms with custom tiled showers and brushed gold tapware sit differently to a single straightforward swap. Rather than quote a figure that won’t match your home, use our bathroom renovation cost calculator to get a realistic Auckland estimate for your own project.

💡 Quick tip: A custom tiled shower with glazed panels — like the one in the main bathroom — costs more than a prefab acrylic unit, but it’s what makes a small room feel bigger. The spend sits in the tiling and waterproofing, not the glass.

“The trade team was lovely. They always asked us if everything was fine before they left. Before they installed the vanity, shower or sink they would ask us what height was more suitable for us. They even helped us with things that weren’t part of the renovation, like moving our furniture.”
— Chris & Hang, Massey

Thinking About Your Own Bathroom?

Two bathrooms, done in stages, finished in gold and warm timber — and a small main bathroom that finally works. If your Massey bathroom is dated, leaking, or just badly laid out, that’s the kind of project we take on most weeks.

➡ Book your free in-home consultation with Superior Renovations
➡ See more about our Auckland bathroom renovations
➡ Request a free feasibility report for your project

Massey Bathroom Renovation: Your Questions Answered

Further Resources

1. More completed Auckland renovation projects
2. Real client stories from across Auckland