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

Our project will require removing and closing up two huge walls of glass block (ugh!) and the quotes we're getting for a very "builder basic" finished bath are in the high $50k's. Ain't no way that's going to happen.

I love the wallpaper. Okay, I just love it all. It does not say "done on a tight budget" at all.

Love the windows, tub, shower and especially the shower curtain! Welll done.

I was thinking that you could add a narrow backless bench in the middle of the room. That would give you a place to lay your pj's or undies while bathing or showering. It would also be a nice place to perch while putting on socks. In fact, you could choose a storage bench with a hinged top which could provide a place to store clean towels or act as a dirty clothes hamper.

You did a stellar job and it sure comes across as very high end. I agree a bench would be perfect. I wish I had opted for the vanities and not pedestal sinks but as you say we all have great hind sight !! Lovely !! c

Grlwprls, that seems really high for builder grade finishes! Of course, we live in Alabama where labor is cheap, but everything was done to code with permits. I got quotes as high as $60k for the whole job, but that included $15k for fixtures, which I certainly hope would be better than builder grade.

EG3d, I can give more details privately if you're considering a similar project, but the whole thing was under $14k. We planned it well to line up over water supplies downstairs and tied the drain into the existing stack, but we did have to reroute the water heater vent, which was a pain. Oh, electrical was separate since we had the whole upstairs rewired simultaneous and found a great electrician separate from our GC, but I don't think it would have been too much more since the open walls of the new addition were the easy part!

Fun2Bhere, what a great idea! I was just asking DH where he would put his clothes and if he wanted some kind of coat tree or something to drape them on. I originally thought I might put a little upholstered chair in the left corner where the antique washstand is instead, but it looked funny angled in beside the toilet. The middle floor space is unnecessarily generous, so your suggestion might work. I'm going to give the layout a week or two and then see what needs to be tweaked (move towel bars, install hooks, decide what to store where), but I'll definitely keep a bench in mind.

There weren't too many surprises thankfully, except the one that changed the gable dimensions! As the framers were cutting the rafters out, the back porch started to pull away because it wasn't attached like it should be. So the gable got one foot shorter and one foot wider and no one thought to tell us. I had to rework the vanities and change the doorswing, which felt like the end of the world at the time, but wasn't too bad in retrospect.

Chardie, thanks. I like toile, and the family that owned this house for three generations has a strong tradition of sailing, so it felt appropriate ;-)

I love the lights! It would never have occurred to me to use outdoor fixtures, but they are perfect.

Very welcoming, and I love the toile paper. How do you feell about the shower curtain with the wall treatment, IRL? From my screen, they seem complimentary without being outright matchy-matchy. I always admire the ability to mix and match seemingly different textures and designs.

Wondering about your grout color choice, as I am debating mine for my kitchen bs. Do you like the mapei silver?

As the owner of a bungalow with an unfinished attic (which currently looks much like your "before" pic), I'm always super interested in how people build out that space. Would love to see more if you're willing!

ps. your tile in the shower is perfection.

Nancy

Gracie, I have fabric to sew a shower curtain and I still might eventually, but I got in a pinch and purchased this one from Target.

Jillinnj, definitely check out the exterior lighting section. I get tired of seeing the same old sconces everywhere, and I really love the unique selection of outdoor fixtures. Plus, a lot of them are Craftsman style, which works with my bungalow.

Rovo, come over for a soak anytime! I think the shower curtain colors work really well, but I'm still debating about the scale of it with the wallpaper. I needed something to work in the odd pinkish-beige of the vanity counters, and the Target shower curtain has the navy blue and dark beige on a creamy background. Everything else was too stark white or too ivory. I may still sew the custom one I was planning.

The Mapei Silver grout is lovely. I tested several and really liked that this had enough depth to show up as "vintage" but not too depressing. No undertones that I've noticed, so I think it works with a lot. Do try to find the matching caulk, though, because Lowes doesn't carry it in stock and I bought a different brand thinking it would match. It's a bit darker and I wish I had held out for the color matched version.

Stella and Ellen, I've attached a link below with our kitchen remodel. We're still working on the rest of the house, but I may be able to scrounge up some decent shots of some other rooms.

The shower is 60" x 37 1/2" on the outside. We were going to use a preform pan which is 60x36, but our tile guy said he would build us a custom base after the shower was already framed. I would have gone larger if I'd known, but we just sistered on an extra 2x4 for a little extra width, hence the additional odd 1 1/2". It's quite roomy, much more so than a tub of the same dimensions since you don't have the thick walls and sloped sides.

And if you feel like sharing more pics, I'd be happy to look. I love that style of house and it looks like you have beautiful taste!

If you get a chance and have the inclination, could you tell us about or post a picture of exterior changes to your house. Your bath has such nice high ceilings and no slanted ones (which I love the look of and which often come with attic renovations). Did you just raise the roof to get the clean angles? Just curious. As much as I would love to convert our attic, that will never happen, but I do daydream and want to be accurate when I do-ha!

Took a quick peek at the link of your kitchen redo. I will go back to spend more time admiring. I have always wanted to live in a bungalow!

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?

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: