Remodeling the Main Bathroom of Our 1920s House
posted on 20 May 2011 | posted in
Construction and Industrial
My husband and I purchased a wonderful, old 1920s Colonial Revival/California bungalow home a few years ago. While there are some great things about living in an historic home, we knew when we purchased it that it would require quite a bit of upkeep and maintenance. It might take the odd masonry saw and hammer held in skilled hands to accomplish our dreams however!
Our first major renovation project is going to be remodeling the main bathroom.
We purchased the home from an elderly lady who had lived in the house for 30 years and had, as our realtor put it, made some "bold and unique" color choices. That is certainly the case in the bathroom. The floor is covered with burgundy ceramic tile which is probably original to the house, but the walls have been painted a truly unpleasant shade of bubble-gum pink (which is probably NOT original to the house). There are built-in cabinets on either side of the side which have been painted white, along with the baseboards, door, ceiling and trim, as was typical of houses in the 1920s. Other than changing the color of the walls (I'm thinking of a nice, subtle green to offset the burgundy tile), the two things about the bathroom that I'd really like to change are the built-in bathtub and location of the toilet. The bathtub/shower combination was definitely added sometime in the 1970s and has been built into a tiled box in the corner of the bathroom.
The style of the tub and the tile surrounding it don't match the vintage look of the rest of the room, and the tub is positioned in such a way that the flip-down cupboard by the foot of the tub can't open all the way. Our plan is to remove the built-in tub and replace it with a slipper-style tub and shower combination which is more typical of 1920s era bathrooms and will take up less floor space (thereby allowing us to make full use of the flip-down cupboard). Doing this will require us to remove the white tile around the tub enclosure and on the wall behind the tub, and I am hoping we will be able to keep the vintage burgundy tile that is currently on the rest of the bathroom floor.
The other thing I'd like to do is move where the toilet is located in the bathroom. The way the toilet is located currently, the bathroom door can't be opened all the way. I suspect that when the bathroom was originally built in the 1920s, the toilet that was installed wasn't as big as the one that is in there now. I think the toilet can be rotated 90 degrees to allow the door to open up the rest of the way, but we may end up moving the toilet over a few feet to be sure that it is clear of the door. Once those two major items have been replaced and fixed, all that will be left is to repaint, add new decorations and enjoy.
Further Sources: cnn.com
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