Throwback Month

Before and After: A 1910s Broom Cupboard Becomes a Beautifully Tiled Art Deco Powder Room

published Apr 5, 2022
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Credit: Nina Watson

When renovating a historic home, if you want to preserve its charm and vintage design characteristics, it’s important to keep these things in mind, stylistically: Researching the home’s original design era is key, preserving and calling attention to ornate details (like windows or trim work) will help the space feel historic in a good way, and carefully selecting new elements that complement the older details will make the whole space feel seamless.

Nina Watson (@artdecojewel), who is renovating her 1910s period home, says as she was renovating her downstairs bathroom, she returned to one question over and over: “Whenever we weren’t sure, we asked ourselves, ‘What would the Edwardians do?'” Nina says. “And then we’d have our answer!”

Credit: Nina Watson

Nina worked with a contractor to give her lower level a new dose of function and style. “We wanted a downstairs toilet as there was only one bathroom in a four-bedroom house — not enough!” Nina says. By moving a doorway, her contractors enlarged the kitchen and squeezed a sink and toilet into an area that was originally meant to be a broom cupboard.

Credit: Nina Watson

Then came the aesthetic upgrades. Before, “the space didn’t work aesthetically at all,” she says. “It looked tired and a bit grubby.” But it had some beautiful original details she wanted to highlight.

Credit: Nina Watson

“There were some lovely period features, like 1910 Anaglypta wallpaper below the dado rail,” Nina explains. “The stained glass Art Deco-style panel was gorgeous, as was the original Minton tiled floor — also 1910.”

Credit: Nina Watson

The preservation and pieceworking of the black and white tile floor is Nina’s favorite part of the transformation. “The flooring needed some TLC,” she says. “[It was] cracked in places with some strange 1980s glossy tiles added to it. We think they thought you couldn’t tell the difference — you could!”

Because the sink moved to the where the original doorway was, Nina hired a tile specialist to continue the tile pattern underneath the sink. “We didn’t want it to look as if the space had been juggled about,” Nina says. “You honestly can’t see the join between the new and old mosaic parts.”

Credit: Nina Watson

She says it was worth the splurge. “We love the fact that we spent extra making sure the mosaic floor pattern was finished properly,” she says. “We could have cheated this bit and built a cabinet/vanity unit to hide [it], but we’re so glad that we paid attention to this detail, respecting the quality of the period property.”

She also loves the pink textured Golumn tile feature above the sink in the “after.” Her other favorite design details? The black glossy paint, which gives the vintage Anaglypta textured wallpaper a new lease on life and makes the pink and turquoise in the stained glass pop, and the new statement-making black and white wallpaper.

Credit: Nina Watson

“We were originally looking for a colorful wallpaper to go above the dado rail in here, but when we found this one featuring big cats by Divine Savages called Faunacation — almost chose it on the name alone — it was kinda game over for this little space,” Nina wrote on Instagram. “It had to be done!”

Credit: Nina Watson

Nina says the combination of details is what makes the space work. “Even though it’s a small space, all of the textures are beautiful so your experience when you’re in it isn’t diminished in any way,” she says. “Taking time on the small details really makes a difference in the long run.”

She says the little upgrades are “gifts to the house,” and she’s very pleased with the new bathroom layout. “That the light in the hallway is so much brighter now,” she says. “It just flows so much more naturally without compromising on the quality period features — we feel they’ve been enhanced.”

This piece is part of Throwback Month, where we’re revisiting vintage styles, homes, and all kinds of groovy, retro home ideas. Boogie on over here to read more!