Dave and Fran’s beautiful, functional black and white tile bathroom remodel — 1930s vintage style
Kate - April 1, 2014, Updated: June 7, 2021
Ever since readers Dave and Fran bought their 1938 home, they have wanted to fix up their second story bathroom to complement the original architecture of their 1938 home. The bathroom itself was in good condition, but had be remuddled sometime in the 1980s and didn’t feel like it blended well with the rest of the house. On top of that, the couple was hoping to find a way to remove the dressing vanity and add a small stall shower to the bathroom to increase its functionality. For inspiration, they turned to a vintage bathroom from one of our “Tour a Time Capsule” stories for design inspiration. After lots of planning and hard work, Dave and Fran’s finished bathroom remodel accomplished all of their goals — including looking like it could have been original to their home. Time capsule bathroom that inspired Dave’s bathroom remodel — this house had FIVE PASTEL BATHROOMS!Photo courtesy of Real Estate Agent Susan Cassidy.Click here to see Dave and Frances’ 1938 kitchen refresh — linoleum floors and countertops — this was a big hit on the blog!
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.
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.
Hi! Love it!!! Just one question. Where did you find the towel bars? I found one at a salvage place, but am curious if thy make new ones. Thanks!
Joy Swensonsays
Did you ever get an answer on the towel bars – I’m looking for some just like these!
Janetsays
I’m looking for 6″ black tile, field or bulldoze and can’t find any. Where did you get yours?
pam kuebersays
Janet, see all our tile research in the Bathroom Help / Tile category. We have a big story on where to find tiles
lyndasays
I LOVE what you did! The storage space next to the shower is fantastic. I really like the soap dish . and everything else. great creative job. two thumbs up!
Lorrainesays
Great job. I’m going to show this to my contractor! We are moving a tiny bath to a different part of my 1941 cottage. I am reusing the tub but other than that it’s exactly the look I was describing to him. Can you advise the dimensions? Looks about 5×8
Dave Msays
Pretty close to 5×8. It’s actually 54.5″ x 105″ with the shower consuming 40″ of the 105″.
Wow, love the bathroom. Really like the colours used, everything works really well.
Laurynsays
Beautiful job!! Dave and Fran’s kitchen was one of my early introductions to the blog (and helped convince us to use marmoleum in our kitchen re-do) and as we get ready to deal with our 1939 bathroom, this is yet more inspiration. Thanks for sharing!
Joe Felicesays
I think Dave & Fran actually did a better job than the time-capsule home. I especially love the blue–It’s a shade between aqua and turquoise, according to my monitor. Is it possible to know what brand & color it actually is?
Dave Msays
It is Rodda “Pleasent View”, color code 7457
Angelasays
Great bathroom! Do you recall the color of the paint you used..there are so many shades of turquoise..with different names. Thanks!
Dave Msays
We’re out of town right now, but will look up the paint color when we get back, mid next week.
Dave Msays
It is Rodda “Pleasent View”, color code 7457
Lydiasays
Did you add the black tile or was it already there? My bathroon is all white tile, the floor looks the same as yours. I was just thinking about adding those smaller strip tiles I have seen here. Just wondering
pam kuebersays
Lydia, this is an all-new bathroom!
linda hsays
Our bathroom has a Schoolhouse Electric light fixture with a Rejuvenation globe. Sometimes you just can’t find exactly what you want at one place.
Ever since readers Dave and Fran bought their 1938 home, they have wanted to fix up their second story bathroom to complement the original architecture of their 1938 home. The bathroom itself was in good condition, but had be remuddled sometime in the 1980s and didn’t feel like it blended well with the rest of the house. On top of that, the couple was hoping to find a way to remove the dressing vanity and add a small stall shower to the bathroom to increase its functionality. For inspiration, they turned to a vintage bathroom from one of our “Tour a Time Capsule” stories for design inspiration. After lots of planning and hard work, Dave and Fran’s finished bathroom remodel accomplished all of their goals — including looking like it could have been original to their home.
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 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.
Anita says
Hi! Love it!!! Just one question. Where did you find the towel bars? I found one at a salvage place, but am curious if thy make new ones. Thanks!
Joy Swenson says
Did you ever get an answer on the towel bars – I’m looking for some just like these!
Janet says
I’m looking for 6″ black tile, field or bulldoze and can’t find any. Where did you get yours?
pam kueber says
Janet, see all our tile research in the Bathroom Help / Tile category. We have a big story on where to find tiles
lynda says
I LOVE what you did! The storage space next to the shower is fantastic. I really like the soap dish . and everything else. great creative job. two thumbs up!
Lorraine says
Great job. I’m going to show this to my contractor! We are moving a tiny bath to a different part of my 1941 cottage. I am reusing the tub but other than that it’s exactly the look I was describing to him. Can you advise the dimensions? Looks about 5×8
Dave M says
Pretty close to 5×8. It’s actually 54.5″ x 105″ with the shower consuming 40″ of the 105″.
Adam says
Wow, love the bathroom. Really like the colours used, everything works really well.
Lauryn says
Beautiful job!! Dave and Fran’s kitchen was one of my early introductions to the blog (and helped convince us to use marmoleum in our kitchen re-do) and as we get ready to deal with our 1939 bathroom, this is yet more inspiration. Thanks for sharing!
Joe Felice says
I think Dave & Fran actually did a better job than the time-capsule home. I especially love the blue–It’s a shade between aqua and turquoise, according to my monitor. Is it possible to know what brand & color it actually is?
Dave M says
It is Rodda “Pleasent View”, color code 7457
Angela says
Great bathroom! Do you recall the color of the paint you used..there are so many shades of turquoise..with different names. Thanks!
Dave M says
We’re out of town right now, but will look up the paint color when we get back, mid next week.
Dave M says
It is Rodda “Pleasent View”, color code 7457
Lydia says
Did you add the black tile or was it already there? My bathroon is all white tile, the floor looks the same as yours. I was just thinking about adding those smaller strip tiles I have seen here. Just wondering
pam kueber says
Lydia, this is an all-new bathroom!
linda h says
Our bathroom has a Schoolhouse Electric light fixture with a Rejuvenation globe. Sometimes you just can’t find exactly what you want at one place.