Dave writes:
Hi Pam,
You did a story on our kitchen renovation in our 1938 house a few years back…. [Now we have updated our] bathroom modeled after the Portland time capsule.
When we started, the bathroom didn’t look bad, but it wasn’t very period correct either. The vanity was added sometime between 1960 and 1990. The light in the ceiling was obviously from the from the 80’s and the floor was a faux-terrazzo linoleum. The mirror/medicine cabinet was really the only original to the bathroom.
The main mission of the remodel was to add a shower. The way our house is constructed, this bathroom, along with the landing at the top of the stairs, is in a big dormer at the back of the house, and the rest of the upstairs is built into the roofline. On the furthest end of the dormer (on the right if you were looking at the back of the house), is where we pushed out the wall about two feet to get more space in the bathroom.
Our designer, Angela Spykerman-Wahlquist of Luxe Stijl Design is the one that found the tile, which came from Subway Ceramics and has edges that are completely flat (not “pillowed”), so it matches the vintage of original tile floor in the downstairs bathroom. Similar to the time capsule bathroom, we went for white and black tile, then chose the blue (turquoise?) paint color.
We got the lights from Rejuvenation, ceiling is “Mathison”, but got the globe is from Schoolhouse Electric (OP-2280-08-4), because Rejuvenation didn’t have a low-profile shade we wanted for our low upstairs ceiling.
The over-mirror light came from Rejuvenation as well and is the “Rufus”. The shelf-back sink is from the early-50’s and was pulled from our next door neighbor’s bathroom when they were updating (it sat in our garage for two years waiting to be used). Other than cleaning and polishing the porcelain, we replaced the faucet with a new Kohler Triton set and ended up using the Kohler Triton line in the shower as well.
We also included nice details like a grill from a NOS Ventrola mated to a modern Broan circular exhaust fan.
We no longer had the original toilet, and the toilet that was in the bathroom as an average modern toilet. During my Googling one night, I came across the Porcher Lutezia toilet,and it is a perfect match to the sink and the era. I ordered the toilet from Amazon.com and when it arrived, it was better than I had even hoped. We hadn’t originally planned to replace the toilet, but I am so glad we did because it looks great!
We added a linen cabinet to the right of the shower because it ended up being a dead space since we couldn’t run the shower wall-to-wall without removing the window.
Wahlquist Construction did all of the carpentry. On the outside of the dormer, they ended up stripping off all of the vinyl siding to reveal the original clapboards (I h*** vinyl siding). This made it easy for them to weave in new clapboards to the added-on part of the dormer.
Wow, Dave, Frances and Angela — congratulations on a job well done! Your decision to bump out the wall to have enough space for a stall shower was a great one — and adding the small linen closet near the window is a great way to use the space. What a classic bathroom you now have — one that will serve your house well and feels like it could have been there since day one. Mega thanks for sharing your photos and story with all of us.
Anne-Marie says
Stunning. It looks original. I love the colors and the creative use of space with that linen closet. Thanks for sharing. What an inspiration!
maryCT says
Looks great! Do you remember what that paint color is called? You are inspiring me to repaint my black and white bath. The color is fabulous.
Dave M says
It is Rodda “Pleasent View”, color code 7457
Debbie says
I am completely jealous of this bathroom. The color….no, the black trim….no, the light fixtures…no, wait: the sink with the little shelf….arrgggh!! Just too many things here to love!
Jen says
Looks awesome! I also did white 4″ tile in my bathroom update to be 1952 appropriate but a little more timeless.
Can you tell us more about the fan project? I’ve been wanting to do this with an old cover and new fan. What did you end up using?
Dave M says
It’s the standard Broan 8″ circular that they still sell, but now comes with a plastic grill. I found the vintage grill on eBay and I actually bought it with a complete fan assembly, but when it came time to install it, I realized the fan didn’t work, so just bought a new fan and used the old grill. Really east to do as long as the new and old use the same 1/4″ machine screw to hold the grill on (chances are most do).
dawn simon says
This is perfect! We are planning on doing black/white when we redo our 1950’s bathroom this summer. Sadly we can’t save the original peach/blue tile since the shower was redone in white and a horrible glitter 1970’s sink replaced whatever original beauty was in the vanity area.
What color grout was used. I really don’t want to use white and it looks like another color was used here. It looks great!
Roundhouse Sarah says
A 70s glitter sink?! Oooo sounds cool to me!
dawn simon says
I wouldn’t be opposed to a glitter sink but they wedged it in amongst the pink/blue 4″ tiles and bordered it with some random brown 1 x 4 inch tiles. Plus, it has a nice cig burn. lol
Steve says
Just a beautiful job all around! And I’m really amazed that you can still buy back mounted sink faucets like that, from a major manufacturer like Kohler, no less. I’ve actually passed on some great sinks because I just assumed that you could never find replacement faucets. You learn something new here every day!
TappanTrailerTami says
What a great re-do and so happy that Dave and Fran found inspiration in my personal all-time-favorite time capsule house, “The Portland House”! I hope you have many years of enjoyment from your new old bathroom. Thanks Pam for featuring something from the 30’s!
Steve says
That Portland house was awesome. I sure hope it found appreciative new owners.
priscilla says
This is so inspiring. Your bath really looks original
Would you consider a black toilet seat?
Dave M says
I thought about it, but my wife wasn’t crazy about it (thought it looked too much like a grade school bathroom). I couldn’t immediately find one that would fit either, but admit to not looking very hard either.
priscilla says
I found mine on Amazon. It has chrome hinges.
Sara says
Absolutely beautiful! No wait, stunning! Someday my little bathroom will get a re-do and yours will be added to the inspiration list. Love this!
Andrea says
I need replacement faucet parts like that and can’t find them! I’ve even had a plumber come and he couldn’t help. Ours leak all the time… Advice? Please contact me!
pam kueber says
What is the brand? If it’s Crane, try deabath.com — use our Search box, there also are stories…
Rudy says
Try this company. They’ve helped me in the past. You’re often better off emailing for info AND callng. Busy place.
http://www.nyrpcorp.com/