If you have spent any time with us over the past year, you will have heard about “The Bathroom Situation.” If you haven’t heard the story, now is your chance. While I realize that in 1910, when the house was built, no one would ever discuss bodily functions, this blog is all about telling the good and the ugly about living in a house renovation. If you really don’t want the details, stop reading now!

Here’s the story: When David moved into the house in mid-May, he was happy to see that there was a working upstairs bathroom, plus a half bath on the main floor. However, he knew that the upstair toilet leaked, so he bought a new toilet ring, repaired it the same day, and was relieved to use it that night.

He was not so happy the next day when he discovered the three foot split in the sewer pipe in the basement. He also discovered leakage all over the electrical panel. Eww! Needless to say, he stopped using that toilet! Thankfully, the main level toilet worked but the sink leaked. Between the working shower/bathtub and sink upstairs and the toilet downstairs, he had a complete bathroom suite. Unfortunately, the bathtub was covered in green, toxic-looking slime. I’m sure that it was from the copper pipes, but still…

Toxic green sludge.

A hundred years of rust.

Three of us sharing one bathroom.

Powder room added in 1946

When our 18-year old daughter and I moved into the house at the beginning of June, the three of us shared the upstairs shower, sink, and downstairs toilet. Yes, it could be worse– we could be sharing an outhouse–but it still felt a bit like camping out.

Our very first project in June, last year, was to add another bathroom. There was a room upstairs that was too small to be considered a bedroom. Since it was next to the other bathroom, it was in the ideal location to be an extra bathroom. We stripped off the plaster walls and ceiling and took the room down to the studs. These photos show the lathe and plaster of the bathroom walls on the other side as well as the timber outside wall. Perhaps you will notice that there is no insulation!

Lathe and plaster walls.

The metal lathe is what is behind the adjacent bathroom’s tile.

The small room’s walls and ceiling were removed in order to add wiring and plumbing.

The room had a chimney along one wall. It added so much character to the room, we decided to keep it exposed.

We uncovered the chimney that goes up one side of the room.

Bathroom architectural drawings.

The demolition was as far as we had gotten before we left for a wonderful cruise vacation. (The tiny cruise room bathrooms felt very luxurious!) When we returned, Darrin had completed all of the walls, floor, and ceiling and the electrical and plumbing were roughed in.

The new bathroom floors, walls and ceiling.

Our new shower!

The plumbing and electrical are all rouged in.

We had completed other tile projects before, so we decided to save some money and do the job ourselves. After all, the family that works together, stays together–or something like that. Of course, we did not choose the simplest tiles. I wanted tiles that could have been used in a 1910 home. Our master bathroom floor was made with marble, octagon tiles and the walls were covered in subway tiles, so that is what I chose here. To complicate the job, I added a tile border to the floor.

David is starting the wall tile.

We all worked together cutting, carrying, and placing tile.

3×5 flat subway tile

The shower marble floor tiles and threshold.

Grouting the small tiles was a major job!

All of our spare time was spent working on this bathroom and we vowed that we would not take on the next big tiling job. We finished it up with grouting (not fun), painting the chimney gray, and the walls blue. By the time we were done, we were exhausted, but happy to have a working bathroom! We just needed to wait for the shower glass before we could give up the toxic, green, shower tub forever.

Adding a little paint.

Painting the chimney bricks gray.

Old time thermostatic shower to keep the 1910 look.

With a little paper curtain, the bathroom is useable!

Grouting the subway tile walls.

You may be wondering why I didn’t share this bathroom on the blog earlier. Truthfully, it was never quite done; even now, we are waiting for the window coverings.  Once the bathroom was usable, we moved on to the kitchen and master bath demolition. Our nice, new, bathroom was full of construction dust and the trim wasn’t finished. We first covered the windows with taped-on paper, then tacked-on sheers, and finally, paper blinds.

Here is the bathroom as it looks today.  I chose antique brass lighting fixtures because all of the existing lighting in this home are brass. The dark wood medicine cabinet ties in the beautiful, original door. The electrostatic shower fixture and console sink are similar to what would be found in a nice, 1910 home. But it’s all modern!

The almost finished upstairs bathroom.

Strom Plumbing electrostatic shower, gray dot hexagon marble tiles

Cierra Porcelain Console from Signature Hardware, Potter Barn medicine cabinet, Fiess Urban Renewal antique brass sconces and ceiling light