Remodeling the Original Bathroom (2014)
Sometimes you get to do something fun to your house. A lot of the time you’re doing not-fun things like fixing appliances that you hate or repairing something just to get it to a state of not-broken. But remodeling the bathroom was fun, and I have to say it was necessary given the substandard conditions (really—not exaggerating) of this bathroom when we bought the house. We did this work seven years ago prior to moving in.
After a good deal of research in historic bathrooms and what compatible materials and fixtures were on the market now, I used my high school architectural drawing skills (not reflected in the rough sketch I just made below) and drew out every detail for the contractor: dimensions, tile details, layout, storage, everything. I even had the privilege of bargaining with the City plan checker over how wide the shower HAD to be (given that there are a lot of 1910 bathrooms in this town being remodeled, and few have ideal conditions when it comes to meeting code, he granted me the two inches I needed, and the contractor aligned the curb with the door casing to squeeze out as much space as possible!). Details of fixtures and materials below.
Some details:
WALLS: 3 x 6 subway tile by Daltile, formerly known as the Rittenhouse Square line; returns to wall with a bullnose edge (not a quarter-round) for a sleeker look. Liner is “Kellogg” by Daltile. Painted plaster is Benjamin Moore “Oxford White.”
FLOOR: 2” unglazed porcelain hex tile on floor; 1” same inside shower. I like the contrast in scale. Heritage Tile.
LIGHT FIXTURE: Rejuvenation “Pacific City” double sconce in polished nickel.
COUNTER: Carrera marble. You have one slab in stock? Okay, I’ll take that one. Off-cuts were used to cap shower curb and make a shelf in the niche. The counter is 22” deep, which is short of the standard 24” but it’s plenty of space and made the center part of the room 2” wider.
DRAWERS: The ones below the sink panel are c-shaped (in plan) to accommodate the plumbing. Painted Benjamin Moore “Silver Chain.” Grafton pulls from RH, polished nickel.
TOILET: St. Thomas Creations “Richmond” two-piece elongated bowl. (In my opinion, there is no other toilet for this era of house (unless you still have an original toilet!)—I wouldn’t have expected to love a toilet design! Though I know some people like the Kohler Memoirs, too.)
HARDWARE AND FIXTURES: Newport Brass “Metropole” in polished nickel—faucets, towel bars, tp holder, toilet handle. The double bars on the backs of the doors were on clearance at RH and broke me out of my compulsion to have EVERYTHING MATCH (see toilet handle…).
I also removed as much as I could of the cabinet and window hardware to have them stripped of all that paint and replated in polished nickel. Now, in 2022, we are getting to the rest of it: window and door hinges that were missed the first time around.
Some of the finishes in this bathroom were ravaged by the hard, hard water of the house. Then it was damaged in the course of construction as the house overall was subjected to a LOT of stress. The repairs are being completed as part of this project, and I think I’ll get some heavy artillery (a professional with the appropriate PPE, if I can stomach the cost) to clean the muck off that tile to make it shine again. We now have a water conditioning system which, going forward, should protect it from this degree of buildup.