Two New Bathrooms

First, let me say that last week’s Love it or List it post took blew up way more than I ever thought it would. Here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Instagram, I received so many supportive comments, and no surprise, many of you feel the same way. Thank you for trusting me with your feelings and for listening to mine in return. These houses are a lot. Any time you need a little support or a pep talk, you are welcome to contact me here on the blog or via my social media accounts.

At the end of that post, I mentioned that Andy and I have big plans for BHH. We are currently pursuing some financing, which I will write more about later. We have decided to keep most of the budget breakdown private. However, there are several ways to foot the bill, and I’ll be sure to share how we navigate that process. Since the money side of things is currently up in the air, I’m not ready to spill the beans about everything we want to do just yet, but I will disclose one part of our plan.

The title of this post says it all. I didn’t even bother to bury the lede. When BHH was built, it probably did not have a “modern” bathroom even though indoor plumbing was possible in the late 1800s. Instead, it likely had a washroom, which was converted to the two bathrooms we want to change. Those two bathrooms share one wall.

The Guest Bathroom

Technically, we don’t have a guest bathroom. We have a bathroom attached to my son’s room. Since he won’t always live at home, (right? Right?!) his room will eventually become the guest room with an adjoining bathroom. To help you get your bearings, I am talking about the Cabin Vibes bedroom from the fall 2019 One Room Challenge.

In early 2018, I completed a little refresh of the guest bathroom that included fresh paint and wallpaper.

It turned out cute, but having a clawfoot tub in such a tiny room is an awkward and poor use of space. The only person who bathes in that tub is not a person. She’s a dog. That’s Millie’s tub, maybe twice per year.

Guest Bath Plans

• The little corner sink absolutely stays. It’s my favorite.
• We will replace the current toilet for a more water-friendly one. The one we have has a paltry flush, and it takes f o r e v e r to fill.
• The basic color scheme will stay the same with white wainscoting and the olive leaf wallpaper.
• The clawfoot tub will come out, and in its place, we will put a small shower.
• I love the stripe around the perimeter of the floor, but we will probably swap out the wood floor for tile in a similar pattern.

We plan to do this bathroom first, so we will have a shower while the big bathroom overhaul is happening.

The Big Bathroom: Formerly the Scary Bathroom

Several years ago, this bathroom went from bad to worse. First, I was so excited to find original wainscoting hiding beneath pink paneling, but that opened up a can of worms.

For a good reason, we called it the Scary Bathroom for a long time.

Previously, a chunk of wainscoting was removed to make an opening for the plumbing access.

The Scary Bathroom stayed in that state for over two years. I’m pretty sure we let all of the ghosts out during that time.

Finally, in the fall of 2018, I chose the big bathroom as my One Room Challenge project. We had recently received a crazy-high bid to redo it, so we settled on a refresh instead. At the end of six weeks, the bathroom looked fantastic, and it functioned better too.

If you’re curious about how I filled the gap behind the toilet, I stole some wainscoting from behind the shower, and now the missing section is hidden by the curtain.

Over time, the bathroom has functioned less well for our family. The inside of that tub is pretty rusty around the drain, and the shower surround takes near-daily maintenance as it pulls apart. Predictably, the floor around the toilet is pretty gross, and the saddest part is that the marble sink looks really rough now. There’s a rust spot all the way through, and it is spreading rapidly through the stone. Unfortunately, the rust cannot be removed since it started from a screw on the inside.

Luckily, we have three marble sinks in the house, so the potential loss is not as sad as it could be. We can relocate the one from the basement, but that’s not a firm decision.

Big Bathroom Plans

• We are getting a new toilet this week. The old one doesn’t flush well, and it requires a plunjer way too often. It also leaks a little around the screws under the tank.
• We’ll remove the tub and get rid of it. The current fix of painting the inside sold as “restoring the tub” won’t hold up. The finish is too bubbled and cracked around the drain.
• Move the tub from the guest bathroom into the main bathroom but along the opposite wall.
• Build a nice tile shower where the current tub is.
• Replace the wood floor with a heated tile floor.
• Hopefully, we can update and add electricity for modern times. It would be great to have mirrors and lighting in the same location.
• Although we won’t gain much vanity space, I hope to get at least a little. I would prefer to put a big vanity in the room instead of the tub, but the if we don’t put the tub in this bathroom, the house won’t have one at all. It’s a hard decision. We could eventually create a completely new bathroom elsewhere in the house, but that would cost big bucks, and it is unlikely. We’ll keep thinking about it.
• The actual design is up in the air, but I am leaning towards plenty of marble since we already have marble in the house. We will keep most of the original wainscoting.

Feel free to weigh in on whether or not you feel like a tub is necessary. I would love to hear your thoughts. We could always store the good tub in the attic for later, but we may never do another bathroom in this house. So the future owners will probably have to tackle that project.

I have been keeping a bathroom inspiration board on Pinterest for several years if you would like to take a look. I love it when people send me pins, so please share any good stuff you find that you think would work well in BHH. Bathrooms are so fun to dream about and design.