(Welcome to Bathroom Month! We're taking inspiring bathroom submissions from our readers and giving gifts in return. Join us. All info is here.)
Welcome to Allyson & Jim!
Hello there, Apartment Therapy! So this is our little bathroom. We bought the house three years ago, and this was the first major overhaul we did. Aside from the aesthetic reasons that made it necessary(the walls were papered with flowered contact paper!), we needed to replace some of the pipeline when I accidently let a washcloth slip down our massive drain while giving our son a bath!...
So we figured if some of the walls were coming down, we might as well make them a lot prettier when they went back up. We used the penny round tiles in celadon from Ann Sacks for the walls and floors.
The color is really soothing and vintagey next to all the bright white porcelain. I have actually spoken with the woman whose grandmother was born and raised in this house in the 20's and 30's, and she said that the bathroom used to be a closet, which explains 1) why its so tiny and 2)why we have no closet in our master bedroom.
Her grandmother said that all the houses on our block had outhouses back then and that herfather was a plumber who put the bathroom in himself. They were the first family on the street to have indoor plumbing! So anyway, we were dealing with a very tiny space. We wanted it to be clean and modern, but still be in keeping with the rest of our hundred-year-old house.
We installed molding around windows and baseboard to match what we had throughout the house. I really like the way the formal molding finishes off the space and warms it up a bit. We went with the smallest sink and toilet we could find. Both are from Kohler (the toilet is the " Rialto" and the sink is called " Parigi".)
The faucets and towel bars are also Kohler, from the "Bancroft" line. We ordered the porcelain shelf from a website called vintagetub.com. The tub is the original, we just reglazed it. It is the deepest tub I have ever seen - you can sink in all the way up to your chin! The sconces are from Rejuvenation, the style is called "Adrian".
The window has the shades sandwiched between 2 panes of glass, and they let in the most beautiful soft light during the day. Having all the sunlight pouring in really helps open up this teeny tiny space.
So that's our bathroom! Hope you like it as much as we do....
Sincerely,
Allyson & Jim
Beacon, NY
I like this a lot.
We are considering reglazing a beatiful old tub. Did you have it done onsite? I've heard that it smells REALLY bad for a while (a concern with a mini in the house) and, if you don't mind me asking, is it moderately or outlandishly expensive?
This looks so serene. Well done!
Lovely bathroom... but I want to know is: what it's like living in Beacon? Do you commute? Do you like your neighborhood? So many questions... feel free to email if you wouldn't mind helping a fellow NewYork-er who is craving a house of her own. Thanks!
Angela M.
that tile is FANTASTIC. is it ann sacks' "glace" tile? so lovely...
grace
really really nice job :) and great story to go along with it! i think the ann sacks tiles are amazing, a great choice! it's a very cozy feeling room and it's obvious y'all have great taste :)
What a pleasure to see your beautiful loo!
Ours is being gutted as I type and we are doing Ann Sacks Penny tile in celadon too - so it's a great treat to see it (AS didn't have any pics of a regular bathroom.)
A lovely place, and true, soothing...
Simple & elegant -- I love it. I have been debating a bathroom redo in my 80-year-old home for years & have a feeling "Bathroom Month" is going to provide plenty of inspiration for me. Question though ... how to plan for a bathroom renovation when said bathroom has the only shower in the house? I am imagining that if I go ahead with the reno, I will be without it for weeks?!? Any tips?
oh, and, what color grout did you use?
That is one fantastic bathroom Aly! I can attest to it, since I have seen it in person. I love the color combo. Hey! I am thinking of using penny tiles as a backsplash in the kitchen. How hard were they to install when it came to electrical outlets?
I cant wait to see what you do next!
This is really quite lovely! And I love the tile work so much--it certainly is fitting in a period home but still feels really fresh and modern. You guys did a great job. (I wish we could see a picture of your deep tub.)
robyn:
same issue for me here, we just did the bathroom reno ourselves, in about 2 weeks!! what we did is put up plastic around the old tub after demo day to take showers, and then around the new tub (since it was the first thing to go in) every day after that. all told, we didn't miss many showers. we did go two full sweaty days, though, w/o one...but two days out of two weeks? no biggie, right?
for the most part, since putting up the plastic (we bought cheapie tension shower rods at the bargain store, and a few $1 liners) was a pain in the ass, we just took "birdbaths".
I am soooo going to have to find an excuse to do a similar bathroom in one of my miniatures. I could never live with that much grout myself, but it looks so lovely in your photos!
That is tile heaven if I ever saw it.
I love this- is the shelf shown ceramic?
two things -
1) doorknob
2) light fixtures
LOVE THEM!
I absolutely love the tiled walls. The sink is gorgeous, too. Beautiful room!
Hello everyone - thanks for the bathroom love! So, to answer your questions...
Julie - it cost around $350 to reglaze the tub - that was definitely on the cheaper end of what it usually costs, but they also didn't do the greatest job, and there are some big drips in the corners of the tub. They even cam back to redo it because it was so bad, but there are still a few remaining. I would definitely try to go one someone's recommendation. And it does smeel awful. Our older son was a year and a half at the time we did it, and we had to stay out of the house for the day, but by the evening it was fine (try and have them do it nice and early so you can come home for your mini's bedtime!)
Robyn - This is our only bathroom, so I showered at the gym for a week or so. Are any gyms around you offering free trial memberships you can take advantage of?
Blackbird - the grout we used was the brightest white we could find and was supposed to be stain resistant - but its not, so the clorox bleach pen has become my best friend.
Lorijo - the shelf is porcelain, and its the "Cheviot" style from vintagetub.com...
hope that helps!
allyson
Hey Lorijo,
I have that porcelain shelf that I got from vintagetub.com. Or one very similar. I liked it but it just didn't work for my bathroom. It was too big so I didn't install it. I've been meaning to sell it on craigslist. If you're interested, come take a look. I live in the East Village. I'll give you a good price. L.
Beautiful little bathroom.
It's amazing what really good tilework can to do a space.
...do to a space.
Allyson, your bathroom is absolutely gorgeous. I love that you've managed to impart a timeless feel through the colors and lines that you chose.
(Also, big love to Rejuvenation Hardware. Love them.)
Robyn, we had to gut and remodel our bathroom last year following a burst pipe and water damage, and for the NINE weeks it took to redo everything from plumbing to wiring on out ... we went to the gym for showering and had a rented port-o-san in the side yard.
I love that you had the opprotunity to talk with someone that knows the history of your house first hand. I love that you get to add to the story in a way... Beautiful work and lovely colors!!
This is easily my favorite bathroom so far...really nice.
I want to marry this bathroom.
Julie-a friend of mine had her tub reglazed. She said it wasn't a real hassle, didn't cost a lot and it looked great.
Julie, my friend had her 1953 cast iron tub reglazed and it looks fantastic. She invited me over and we just stared at it in awe. I have the same model of house so I'm going to do the same thing. She glazed over her tile as well, but I'm not planning on doing that.
I would like to reglaze my cultured marble vanity in the other bathroom. Is that possible? Has anyone tried it?
By the way, gorgeous bathroom. I adore the penny tile to the ceiling. And Restoration Hardware is one of my favorite catalogs. Great job!
this bathroom is absolutely amazing...
More love for this bathroom from me too.
I'm budgeting for a bathroom reno and wondered if anyone can recommend a really good glazer in NYC. I'm on a very tight budget and would hate to have to spend unnecessarily.
So so lovely. And isn't it great to know about the original owners and the story of the home? I love that.
Aside from the tile, those sconces are the best
Perfectly beautiful. More photos, please.
I really love your space. The tiles are beautiful. We've been thinking of doing something similar, but I've been hesitant because of the amount of grout. Do you find your bathroom difficult to clean at all (particularly the floor and around the tub)?
Julie-
I know a lot of people who have addressed the reglazing issue, but it is a relatively simple process and not at all that expensive (and a hell of a lot easier than say sledgehammering out an old cast iron tub, or moving a clawfoot to a glazer's and back).
Most of the time it's done onsite. The smell is bad, true, but a pro will bring in an exhaust fan with tubing to vent it directly outside.
In my experience it's just a whole lot less problematic; you don't have to worry about reinstalling drains, etc., or moving plumbing. And it's cost effective. I got bids from 300-800 bucks for a standard 60" tub; of course, I live in Florida now, so that's not going to be near bigger city prices.
Great...thanks for all the tub glazing responses. I just love, love, love my house's old tub. One of the reasons I wanted the house in the first place.
Hey Anne - sorry it took me so long to respond! HAving all this grout isn't really a big problem - most of the grout on the walls doesn't get dirty at all, it just needs the occasional wipe-down. Around the tub and floor, it is a bit of a pain because the white grout shows every speck of dirt but with such a small space it only takes a few minutes to scrub it down....hope that helps, good luck with your reno!
Gorgeous job. Do the tiles vary slighty from each other in color?
We have an early 1900s victorian in Vermont. I've been compiling ideas for a bathroom redo and I think I'm going to be pining for these tiles.
Hey Cecilia - yes, the tiles do vary slightly in color, which is accentuated even more by the white grout...have fun compiling!!
-allyson
I think it looks great. It's definite serene and simple and elegant. It almost looks like chenile on the walls!
sorry, chenille!
My wife and I lived in beacon for a short while and it's great (especially in the summer)--the 'most real', lively town I have ever had the chance to live in. i commuted to the city and it wouldn't have been so bad if my schedule had some regularity (9-5 or a 9-6) but the 7:30-11 days were killing me. I would move back there in a minute.
Your bathroom is absolutely beautiful, but I have one question. Why did you leave the radiator? In such a small space, I think a heated floor would have offered enough heat, or even a radiant heated towelbar. The radiator, as slim as it is, seems like an extra impediment. AK
Beautiful bathroom for such a quaint and beautiful little New York town!
Hi there:
What kind of sink did you get, and where did it come from?
Thanks,
j.
view jhall's profile
sorry. . .I see that info is already posted.
j.
view jhall's profile