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Creating a 1936 bathroom from scratch — Graham and Monika tackle another remodel

Pam Kueber - Updated: February 4, 2019

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

It’s kind of thrilling to see a “before” photo like the one above, don’t you agree? Because you know: A Retro Renovation reader has been hard at work, and we’re about to see an amazing transformation. Indeed: Graham and Monika are back for a second time on the blog, with this lovely remodel. I first featured their handiwork eight years ago, when they Retro-Renovated a small apartment bathroom — cool tile work!. They are now  in a 1936 house, and they tackled the bathroom renovation accordingly, with help from B&W Tile. Let’s get to the big reveal >> 

Graham tells the story (lightly edited for flow):

Hi Pam,
 
I’m the Graham from Long Beach… About 5 years ago we had the condo where did 1″X6″ BW Tiles and Terrazzo tile floors and you featured our remodel.
 
Pam looks, then breaks the news: That was in 2010, Graham — eight years ago! — time flies when we’re having fun, doesn’t it!
 
He continues:
 
The story on our new bathroom is we bought our house in April of last year.  It was built in 1936 and is traditional in style, but the layout is very much ranch.  The house is U shaped and surrounds a central courtyard.  It feels like an early Cliff May ranch without all the windows, but this would have been almost 20 years prior to that so it’s very interesting. 

It was a rental for a few years so they did some very minor renovations to update include paint everything white and install very cheap tile in the bathroom and kitchen.  The main bathroom was my least favorite room in the house so it became our first priority to renovate.  As you can see we stayed with the basic format of the room, we didn’t have to move any of the plumbing which was nice and helped our budget. 

We live in Long Beach so we are lucky to be close to B&W Tile in Gardena as all the tile is from there, and I was able to pick it up.  

The arch above the bathtub is original so we followed that design cue and created an arch for the shower as well. 
The tiles shapes and sizes run the gamut, 4X4 for the majority, 3X6’s for the arches, bull nose topping the wainscoting, hex for the floor and shower floor, pencil line 1/4″ decorative tile, cap tiles for the edges of the arches, and finally 3/4″ rounds for the shampoo box and arches. 

The cabinetry, mirror frame, and edging for the cabinetry is all walnut, and the countertop is a white Formica.

Solid Walnut for the mirror and edging and veneer for the cabinet face. The toilet is the Kohler Highline, the fixtures for the tub, shower, sink are Strom Plumbing Mississippi Series, [affiliate link – earns RR a wee commission if ya click and buy] and the sink is a Toto. 

What’s nice about our house being built in the 30’s is we felt like we could get away with mixing architectural periods, during that transitional period people were using Art Deco, traditional, and some early modern fixtures.  We still have several of the original light fixtures in the house and there isn’t a set style.  So for the lighting above the bathroom we chose an Art Deco style reproduction light from Rejuvenation and a very basic Hollywood Vanity light fixture that we got cheap from Home Depot. 

 

Graham and Monika’s first bathroom remodel from eight years ago.

One of my favorite aspects of our house is that they kept all the original double hung wood frame douglas fir windows and douglas fir doors.  They painted over everything, but they’re still there and in really good shape.  I have been refinishing all the doors, windows, and trim in the whole house this room included.  Surprisingly, they never changed out the original door hardware so there aren’t any door knobs for the interior doors it’s all the latch type hardware you see on this door which we kept in the bathroom as well as the rest of the house.

The whole remodel took about a month and a half mostly due to how much tile needed to be set, luckily we have another bathroom to use in the house.  We’re extremely happy with how good it all turned out and functions.  As with before I used your site to do research and find appropriate materials and fixtures.  Thanks as always.  We are doing a sensitive renovation to our entire house, and I try to post as many pictures of the progress as possible on my Instagram account so if you readers are interested my handle name is gannogram.

Thanks, Graham
Thank you, Graham and Monika. Lovely bathroom — nicely done!

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57 comments

Comments

    • Graham says

      You can follow me on Instagram. I post pics of these rest of our house regularly. My IG name is @gannogram.

  4. Dan O. says

    Great job! Also being in So California I’d really like to know who did the tile setting, is posting that kind of info ok w/Pam?

    • Graham says

      HI Dan,

      The contractors name is Peterka Tile. Unfortunately he moved to Texas right after he finished this job. I have two other contacts for tile if you need them. Email me at gannon322@yahoo.com and I will give them to you.

      • Elizabeth from Texas says

        Did he perhaps move to AUSTIN, Texas? If so, maybe we could get him to do OUR mint green tile!!! Thanks!

        • Graham says

          Hi Elizabeth, funny but I believe he did move to Texas. contact me at my email address listed in the comment above and I can give you his #.

        • Graham says

          Hi Elizabeth,

          Funny, but I believe he did move to Austin. I can send you his contact info if you’d like shoot me an email, my email address is above. He’s a great person to work with.

  5. AnnF says

    My bathroom is about the same size as yours, but I have problems with my sinuses, so bending down can be a very uncomfortable experience. I also have very high blood pressure, among a few other health problems. If I did only a little bit everyday, or, more realistically, 2 or 3 times a week, do you think I could redo my tiles and sink myself, in say, two months, or should I call in somebody. I don’t know how long you can leave things partially tiled or grouted, that’s why I am asking.

  6. Debbie in Portland says

    All of those arches are fabulous, and I love the green and black color combination. LOVE this!!

    • Graham says

      Hello,

      Yes that looks correct. Our carpenter who built the cabinetry showed us a sample of it.

  8. Robin M. says

    I have the same 12 inch white tile shown in the before photo and I can’t wait to get rid of it. This remodel is SO lovely. Very inspiring.

  9. Karin says

    Congratulations on a stunning Art Deco renovation. I am in awe at the attention to detail. Obviously, after the last bathroom, Graham and Monica are now experts. Mint green and black with wood is an absolutely spot on colour choice for an Art Deco bathroom. May I ask, was the Art Deco tub original?

      • Kathy says

        Did they refinish or reglaze or anything the tub? Looks in good shape for 30’s. I’m thinking of trying that Kohler stuff you talked about Pam.

        • Graham says

          Hi Kathy,

          Yes, we had the tub reglazed. It was actually in really good shape except for the edges where the glazing had chipped off due to tile being installed over it.

  10. Jay says

    Nice! My favorite bath color combo. The before looks like a set from a horror movie. Thanks for sharing your project.