Melaine Burin and her husband have done a high-end bath remodel of their corridor-style bath. Features include two new sinks with glass basins in a gold color, as well as a 4-by-6-foot shower stall with three showerheads and a large bench seat.

Jim and Melanie Burian wanted a luxurious master bath, but they knew getting the luxury look wasn't the main challenge.

"The biggest challenge was trying to provide more room in a narrow bathroom that was already small," said Melanie. "We knew some of the changes we wanted made, but how to realize them in such a small space was more than we could handle ourselves."

On the second floor of their 2,100-square-foot home in eastern Mission Viejo, Calif., the master bath was — and still is — corridor-style. It had a small shower, a toilet area that was not separated, and an entrance door that blocked movement when it was open.

"What we wanted was to have a much larger shower, a separate toilet room, better countertops and special sinks," Melanie said.

To realize their dreams they worked with a builder to:

n Convert a closet in an adjacent bedroom into a large, tiled shower with multiple showerheads and a separate closet and toilet room

n Install a new granite countertop

n Add two new sinks with glass basins in a gold color.

Working with such a small space — the original floor area is about 10 feet by 3 feet — proved daunting.

"It's part of the reason we hired Sea Pointe (Construction, Kitchen & Bath Specialists)," Melanie said. This Lake Forest, Calif., construction firm specializes in bathroom and kitchen remodels. "We wanted a firm that specialized in bathrooms and would have a site superintendent on the project all the time so we wouldn't constantly have to deal with subcontractors."

The couple chose Sea Pointe because they had a good experience with the company when they remodeled their kitchen three years ago.

"At that time," Melanie recalled, "we wanted to have a home that was a bit larger and that suited our tastes."

To reconfigure the space, Sea Pointe used part of the adjacent bedroom closet for the expanded shower, adding a wall to make the toilet area separate. They also reconstructed ceiling areas for new lighting.

The expanded shower is almost big enough to hold a dance there. Roughly 4 feet by 6 feet, it has three showerheads at different heights and a large bench seat. It's all enclosed in thick clear glass.

It is, perhaps, the two sinks that draw the most attention. Within a new black-granite countertop, they have glass basins by Oceana with a gold finish. The bathroom is now much more formal and much more luxurious, and it exudes a sense of high style.

"We were really striving for a richer palette and a feeling of elegance in the remodel," Melanie said.

The master bathroom remodel didn't come cheap; it ran about $45,000, some $15,000 more than the Burians budgeted.

"But, it's worth every cent," Melanie said, a large smile on her face. "To get exactly what you want and not have to worry, it makes it all worthwhile."