BEDKNOBS & BAUBLES

  • Interiors
    • My Home: Main Bathroom
    • My Home: Powder Room
    • My Home: Living Room
    • My Home: Dining Room
    • My Home: Main Bedroom
    • My Home: Front Porch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
    • Travel Posts
    • Travel Guides
  • Style
    • Style Posts
    • Outfits
    • The Coveted
  • Collaborate
  • About

Main Bathroom: The Before Tour

February 9, 2022 by jessica Leave a Comment

Our bathroom renovations begin next week! While we’re starting with the powder room, I wanted to give you a look at the main bathroom this week. Today’s post is the “before” tour of what it looks like now, along with some “before-before” images of what it looked like during our inspection and after we closed on the house. On Friday, I’m sharing the full product list of what’s going in the space!

Now, I want you to know that while it would have been great to do a remodel for aesthetics alone, that wasn’t exactly the case here. About 18 months ago, we had water leaking from the bathroom into the kitchen below. Fortunately it wasn’t an issue with the plumbing, but years of water seeping around poor caulking that led to the damage. Additionally (as you’ll see below), there’s a window in the shower with original wood trim. We’re covering it with plastic for the time being, but it’s not the correct way to do this by any stretch of the imagination. And to make this room even more obnoxious, we have an old drum trap which barely drains to the point where we’re standing in ankle-deep water after a shower. So, we will be gutting the entire room in order to find and address all of the water damage, and correct someone else’s poor DIY attempt at a renovation.

Here’s a photo from the doorway and a pretty good overview of what we’re working with. The room is large at about 8′ x 8.5′. I love that built-in, but the wood isn’t in great shape. So, we’ll be flanking the centered tub with two built-ins that will echo the style of this original one. There will be white subway tile going to the ceiling in the shower, we’ll be putting the plumbing into the wall, and we’ll continue with tile around the room midway up the wall (approximately 48″ high). I’ll be using this paint color again for the top half. (The paint is reading brighter here with these iPhone photos than it does in real life. IRL it’s more subdued.) The linoleum flooring will be replaced with marble hexagon tile. I really want the renovation to be classic and appropriate for a 1929 home and most of what’s in here now isn’t original to the house.

Going in the room a bit further, there’s a window to the left that will be staying and we’ll keep the original trim. We’re also keeping the original trim of the door frame, and we’ll copy the trim style for the two new built-ins to make it look like it was originally part of the house.

We’re not going to move any of the plumbing since that’s entirely too far out of our budget. Fortunately, though, I like the location of the fixtures in the room. So, the sink will be staying where it is as will the toilet. (Fun fact, our toilet isn’t level. I kept thinking it was a little tilted for the past few years and finally got the level from the basement to prove myself right.) We’ll be doing a pivot-style mirror above a vanity so it can “float” in front of the tiled wall. We’ll also replace those sconces with new ones. I absolutely love the flattering light of side sconces by a mirror. We’re not going to go with any recessed lighting in the room as I think that looks too modern for an old house. We’ll have a ceiling fixture, the sconces, and light from two windows.

Here’s the window that’s inside of the shower. I love the light that it brings in, but there’s no doubt that this isn’t water tight. We’ll replace it with a new window that’s the same width, but half the height for privacy. I can’t wait to finally get rid of that second clingy shower curtain!

On the other side of the tub, you’ll see this long counter that extends into the shower area.

Plus, there’s another mirror. Chances are that this was someone’s makeup table. The tub likely didn’t have a shower attachment originally, thus the window and its wood frame. This is very clearly all being ripped out. The tub is smaller than a standard-size bathtub, so we will be replacing it with a slightly larger one. The second built-in will go on the right of it. We’ll put a towel bar where the mirror is now.

I probably should have staged some of this photos, huh? Oh well, there’s all my junk and the reason why I’m eager for a second built-in cabinet.

This collection of snapshots are from shortly after we closed on the house. It’s been fine and serviceable up until the water damage, and some minor cosmetic changes like adding paint and replacing the fluorescent light fixture made a big difference. The photo in the lower left here cracks me up, though. It’s so illustrative of the mess we purchased with the horrible wood stain on the floor in the hall, the crappy paint job, and a broken glass doorknob that was taped together.

But this, my friends, is the crème de la crème:

This is what it looked like when we first toured the house and put in an offer. What can I say, the house has good bones and we fortunately were able to look beyond this horror show. 😉 (I cropped out the questionable stains on the floor towel for you.)

–
Let’s keep in touch!
Instagram / Facebook / Pinterest / Bloglovin’

You might also enjoy:
My Favorite Products of 2019
The Weekend Guide
Weekend Guide
Recipes: Rhubarb Conserves & Du Bon Pain Blanc

Filed Under: Bathroom, Home, Main Bathroom Tagged With: Bathroom, Bathroom Remodel, Bathroom Renovation, Main Bathroom, renovation diaries

Hello!


Jessica Hamm
Hello there! I'm a first-time homeowner updating a 1920s house in Madison, Wisconsin. I have a penchant for travel and a love of costume jewelry. Follow along for personal style, travel, and lifestyle content.

Search

Keep In Touch

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

You Might Also Enjoy These Popular Posts:

  • Sherwin Williams SuperDeck Wet Clay We stained the front porch!
  • How to Remove Paint from Antique Hardware How to Remove Paint from Original Antique Hardware
  • Loloi II Layla Oriental Blue / Spice Printed Area Rug Review: Loloi II Layla Rug
  • Copenhagen Travel Guide: Dos and Don’ts
  • What Fits Inside the Gucci Small Marmont Bag? What Fits Inside the Gucci Small Marmont Bag?

Currently Coveting

A retro-inspired blouse that’s fun for spring!

Vintage-like glasses that could easily pass for heirloom pieces.

Visit Me on Instagram!

I planted over 100 flower bulbs last fall and whil I planted over 100 flower bulbs last fall and while that many haven’t come up, I’m feeling exceptionally proud of the ones that did — even if my involvement was minimal. 

#muscari #flowers #springgarden #zone5a #zone5agardening
I am just the happiest! I keep looking at this bat I am just the happiest! I keep looking at this bathroom and thinking how lucky we are that we were able to do this! It wasn’t always easy to navigate the stressful moments, but the end result is worth it. I feel like I’m at a luxury hotel every time I shower! (And it sure beats showering with the spiders in our [basically unfinished] basement bathroom. It was like camping in our own home for the past six weeks — and I very much hate camping!)

More photos to come!

#bathroomremodel #bathroomdesign #bathroom #bathroomrenovation #thisoldhouse #1920shouse #subwaytile #showertile #marbletile #marblefloor
For as stressful as this project has been, it’s For as stressful as this project has been, it’s amazing to see it come together. (Swipe for a before!) 

The rest of the shower tile will be installed on Monday and then they’ll starting laying the floor tile. I can’t wait!

#bathroom #bathroomremodel #bathroomrenovation #thisoldhouse #1920shouse #home #oldhouselove #oldhouse #centuryhome #tile #tiling #floortile #progressphotos
Grocery store tulips arrived a month later than us Grocery store tulips arrived a month later than usual this year. Let’s hope spring doesn’t follow suit. 

#flowers #tulips #whiteflowers #whitetulips #grocerystoreflowers
My NCAA bracket was busted within the first few ho My NCAA bracket was busted within the first few hours of the tournament, but there's a much more fun one to take part in: a bagel bracket with @bantambagels -- and you can win a month's supply of the winning flavor! There will be a daily matchup on their Instagram stories each Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday now through April 5. Each vote in the daily face off is a chance to be one of five grand prize winners! My vote goes to Everybody's Favorite, an everything bagel stuffed with veggie cream cheese. 

#sponsored #springtable #breakfast #bagels #bantambagels #tablescape #breakfasttable #tablesetting #foodphotography #thebiteshot #foodflatlay
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye ... to So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye ... to this bathroom. Demolition on our upstairs main bathroom starts today! I love old houses and #OldHouseThings, but this bathroom's prior renovation clearly isn't part of the original home -- nor was it done well. A leak from the bathtub into our kitchen on Easter 2020 kicked off our plans for the renovation and it's finally coming to fruition two years later. The prior damage wasn't caused by leaking pipes (although we just replaced all of the old galvanized pipes with PVC plumbing to futureproof the house); it was from water pooling on the edge of the tub after a shower and then spilling over the side onto the floor. As we discovered, the tub isn't level (nor is the toilet) which caused water to flow over. I'm sure we'll discover plenty of other water damage as our contractor's team starts pulling everything out and I'm so excited for the peace of mind that will come from getting everything in tip top shape. 

Today is also the day that fixtures will be installed in the half bath! There's a short punch list of small things yet to do in that space, but the finished product is right around the corner! 

#bathroom #bathroomremodel #bathroomrenovation #thisoldhouse #1920shouse #home #oldhouselove #oldhouse #centuryhome
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · Jennifer on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Posting....