Our 100 year old house master bathroom renovation was a major project

that we had completed before we could actually move in the house.

The plumbing in the house was less than stellar and the floor plan of the one full bathroom was certainly less than desirable!

This is what the bathroom was when we first bought the house:

The entrance to the bathroom was directly at the top of the main stairway, and besides the cute window with the original trim, everything else in the bathroom was… icky… The space between the tub and the sink was about 18″, so you sort of had to ‘shimmy’ sideways between the two to get to the toilet.

There just wasn’t enough space in the room,

so since the house has enough bedrooms, I decided it would be worth the sacrifice to completely transform an adjoining bedroom to steal more space for the master bathroom. I also planned to use the rest of that spare bedroom space for an additional 2nd bathroom and laundry facility for the 2nd level.

This is the spare bedroom before we changed anything… It was a pretty bedroom space, but there still were 3 other bedrooms on this level as well as what could be 2 more bedrooms on the first and third floors, so to let go of this one to gain wonderful bathroom spaces and laundry space was an easy decision!

The gutting of the existing bathroom:

Our carpenters gutted the existing bathroom. This picture is taken from the hallway, where the original doorway to the bathroom was. (To try to give you your bearings… the master bedroom is to the right of this doorway, the spare bedroom we’re stealing space from is to the left of the bathtub wall, and I was standing in the front hall with the stairway directly behind me when I took this pic)

It needed to be a complete ‘gut’ job!

Everything except the original window and trim came out.

And for sure all the old plumbing was removed.

Now over to the spare bedroom…

Before the carpenter opened up the wall that was dividing the space between the spare bedroom and the master bathroom,

he framed the space for the new bathroom.

I’ll have to show you more detail of this 2nd bathroom in a future post, but for now…

The space between the interior stained glass window and the existing window is going to be where the toilet in the 2nd bathroom will go. The rectangle space framed out behind that is the walk-in shower for the master bathroom, and the tub/shower for the 2nd bathroom will fit in that spot in the front right of the picture. (in the picture below, of the master bathroom, that tub/shower area is on the other side of the wall where you see the master bathroom towel holder… hope that makes sense) It wasn’t a straight rectangle of space we needed for the master, it was more of an ‘L’ shape, jutting into the spare bedroom more where we needed the length for the shower, as well as some space where we added an antique cupboard opposite the walk-in shower.

It’s hard to imagine it from this picture… it’s even hard for me to remember sometimes how it was when I’m standing in the space all completed now!

This is the master bathroom now!

The toilet sits pretty close to where it was in the original picture, and the original window and trim is still where it was in that picture too, you just can’t see it in this picture. I had a separate wall and door built for the water closet, (toilet room), and incorporated a long skinny antique stained glass window in that wall to allow light from the window to pass through, but still allow a little privacy)

Speaking of the toilet… after all, this is a master bathroom renovation, toilets are an important part of it… This is the toilet I bought for this room. In fact this is the same model of toilet we put in all 3 of our bathrooms, for a couple of reasons… 1: it looks like a traditional style that fits with the house’s age, but most importantly 2: This toilet has a very good ‘flushability’ rating. That’s important… no plumber’s helpers needed here, thank you very much. 3: I ordered all the toilets here and either did ‘site to store’ pick up or had them delivered right to my house… (in most cases free delivery!)

The walk-in shower,

barely visible in the picture above, just beyond the stained glass window, goes back into that rectangle area I just showed you that was framed out in the spare bedroom. (of course, the wood floor was removed and tile was installed) and to the left of the towel rack is the antique cupboard we use for extra storage… sorry you can’t see it in the pic.

This picture shows where the old bathroom ended and the stolen spare bedroom space begins… The wall at the right end of the vanity used to be a full wall, going all the way across, that was where the old bathtub sat, perpendicular to how the vanity sits now.

In fact, where the vanity back goes across, that is where the old doorway into the bathroom was. But since this bathroom now serves only the master bathroom, that doorway entrance could be totally omitted for an entrance into this master bathroom.

From the hallway, this is now that opening:

I thought the trim around the doorway was so pretty and visually interesting, so instead of just ripping it out and making a flat wall, we kept the trimmed frame and filled in the opening with wood, adding a piece of scrap baseboard on the bottom inside that opening. I found this lovely old pier mirror to hang there. I love how it looks like a feature now when you walk up the stairs, and having a large mirror there bounces the light from the landing window around too.

Now the entrance to the master bathroom from the master bedroom is this:

We were able to use the old door for a rolling barn door entrance!

The master bathroom renovation project was a huge, messy job, but so worth it! We styled it in classic finishes that were in keeping with the 100 year old style of this classic home… marble hex floor, marble vanity top etc. but with modern amenities, like new plumbing and electric, and in-floor radiant heat, high-end quality fixtures… It’s a treat to be able to have the charm and character of an old home, but have the dependability of new plumbing! 🙂

Want to read a little more?

Here are all the posts I’ve written about the bathrooms we’ve renovated in our 100 year old house.

Here’s the post on repurposing the Hallway Bathroom Doorway.

Here’s the post I wrote about the rolling barn style door.

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