MrsPete, the chair over the toilet cracks me up. It's almost like the "commode assist" we got for my mom!

The LA house is so intriguing. I'm trying to figure out the upstairs bedrooms. The suites consist of a crazy-big bedroom, dressing room leading to closet and jack-n-Jill bath, and the connecting bedroom is much smaller, may or may not have a closet or dressing room. Is it for a valet? Nanny? Gowns? The list of rooms says "guest-maid quarters", does that mean your guests' maids? They'd have the smaller bedroom?

The master suite has a door from the closet to the hall, makes some sense but it's not a big closet so you lose some space. Maybe it's more so that the laundry can be tucked in by the housekeeper without disturbing the bedroom?

Downstairs, is the room straight back from the foyer the family dining/morning room? It's charming. You'd have the coffeemaker in the little service kitchen next to it. And if you need a shot of something in it, go to the service bar across the hall!

Floorplan

Mrs Pete the bathrooms are a generation apart even if they are the second baths for the Biltmore and across the country, so that probably contributes to the differences.

Sherle Wagner (if they still exist) still makes the chairs to fit over the toilet. And marble toilets, which were brought up in another thread.)

Sometimes the master is really only the woman's bedroom and the man sleeps in adjoining bedroom, sometimes much smaller and plainer, sometimes not. This house also seems to have a servants hall and cooks room off the kitchen.

Holy smoke, it's nearly 7700 sqft on only 0.18 acres? It's giving today's McMansions a run for their money... ;-)

The exterior entry light fixtures are a wee bit oversized, yes?

[Side note: I love all of the light fixtures that look like flowers, lol, but that's my love of Art Nouveau...]

Okay, maybe I just haven't seen enough Italian/Mediterranean interiors of the 30s, but I'm kinda not feelin' the love as I walk through the house, knowing it's Italian/Med on the outside. Anyone else picking up on a mix of other vibes on the inside? Or am I just nuts?

[Side note: That is one ugly kitchen. Sorry. The granite broke the kitchen. The *wood* counter is adorable, though.]

Sometimes the master is really only the woman's bedroom and the man
sleeps in adjoining bedroom, sometimes much smaller and plainer,
sometimes not.

I know, "different time, different place" and everything, but this would make me very sad.

One can only hope whoever bought the house would not buy it if they were going to destroy the bathrooms.

But maybe they could take out the unfortunate apron added to the tub in the pink bath.

i do like the tiled storage. It looks shallow, that's fine for cosmetics.

Pal, what is the intention with the tiny tub in the orchid bath?

The alternative is likely to be something that manages to combine garish, banal and dull at the same time like these other $8M houses on the market. I wasn't even looking for the worst, I just went down the list.

Ha ha, in the bath with the granite tub surround, you can't open the drawers in the vanity!

one of the Hancock house tubs has the faucets on the far wall, hard to turn on. But at least you don't have to bruise your hiney on them as you climb up the steps and swing over into the tub.

The Orchid freestanding tub is likely the standard size of 60" -72", distorted by the photo and in a relatively large overall bathroom.

Until this thread, I had no idea what "antipodal" meant. Now I know it means a plethora of pink tile juxtaposed with an unlimited abundance of lime green tile, from floor to ceiling.

Thank you so much! :-)

[...] relatively large overall bathroom.

When I saw the floorplan, I thought, "If someone posted baths designed like these, the forum would smash 'em to smithereens, due to the amount of floor space."

One day, when I post my own future house -- God willing -- I'm expecting some initial criticism in this area. But, when multiple people are often in the bathroom at the same time (I have several special need kiddos), it really makes sense to have the space. I don't have a team of hired help... I *am* the help.

lol

Now I know it means a plethora of pink tile juxtaposed with an unlimited abundance of lime green tile, from floor to ceiling.

Admittedly, the pink got to me, too, Mr. Virgil!

The pink bathroom gives a minor example of what happens with remodeling. The new sink and vanity stand out as foriegn. And it's actually not so bad, they at least gave it some thought. Imagine some boxy vanity with a granite top.

The kitchen is a major example of what often happens with remodeling. That granite looks horrendous with the existing cabinets. But it was probably done when granite was the thing or the people didn't want marble, or something.

But it doesn't matter if they had redone the kitchen and used that granite or used a granite that looked better with the cabinets. Granite comes off as not right in this house and if they had not made a better choice with kitchen cabinets than they did with that granite, say if they renovated the entire kitchen, the entire kitchen would be wrong for the house. I suppose some sort of plainer green granite would have been okay because of the green tile ceiling.

It's easy enough to see in someone else's house for a lot of people, but they make this sort of mistake all the time in their own. Bits and pieces get redone in whatever the trend of the year is, and the house ends up lacking any sort of integrity or consistency. (And often the choices are dull and generic on top of it all for fear of resale or "getting bored" with what they've just done).

Square off that island and I'm sold : ) .

pal, what would have gone in that "niche" area originally over the sink?

Thanks for blanking out the granite, it looks much better! Do you suppose it originally had metal-edged Formica, on the countertops and as the backsplash below the tile?

Back to the orchid tub, according to the floor plan that bathroom already has a full tub and shower, and the plan shows the small tub as, well, small. We stayed in an inn (Ludington MI to catch the morning ferry) with an extra, wee tub in the bathroom, on a half-height cabinet. We took a picture of our toddler in it. The innkeeper wasn't sure but thought that it may, in fact, have been a baby-bathing tub. This bedroom does look like a "his" bedroom with valet on the ore side of the bathroom, or could have been a nursery with nanny suite.

okay, who lives in LA and can snoop I mean go to this open house for us?

You're right, maybe it's a footbath or something.

To sweeten the tootsies after a day on the golf course.

I think the niche originally had a mirror covered medicine cabinet just like in the other bathrooms.

Sorry, I meant the sink in the kitchen.

Though I have seen mirrors over sinks, but have never found it necessary to gaze at myself while doing the washing up!

I dunno, tiled in storage shelves? I think it's original, there is an outlet centered over it for a clock.

I like these bathrooms. I hope the new owners don't "upgrade" but enjoy them.

(I prefer the top three to the bottom two, but that's simply because I'm not really a fan of pink, even in my clothing... I own ONE pink top. But even the pink are intriguing and I wouldn't replace.)

Though I have seen mirrors over sinks, but have never found it necessary to gaze at myself while doing the washing up!

Heck, I'd slap a mirror up there, just so I could be on the lookout for kids sneaking cookies behind me.

These bathrooms were a blast from the past for me. LOL The first house I ever owned in So Cal had that type of tile. Every house in the neighborhood had those color schemes. My kitchen had white tile with black trim and my one and only bath was yellow tile, yellow tub, and a yellow sink with green trim. When I bought it, the previous owners had just replaced the toilet and I wonder if the original was yellow too. It was a very happy feeling bathroom.

My neighbors had pink and black bathrooms, blue and yellow, blue and green, and my next door neighbor had the prettiest of the bunch, a white and yellow bathroom. The walls were all tiled as well as the ceiling over the tub. Hardly anyone does that anymore. If I remember right the house was built in the late thirties or early forties. I bet they've all been remodeled by now :-(

I bet they've all been remodeled by now :-(

You suppose that, one day, there will be troves of people remodeling greige McMansion/Neo-Eclectic bathrooms with turquoise and plum, royal blue and rust, and yellow and fuchsia, only to have people mourn the loss of the colorlessness? lol

MrsPete, the chair over the toilet cracks me up.

I thought the same thing. It's almost like they're pretending it isn't really a toilet.

Mrs Pete the bathrooms are a generation apart even if they are the second
baths for the Biltmore and across the country, so that probably contributes to the differences.

Fair enough. I still think the original pix in this thread are just "too much". For what it's worth, my aunt and uncle's house contains houses typical to this era ... but they're more moderate examples and aren't so "jarring" to the eye.

It's not something we would do today. For one thing we couldn't. But that is far from a compelling reason to destroy them. We wouldn't or couldn't build lots of historic styles today.

We wouldn't build the Carson Mansion today. But that's no reason to knock it down or cover it with Hardiboard and stone veneer.

Part of what makes them more acceptable is the size of the house, I think. It might be problematic to see this all shoehorned into a 5x7 or even 5x5 (as some were), bath in a 1930 bungalow.

I love those bathrooms. At least people weren't so afraid of color back then.

The bathroom in my 1898 house had pink and black tile. It was perfect for the bathroom. And it had pink floor tile.

It's not something we would do today. For one thing we couldn't. But that is far from a compelling reason to destroy them.

That we don't, and couldn't, make such bathrooms today to me seems a compelling reason to save the existing examples. Especially when they suit the house and the region so well.

That we don't, and couldn't, make such bathrooms today to me seems a
compelling reason to save the existing examples. Especially when they
suit the house and the region so well.

I don't think this is a compelling enough reason for most people. People have sorta started to get it regarding the exterior if the house is old enough. The interiors, not so much.

And everything is particularly vulnerable when it is first out of style and old enough to be replaced. That used to be starting at about year 20 or so, and then several decades had to follow before people started thinking the bathroom or kitchen may be interesting in some historic sense. I think the "dated" part starts earlier now and the "historic" date may even come later. People are still actively hating their 50-60 year old bathrooms just because they are an actual color. People are not liking these almost 90 year old bathrooms because of color.

So I've seen a lot of pretty interesting 1960s through 1980s things hit the dumpster, and anybody who says "wait a minute, that's actually a pretty nice 1960s through 1980s kitchen/bath/fireplace/etc. why not try to keep it or reference it" gets told to knock it off because it's not like it's really neat 1930s bathroom, it's just a 1960s bathroom/kitchen/etc.

The point they are missing is that something has to be 20 years old before it's 80 years old. That really neat 1930s bathroom is around because somebody in 1960 didn't say "This is just 25 year old bathroom, it's nothing special".

I like my white and gray bathrooms.

But, I also am not a “it can only be one or the other” for most things, including houses, and if I was buying this house (you know, with that spare $8million USD I have stashed away!) it would be in large part for the charm and whimsy of it. So even though I almost despise pink - especially THAT pink - I would keep the baths (but change those kitchen counters!). It would be much fun to see the look on guests faces when they returned from the bathroom - and told them to check out the others! Sometimes “over the top” works.

People are not liking these almost 90 year old bathrooms because of color.

We had to budget on the new house, and for us that meant very little tile in the bathrooms, but if money were no object, I would have a call into Lascaux Tile in the US in a heartbeat for something like this --

(by Michael S. Smith, and yes, the house is in Montecito, California, and the entire project is an homage to Portuguese influence and design)

or this (by the late great Joe Nye),

and yes, I could live with either for the rest of my years.

I have three bathrooms, one white, one grey and one blue. I did colored fixtures in one bathroom because grey was the only color still available in all necessary fixtures by that time.

I looked at a house that had a 1940s bath with a pretty hideous combination of mustard yellow and aqua and I probably even would have kept that one, just as a curiosity, and had the ones that needed to be remodeled done in white.

I grew up in a house with all white bathrooms and an all white kitchen (except for wallpapers), which were rarities when the house was built, so I have an appreciation for white bathrooms and kitchens, but I would keep a colored bathroom if were in good condition.

In my parents' 1971 house, we refer to the bathrooms by their tile color: the green bathroom, the blue, the pink, the green. The bathrooms with the least or most neutral tile are referred to by their location. Yawn.

I was going for a coloful option in my bathroom.

Galore, we need a picture with more in it... I gotta see that bathroom in its entirety!

Other than thinking that most of the "OG" bathrooms look tacky by today's standard, they also look like they smell bad. Plumbing wasn't always so great, in those days-even for the wealthy. Remember the "turn-up" gelatin like deodorizers? That's the smell I get.

That said, those who keep history, and don't mind the clanging colors, good for them.,

Eh, I don't know. I think there are also issues with super low flow toilets and toilets with a very small water spot. As far as tacky I don't know, I think every one of the $8M examples I posted are uglier and they are relatively new.

Now that last part we have a bit of agreement on. Most of them look like people who watched "Scarface" one too many times! Low flow toilets...Another discussion.

One Devoted Dame:

This was a picture of the stall, lit up in blue. It isn’t quite as flashy when not in disco mode.

I like color - my shower has a wall that is tiled in 2” squares copper/red-gold glass checkerboard.

And it has glass with a sandblasted dragon that can be lit up in any color. Built for my enjoyment and I don’t care for resale.

Is that hidden LED lighting?

That is pretty cool Galore 2112!

Thanks!!

The LEDs are in an aluminum strip on top of the glass, illuminating the glass edge.

Is this outside North America?

Kinda OT. Where decorating and remodeling are concerned I am pretty confident in all my choices, except bathrooms. I am inclined toward marble madness as it is and could see myself too easily influenced by the banal and tacky du jour. I err on the plain side, so I should be safe, no chance you'll find faux luxury chez moi, but still, bathroom design intimidates me.

If anyone has a book to recommend on bathroom design principles, I would appreciate it.

beckysharp's Portuguese tiled bathroom is gorgeous.

Rita, if only one of them really was mine!

bpathome-We called DD's one bathroom in her 1933 home "The Purple Haze" bathroom:

I rented a Spanish Colonial house in the Hollywood Hills with a fabulous green and black Art Deco bathroom. At least here in Los Angeles, the only old homes that aren't torn down are the Spanish Colonial because people now want to all of the old period features. It's analogous to the brownstones in New York - they were out of vogue for a time and people stripped them of their features including stuff like Tiffany glasswork and chandeliers. Then the most valuable ones were those which had suffered from benign neglect - i.e. had not been renovated during the years :-)

My inspiration bathrooms were all period colorful baths - no beige, gray or white for me :-). This is a contemporary shower as I tracked it down to a tile company that does a lot of period artisan tiles. I googled the heck out of Art Deco bathrooms and so mine is more of a pastiche homage than an exact reproduction. My color scheme is the teal green - although not as Moorish and intricate as this tile work since my budget for tiles is not unlimited :-) Given what my tiles are costing I can only imagine what this shower cost.

Helen, thank you so much for posting. That's gorgeous. Do we get to see pictures of your bathroom, please?

Reminds me of the tiled bathroom of a Florida house mentioned in a post by chijim recently in the Home Decorating forum. The house is La Loma in Palm Beach, designed by John Volk and Gustav Maass in Mediterranean Revival style, finished in 1929 and landmarked 50 years later. Here's the bathroom from the Sotheby's listing several years ago,

The house is featured in the current issue of Architectural Digest because it was just decorated by Jacques Grange. From the AD article,

The master bath, lavished with flamboyant antique tiles—some of them form towering cypress trees; others are glazed with tulips—was left intact.

“Don’t touch the bathroom,” the decorator recalls telling the owner. “It’s magique, so Doris Duke!” The client instantly agreed, adding that he’s always been a historicist at heart.

The bathroom today,

According to a book on Volk's work by his family,

Volk traveled to Spain to find the furnishings, tiles, rugs and decorative materials for the house. ... The decorative tiles for the stairways and bathrooms came from Seville and Barcelona.

The previous owner, who left the house mostly unchanged, said,

“The master bathroom has the most beautiful pair of Art Deco sinks, with all the original brass knobs and spouts. They are just perfect, and the tile is cobalt blue. It is magnificent. The whole tub area is beautifully tiled and the floor has terra cotta tiles, inset with tiles that have medieval hunting scenes. The ceiling is pretty — arched with rounded beams — and the windows facing Banyan have the same stained glass as downstairs.”

beckysharp: My condo basically just finished being demoed and basic plumbing starting to be installed and some framing etc. Nothing visually exciting happening yet :-)

My bathroom is NOT going to resemble the awesome one I posted. It would be a bit much in my small master bath so it's inspired by it :-) As I told my designer when we met - no beige, no gray, no white although I did wind up with white in terms of counter (French Vanilla marble); sink and white/black Calacatta marble in the classic basket weave pattern.

I sometimes think I should be truer to the Art Deco bathrooms that I adore but I think I will be happy with my homage. Some of my other inspiration bathrooms :-)

Not all of these are period as some are contemporary with just some Art Deco touches

This was updated or just inspired since the fixtures seem new but the accent tiles, the mirror and the sconces are Art Deco so whether it was new or a remodel in an older home, I think it's respectful.

This is obviously a contemporary bathroom but clearly the owner liked Art Deco in terms of some of the touches. The vaguely Asian touches seem inspired by the Chinese Art Deco stuff.

This could be contemporary inspired by Art Deco. The green and black is classic color combination and the border tile has that geometric AD feel.

This looks new but reminds me of the bathrooms in New York Pre War apartments in feel - but way nicer :-)

A few more :-)

Obviously contemporary but someone did custom ziggurat metal work for the shower and mirror. The contemporary sink with its strong geometric lines complements the more overtly AD touches.

Contemporary but really nice homage to AD without being a slavish recreation.

Another view of the pink and black bathroom up thread.

Helen, have you seen cpartists's bathroom in her new Florida house (on the April build thread and also here, scroll down toward the bottom)? Very nice.

I have a soft spot for the NYC prewar apartment black and white tiled bathrooms, subway tiles on the wall and hex tiles on the floor, since that's what I grew up with : ) .