“Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful.” -Unknown
This house was built in 1927, and with that year came elegance and timeless design.
The bathroom was picture-perfect for its time.
A Little Backstory
Unfortunately, several decades ago, the floor of this bathroom rotted out, and the room received a renovation straight out of the 80s. For our little makeover, we did not touch the shower or the flooring, as that is going to be its own BIG project. This project took us so long to start, but it is one of the most satisfying ones in the house. Anyways, please enjoy our DIY bathroom update!
The Before
These are the before images of our main bathroom. The blinds and cabinets are very dated, and the ice block shower is definitely a statement – which I do not entirely hate. However, for the rest of it, I am traumatized. The walls are pink, and I feel the pink clashed far too much with the dated wood. However, the shade was perfect for a 1950s feel.
The Renovation
Here you can see after we took out the bulky medicine cabinets and light fixtures. We started with sanding all the walls and ceiling. Sadly, we have been battling a small mold problem thanks to the high humidity of the bathroom. We finally got a dehumidifier, which is such a game-changer. You would be shocked to see the amount of water in the air!
Our hallway leads into the bathroom, and I love the amount of storage space there is. There is even a laundry bin built in! It’s the perfect location! Here you can see the beautiful natural light the room lets in. This bathroom still has remnants of the old days, with pull-down screen covers for the window. You can find these all over the house, even in the front sitting window. The lighting fixture hanging here was found on Facebook Marketplace in my town. This was a big deal since we usually have to drive to LA for our finds. Luckily, LA is only an hour away without traffic, and it has some of the best vintage finds in the state!
After the medicine cabinets and light fixtures were ripped out, you can see the mess we were left with! At least you feel a sense of quick progress in the destruction phase!
Now for the shopping haul! As you can see, we mostly bought Allen and Roth. While it won’t revive the 1920s spirit of the old bathroom, it will give a traditional polish that will, in a similar way, have a timeless feel. Trust the process.
Shopping Haul
Our cat is waiting for the boxes to be opened- so she can play in them, of course. Unfortunately, my husband and I got sick right around this time, and it took a while to finish. Fast forward two weeks-
We all love to get ready in the bathroom with music playing. I knew I did, so when the opportunity presented itself, I had to get the Bluetooth bathroom fan speaker light! It actually has a pretty decent range and connects quickly to my phone. It is definitely something fun to show your friends, and I recommend getting one if you love putting on your makeup with a good vibe. We made our own sconces by taking the Allen and Roth vanity light, flipping it over when we installed it. Then we changed the bulbs to these candelabra bulbs and put these lamp shades from Wayfair on over them. This created a little lamp moment! It came out exactly as we hoped!
The End Result
These are the final pictures of our bathroom as of right now.
Emphasize Don’t Modernize
We still have more decorating to do, which I am so excited for, and I can’t wait to update this post after we have done even more!
The vanity lights are exactly what I imagined. This house is very strong in character, and it needs an elegant, sophisticated design to help stay true to its potential. The warm, timeless light from the clean light shades keeps the room from feeling too sterile. I know it’s a bathroom; however, a home’s personality should be consistent from room to room.
My husband sanded and stained all the wood to a darker, richer brown. We wanted to create depth, which we also did by painting half the wall black and the top half white. This is very traditional of older bathrooms, and it makes such a difference!
We added silver hardware everywhere and found these beautiful mirrors to really tie everything together. We kept the sink top, and while it’s ‘dated’, we found that by keeping everything else as clean and cohesive as possible, the essence of the room would still be elegant.
I am very critical of renovations to vintage homes, since much of the hardware, wood, and design cannot be replicated. And if someone wanted to restore the home, it would never be back to the same quality. Sadly, most modern homes are not made with the same real materials as old homes were.
Luckily for me, a previous owner of this home found the original sconces, chandeliers, etc., in the basement and restored rooms to their original look after talking with one of the first owner’s children. I think that is incredible, and we are so fortunate for the vision of others who appreciated this house.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate the time you took to spend here so much. I hope you found value in this content and other content on my page. I really want to bring my perspective on design and learn from others’ experiences. Leave me a comment, and I would love to reply.