Bungalow Bath Finished!
Thanks for all the help, you wonderful Gardenwebbers! During the remodel process, I posted questions on the Bath forum, too, but I got lots of support over here on Home Decor, so here is the reveal!
We just finished a budget bathroom addition to our 1924 bungalow. We love our very original house and have been doing a (mostly) DIY full restoration for the past year and a half. But the house only had one small bathroom downstairs and we couldn't convert any of the existing rooms because of water supply and drain issues. So we hired a general contractor and had a gable addition put on the upstairs rear of the house for a “family bath” (it's essentially the master bath, but since it's off the hall, it can serve the other bedrooms, too). I designed the gable and layout, and sourced/purchased all the materials and fixtures. To stay within our tight budget, I bought from eBay, Craigslist, and sales/clearance at the local big box stores. We also laid the floor and painted. As expected with any old house remodel, we had a number of snags and unexpected changes, but we're very pleased overall, especially given our budget constraints.
The attic space before the addition:
And after:
And because my husband insists a bathroom needs privacy (although we overlook 30 acres of pasture!), here's a night shot with the cafe curtains I hung.
When I can stomach the expense, I'd like to install top-down, bottom-up cellular shades, but these are cute and cheap for the time being. The room still lacks the Craftsman wainscoting, the matching lantern over the tub, a doorknob, shelves for the niche, and some accessories. But we're so excited and relieved to be at this point. There were days I thought it would never end, and nights I feared my vision had run amok. But the pangs are over and I would do it all again!
I regret not having more closed storage, but it wasn't an oversight. To preserve the symmetry of the house, we matched the gable addition to the existing front gable. That gave us a rather square room with lots of floor space in the middle and large triple windows. We couldn't bump a closet into the knee wall space on either side of the gable, and I couldn't figure out how to build one in and keep an attractive and functional arrangement of fixtures. The new toilet ended up 15” from the wall because of a floor joist, so I had that section of the wall furred out and a built-in niche framed. I plan to have doors made eventually, so that will hide the less attractive bathroom necessities. And our downstairs bathroom has a large, deep closet, so lesser used items will just be stored there.
My other big regret is the flooring choice. I don't like tile, and we wanted a wood look in keeping with the 3” pine throughout the upstairs. We've used luxury vinyl planks in a bathroom before and were very happy. But I was limited in choices this time because only one brand came in a narrow width. Novalis has 4” planks, while everyone else has 6”. I took a chance on the cheap Novalis, and I regret it. They scratch, burnish, and dent like crazy. And they have a grooved texture that holds the dust and dirt so I have to sweep with the “grain” to clean the floor. They seem to stick pretty well and were easy to install, but I won't use them again. Hopefully the worst wear and tear is over now that the workmen are done, but I'll have to live with all the flooring scars.
If anyone wants the details, here are the basics:
Vanities: St. Paul 36” espresso (special buy at Home Depot)
Tile: Merola cobalt and white basketweave for shower floor and niche; Lowes stock subway tile for field; Lowes clearance white chair rail and pencil liner for accents; Mapei Silver grout
Marble: Home Depot thresholds for niche shelving and shower curb
Faucets: Delta Victorian chrome shower and vanity faucets; Price Pfister Savannah floor mount tub faucet and risers
Tub: antique 1920's Kohler from local flea market, painted BM Hale Navy
Toilet: Danze Orrington
Lighting: clearance exterior lanterns from Lowes
Flooring: Novalis vinyl planks in Gunstock
Comments (47)
grlwprls
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agopps7
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
2nd finished bath: Master bath
Comments (10)Thanks for the nice compliments, Snowyshasta and organic-donna. We absolutely love our bathroom, now that we've been using it for a few months. We also saw this design and "borrowed'' it. Actually we saw a bathroom in a showroom, and immediately knew it was what we wanted -- the colors, the look, the fixtures. It wasn't too feminine, or too masculine, but just right for a his and her bath. I just asked my DH what he liked best about the bath (he's sitting here watching basketball), and he said the shower. It is equipped with three heads -- a handheld, a stationary one and a rain head. "It's like being in a spa,'' he said. I love all the storage. As you can see it's not a huge room, but we created a serene space for the both of us, with every nice feature we wanted, and with enough storage for all my girlie things away from our three teenage daughters, and our collection of nice towels. My husband loves having his own space too. His, of course, is not as packed as mine, but we actually still have some half empty drawers and shelves. The tower is so handy. Our cabinet maker tried to talk me into making the glass doors on that tower a frosted glass, but I insisted on clear glass, and I'm glad. Doesn't look great in the picture, but I love that I can see everything in there. You can always hide things -- like first aid medicines -- in pretty baskets and still keep them there. We love the radiant floor heating, and we especially love the Robern medicine cabinets, which have mirrors inside the doors and even along the back of them. Love, love love our new bath. It was costly, and like you, Organic-donna, we worry about money, especially with the economy being as it is. But we think we were smart shoppers about everything we bougtht, and know that if we ever want to sell our house (but we have no such plans), we'll get our money back. We built it for us, and every single day I am grateful for this pretty bath and have no regrets that we did this. Besides, I grew up in family of nine -- and we all shared one bath! I'm done with sharing....See MoreBathroom addition and layout for 1924 bungalow
Comments (12)Desertsteph, that's an interesting idea about a second door directly from the master bedroom. One hangup might be the fact that our upstairs only has a seven foot ceiling height throughout (very standard for our vintage bungalow). Right where the back wall of the unfinished bedroom is it starts sloping down into the attic space. I don't think we would have the headspace for a door on the east side of the new gable, and we would have to widen the gable quite a bit to put a door where the attic door is planned and have it enter the bathroom. But I'll look at a carefully and make sure there isn't a way to squeeze it in. The changing tables say they are 37" tall, but I think that's to the top of the (removeable) rails, so the actual top may be 34" or 35". KMCG, I hadn't thought of kitchen cabinets as vanities. They are certainly easier to find used or discounted than bath vanities. Great price on the pieces you found! I'll keep my eyes out if we decide on a large single vanity or the changing tables don't work out. Hollysprings, I respect your ability to think outside the box. However, we really like our house as it is, other than the bathroom situation. It will only take a few LVL beams to support the gable on the loadbearing walls below; cantilevering adds nothing but a little length to those beams. I can't see how a much larger shed roof dormer would cost less or be simpler. Maybe I'm not understanding the situation, but it seems as though reframing the entire back side of the house, reroofing, exterior sheathing and siding, subfloor and flooring, all would be significantly more in quantity than what we are currently planning....See More1923 bungalow: advice on new door finishing?
Comments (2)Congrats!... sounds like a wonderful step up. I feel blessed that we still have the 1920's solid wood front door. We had to move it but got it back in.. it we a real challange! You might ask over the the woodworkers forum.. I bet they can helpyou still stain and protection. Maddiemom...See MoreModern California Bungalow Kitchen: Finally finished!
Comments (55)I had to come out of lurkdom on this forum to comment on your new kitchen! I looked twice to be certain this was the NEW kitchen because it so perfectly suits the age and style of your home that I thought it might be the original kitchen. Love the stove, lighting, eating area for humans and pets, the shoe rack, and the warmth and evidence of family living that happens in this room. You've achieved a timeless kitchen which is marvelously integrated with your bungalow....See MoreEG3d
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cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
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11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoThanks Kellie. Yes, it did change the exterior, but we tried to do it sympathetically. I don't have any current exterior photos, but here is the front of the house and the side before.
The new bathroom is on the back of the house, an almost mirror image of the front gable.
Here are a few photos from earlier this summer when we got the house listed on the Alabama Registry. I have since refinished the dining and living room floors so they flow nicely with the kitchen we did last year.
Cyn427, here is the view from the bathroom window.
It's a beautiful view, but the horse boarders do come and go from the barn at random times, so I can't count on privacy. I give my DH a hard time about the curtains, but they are probably a necessity!
The upstairs is kind of hard to explain, but it originally had two large rooms on each side of the central hall and the little front gable. One of the large rooms was never finished, but the rest had all wood walls and a level seven foot ceiling. The new bath is a gabled dormer off the back, but the unfinished room will be our future master bedroom. We loved the higher ceilings, so we kept the vault in there. It lead to spray foam insulation everywhere, as it was the best choice for sealing an old house and let us keep the vaulted ceiling. Here is a photo of that room in progress where you can see the sloped ceiling.
Marti, the bath is technically just the upstairs hall bath, but it's right outside the door to our future MBR. We thought about trying to put a connecting door through, but it didn't work out because of the low sloping roof line beside the gable. Since we can't have kids, it'll just be us up there, unless we really have a houseful of guests. The downstairs bath is more like you were thinking; it has a door to the bedroom (the purple one I posted above) and another to the mudroom. So it could serve as a true master bed/bath combo if someone needed first floor living.
Here's a view of the upstairs floor plan with the new bath (although it was before the gable dimensions changed and the door swing had to be switched).
Lake_Girl, that's funny you had the same idea with the sconces. I'm sad Lowes discontinued them, but it allowed me to buy them on clearance (although I had to go to two different stores to find enough). I'm not from Alabama (ninth state I've lived in in just over three decades), but we've adjusted over the past few years and found many things to like about it. Are you near Lake Guntersville, by any chance?
Lake_Girl
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agocyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
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outsideplaying_gw
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoequest17
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoLake_Girl, you might still be able to order the lanterns online, but they aren't available in Lowes anymore. I actually bought the displays at two stores and got the last one in the box. I bought one of the larger lantern size and am in the process of converting it to a pendant version to hang over the tub. I hope it works out, but if not, it was cheap and no big loss.
Thanks so much Cyn. I wish I had photos of the living and dining rooms with the refinished floors. It really brightened it up. We've come a very long way from the almost condemned condition in which we purchased the house, but it's generous praise like yours that makes me realize we aren't crazy for loving it so!
Outsideplaying, thank you for commenting. We were really blessed to have the loadbearing walls and water/drain access; that is what kept the budget fairly reasonable. And I accumulated deals for about four months before construction began, so having a big shop in which to store everything was great!
I'm probably about an hour from Lake Guntersville. I've actually never been, but I hear it's beautiful. I don't know where the family historically sailed, but we're just a mile or two from the Tennessee River, so I imagine it was there. The heir (from whom we bought the house) keeps a big sailboat down in Pensacola now, so it could have been anywhere!
Just like Maria Von Trapp, here are a few of my favorite things about the bath!
Furniture style vanities:
(BTW, thanks everyone for input about the mirrors. We went vertical and I really love it, but I think horizontal would have worked, too.)
Floor mounted faucet:
Shampoo niche:
Open faucets:
Those cute onion lanterns:
Ilene Perl
11 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
nosoccermom