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.
Mary Elizabeth says
Stunning! I can’t remember who in my family had that same black and white tile and sink in the bath. Maybe Great Grandma in NYC? It does look like you just walked into the 1940s.
Ali says
so cute! I love the slapdash tile in the shower. I can’t wait to redo my bathrooms!
Carol says
Great job to say the least! The Portland time capsule pink bath and B/W bath with turquoise are my two favorites of all time. The flawless design of the built in soapdish tile took my breath away. Congratulations!
Cynthia says
Incredibly authentic, looks fantastic. Love the use of space to add a shower and cabinet. Built-in soap dish is superb. Bravo.
Laura Matranga says
LOVE what you did! Very inspiring.
Jane says
Wait… in that last picture… are there two toilet seat lids?
pam kueber says
We photoshop toilet lids DOWN when we receive and use photos submitted with toilet lids UP. It is very bad feng shui to have open toilet lids — sends your money energy down the drain. Can’t have that on the blog. You get points for noticing!
Robin, NV says
Hahahaha!! That’s so funny. I didn’t notice the double toilet lid thing. If I ever send photos of my bathrooms, I’ll make sure the lid is down! Wouldn’t want bad feng shui.
tammyCA says
Very nice! Good idea to make a shower and linen cabinet..and, love the aqua paired with the b&w. I remember the time capsule and loving that one, too.
Janice says
What a great de-renovation! Love the turquoise paired with the black and white tile. Looks like it’s been there since the day the house was built which is a compliment to your design process. I’m so intrigued by the flat edge tiles you found. They are so much easier to grout than the pillow edged ones. Wish I had known about them before I did my latest bathroom de-renovation. Well done!
Scott says
Wow, that bathroom is a dead ringer for the one I had in a third story flat on Clifton Avenue in Cincinnati. I only lived there a few years during college but I’ve pretty much been obsessed with black and white bathrooms and honeycomb floor tiles ever since. This came out great!
lynda davis says
Well thought out and just wonderful. This bath will be an inspiration to future remodelers in older homes.