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lavender_lass

Vintage bathrooms

lavender_lass
13 years ago

Does anyone have a medium to larger vintage bathroom, located in what was probably once a bedroom? I'm particularly interested in claw foot tubs, window styles, toilet placement, sink/vanities and built-in storage. Do you have any pictures?

I'm trying to recreate this look in my farmhouse and I would really appreciate your help! Thank you in advance :)

Comments (16)

  • jiggreen
    13 years ago

    Yes, I do. And I'd love to see other people's "originally bedrooms, but converted to bathroom spaces" also!

    Our house predates indoor plumbing, so when indoor plumbing was added, they converted 2 bedrooms into bathrooms (way oversized bathrooms!). We've only started working on the upstairs bathroom..and it is a work in progress. I have a few pictures in my facebook album (it's open to public viewing)...tomorrow I will try to find more photos, or else take some for you, giving a better view of layout and stuff. It's not a fancy overdone bathroom...but it has the clawfoot tub and odd window placement (because of having originally been a bedroom). I was standing in the bathroom tonight, trying to figure out how to do a shower in there, and because of the windows, I'm a little stumped...but I'll eventually figure it out. There is also no electricity in there, other than one measly ceiling light! (thank goodness for the windows!) In the meantime, here is the link to my facebook album... (the pictures were taken mid-renovation, so please excuse the peeling paint and un-doneness of the room!)

    Here is a link that might be useful: My Money Pit album

  • Billl
    13 years ago

    We are preparing to convert a bedroom to a master bath. We ripped up the ugly shag carpet and guess what we found? Half of the room used to be a bathroom! The cutouts for plumbing were obvious in the subfloor.

    Unfortunately, the room definitely wasn't laid out by a designer or architect. They just crammed a sink, toilet and tub all together along a wall. That section of the current room has no windows. It was definitely a utilitarian space and we won't be recycling that design.

  • columbusguy1
    13 years ago

    My bath is medium in size, and has always been a bath since my house dates to 1908. I have the original tub, toilet and sink. There is one half-height double-hung window and a linen closet. Commode and sink share the south wall, the tub is centered on the east wall below the window (makes the faucet end right in front of the toilet). The linen closet is on the north wall next to a chimney.
    I built my medicine cabinet using a spare cabinet door (original) from the kitchen which I had found stored in the garage. It is over the toilet to the left of the sink. On the west wall is the entry door and a glass towel bar, also original. The bath door still has its original double robe hook in iron.
    Alas, the woodwork is all painted, though I did install stained wainscoting on the lower walls. The upper walls are painted a coral color. The floor is black and white 12" tiles.
    The room is about 8.5' x 10', not counting the 1' depth of the linen closet/chimney.

  • mkroopy
    13 years ago

    The 1870's Victorian I bought last year has this...originally had 3 bedrooms upstairs, now only two...plus a nice big bathroom...I will try to post a pic...never done that before. I like that bathroom, and while the previous owners did put in nice clawfoot tub, they also put in tile floors, plus a nice big walk in shower with tile and river stoves...not exactly "period appropriate", but I get nothing but positive comments about it...but hey at least they left the original double-hungs, so I wont complain.

    hmmmmmm.....ok tried to paste in a pic....so it appears in the message, not a link, as I dont have these pix online anywere....can someone help me out here? I see it done all the time...thanks.

  • DavidR
    13 years ago

    Jiggreen, I clicked on your photo link, and got a page that says "Facebook Login - you must log in to see this page."

  • columbusguy1
    13 years ago

    Rosemary, love your bath! The lights you added are a bit like mine--being the only lights in the room. When I first bought the house, it had similar ones but without capability to have shades: each had a pull chain to turn it on, and a plug at the base--they were rectangular porcelain with the bulb in a semicircular extension on the front, and had three horizontal ribs across the middle.
    Before really thinking about it--I got tired of crossing the room to turn on the lights, so upgraded them to two colonial style sconces activated from a switch by the door. Silly me! Anyway, I tossed the old ones, and ten years later, I realized the error of my ways and searched for true period (1908) lights; as fate would have it, I went to a local salvage/antique mall and found a pair--exactly like the ones I had thrown out when first getting my house! I paid $35.00 for something I had already had--now, the only thing that gets taken out of my house is the daily trash!
    I bought some small shades hoping they might fit over the bulbs, but there just isn't room between the bulb and the porcelain back of the fixtures. :)

  • oldhousegal
    13 years ago

    The main bath in my old house is in it's original space- not a big space at that, but after remodeling it, it certainly feels bigger.
    Here's the before and after. The second morning I woke up nauseated from looking at that wallpaper- I knew it had to be the first room remodeled! I was going for old house traditional with a bit of spa treatment! I kept the stained glass window, clawfoot tub and toilet base. I added radiant floor heat under the hex tiles, subway tile on the wet wall and breadboard on the dry walls. By using a mostly glass cabinet, the room appears bigger, yet I still have storage.

  • slateberry
    13 years ago

    I'm not a fan of bedroom sized bathrooms because they are so cold--a smaller bath can warm up from the steam of your bath or shower, but 10x12 or bigger--brrr. But I suppose that's what heaters are for; I'd just rather design a bath that doesn't have to be an energy hog to be comfortable.

    So if I had an entire bedroom to work with, I'd give up some of the real estate on the side that borders the hallway, and put in a large linen closet that opens into the hallway. And maybe (you'd have to put in a header to do this but that's not hard for a short span) a little alcove in the hallway. Something that could fit a chest, or a bookcase, or whatever. If you put in a bench seat it would have an inglenook feel, minus the fireplace. If I had enough room I'd make the nook long enough to fit a piano--you never know. Also you could give some of the space to an adjacent bedroom in the same way if you wanted to. I'm not saying you have to make the new bath tiny, but using the extra space to best advantage, especially to give more closets (what old house has enough closet space?) is something to consider.

  • mkroopy
    13 years ago

    I guess no one saw my question so I will ask again..how do you get the pix show up in the post like above? I'd like to show pix of my bathroom but don't have them anywhere to link to.

    It looks like they are all posted on "photobucket"...do I need to set up an account there?

  • rosemaryt
    13 years ago

    Yes, I use photobucket to post pictures. For this forum, you use the third link option (there are four at photobucket). Copy and past that third link and voila!

  • mkroopy
    13 years ago

    Thank you rosemaryt! Ok here's a couple pix of the upstairs bath of my 1870's Victorian that was obviously once a bedroom...this was remodeled when I bought it last year. The one think that is probably not too authentic is the nice big tile walk in shower...but overall I think it's a pretty nice bathroom. I am glad they did it somewhat period appropriate.

  • columbusguy1
    13 years ago

    No shower curtain, mk? How do you like the hand-held attachment? I'm thinking of a new tub faucet, but I'm not sure I like that part.
    They did a good job on the room, but somehow I don't think that window blind works. :)

  • mkroopy
    13 years ago

    There is a nice walk-in shower in the bathroom..you can see it in the other pic. The tub is only used for baths. I had an old tub with a curtain that "surrounds" you in a college apartment once...and omg I hated it, you turn on the water and the sides literally collapsed in on you! Ugh ... bad memories.

    As for the blinds, yeah not too nice, but I've only been in there a few moths, that is WAY down the pecking list of things to do...

  • lavender_lass
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you for all the responses and wonderful pictures!

    I'm still working on the room layout, but you've given me a lot of good ideas :)

  • rosemary_ringer_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    I've also enjoyed the photos here. You can have a whole house done up nice, but if the bathroom isn't right, it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb.

    I bought the "Bungalow Bathrooms" book by Jane Powell and thoroughly enjoyed it!

    Rose