Part of an expansion of a Shingle Style house on Cape Cod, this bath makeover created rooms within rooms with decorative sliding doors that don’t block sunlight. Design by Hutker Architects. (Photo: Brian Vanden Brink)

Houses built before about 1880 were lucky to have indoor plumbing, much less a bathroom exclusively for the “master” of the house. Fortunately, those with older houses have discovered many ingenious ways to include en suite baths, whether sumptuous or modest, in their homes.

Two options present themselves: conversion of existing space, or building an addition. While some conversions do indeed swallow an entire bedroom or even a full floor, other baths are chiseled out of “found” space, as under the attic eaves, or from closets, even placed in hallways.

Whether it’s tucked in or added on, treating the bathroom as an extension of living space makes the transition from the bedroom seamless. Use a complementary wallpaper pattern or related paint colors, don’t skimp on trim details, add a sconce (or chandelier), and hang pictures.

Add On or Expand

In an 1892 Queen Anne with three and a half stories, David Heide Design Studio enlarged the area adjacent to the master bedroom with a period-style bath and adjacent dressing room. Details include a roll-rimmed Roman tub, dual pedestal sinks, and a his-and-hers dressing room.

As part of the renovation of a Shingle Style house in coastal Massachusetts, the owners created a master suite filled with period details that meld effectively with the age and style of the house. Like a window seat, a Roman pedestal tub is recessed into the light-filled alcove, and built-in drawers, cubbies, and cabinets abound. Next to a marble-topped vanity with double sinks, a pair of sliding doors with leaded glass insets admit natural light from an adjacent hallway.

Put It in a Hallway

In a historic 1913 building with Tudor details that had been converted to condominiums in the 1970s, the goal was to return architectural integrity to the interior spaces (which included a later wing addition) while restoring period details. In remodeling the wing to create a bedroom suite, architect David Heide created a “master hallway” between the bedroom and the main bathing area. Along the comfortably wide linear space is a mirrored vanity with dual sinks, a built-in dresser, and other storage. In the tub room, decorative moldings around the mirror give tribute to a Jacobean plaster relief ceiling in the apartment’s living room. In other words, the bathroom is treated as another room, not a service area.

Convert a Bedroom

In an 1892 Victorian Queen Anne, quarter-sawn oak paneling and a basketweave tile floor with inlaid borders are period details in a new master bath by David Heide Design Studio. (Photo: Susan Gilmore)

On the top floor of a Sears bungalow in Minneapolis, the owners turned two smallish rooms and a cramped bathroom into a miniature suite. The bathroom is tucked between the bedroom and a walk-in closet. There is one old-house compromise: access to the bath is from a short hallway off the master bedroom. Because other bedrooms are guest rooms, the owner sacrifices privacy only when visitors are sleeping in the house.

Similarly, the owners of an 1887 Queen Anne in New Jersey converted the bedroom next to their own room into a new master bath, skillfully packing it with amenities that include a shower for two and a walk-in closet. They also managed to cadge enough space for two new closets: one for linens in the hall, and a tiny one for the bedroom on the other side of the new bath. Contractor Jeff Loux removed and re-used the original floorboards and incorporated salvaged tiles, a pedestal sink, and a leaded-glass window into the retrofit.

A wainscot of painted blind-nailed planks dates to the 1700s. (Photo: Sandy Agrafiotis)

Before the age of gypsum and drywall, interior plaster walls were vulnerable to all sorts of potential damage. Hence the wainscot: a protective and decorative covering for the lower third (or so) of the wall. Early ones were always wood, but later innovations would introduce many alternatives. Wainscots have a habit of popping back into style in fresh and unexpected ways.

Plank wall. A posh early American interior before 1750 might have had a wainscot of horizontal or vertical boards against the plaster. As the makings for paint became available or affordable, the planks might be smoothed over with rich color. Plank wainscots in First Period dwellings tend to look ancient, so it’s a bit surprising that the plank wainscot was under constant reinvention throughout the 20th century.

Paneling. A favorite treatment for the main room in late-18th-century houses, paneling often covered the wall around the hearth, even entire rooms. Formal raised-panel wainscot consists of a floating wood panel with beveled edges, held in place between vertical stiles and horizontal rails. Beveling the panel’s edges creates a three-dimensional surface. A variation, the flat-panel wainscot, is probably a Shaker invention.

Custom raised-panel millwork in creamy white is a new addition to a Colonial Revival-era house. (Photo: Eric Roth)

Today, modular paneling systems create the look without the labor. These new materials are made of dimensionally stable composites of wood or resin easily cut by machine. They also install in sections, and, like tile, come with interchangeable trim components like cap rails.

Dadoes. Formal Victorian rooms of the late 19th century demanded treatments that began at the baseboard and rose to the ceiling like a classical entablature. By then, wood paneling had become too expensive for all but the wealthiest of homeowners. Looking for ways to expand the market for linoleum, Frederick Walton created Lincrusta, a linoleum-based embossed wallcovering, in 1883. An embossed cotton rag-based paper, Anaglypta, soon followed. Embossed papers were ubiquitous as treatments for the dado—the section of the Victorian wall below a chair rail. Competing treatments included real and imitation embossed leathers and textured fabrics.

Batten paneling. Board-and-batten siding is composed of wide planks laid vertically at a height that covers approximately two-thirds of the wall. Narrow strips of wood called battens cover the joints. Capped at the top with a molded plate rail, board-and-batten paneling was a suitably austere alternative to the perceived excesses of Victorian wallcoverings.

Batten paneling (over paint) in a new house in Portland, Oregon. (Photo: Philip Clayton-Thompson)

Not every Arts & Crafts aesthete could afford solid wood, of course. Variations included “paneling” the walls between battens with other materials—leather, faux leather, an embossed wallcovering, and especially burlap. (This was called skeleton wainscot in period millwork catalogs.)

Beadboard. A product of late-Victorian millwork, beadboard was (and still is) a low-cost alternative to fancier wall cladding. In the decades around 1900, it was the paneling of choice in back-of-the-house rooms like the kitchen, and was a cheap way to finish walls in seasonal cottages.

About Proportion

Original, reclaimed, or newly manufactured, beadboard spells charm. (Photo: Paul Rocheleau)

Wainscots need to be installed with some sensitivity to the proportions of the room. Generally, the wainscot should be either one-third or two-thirds of the overall height of the room. It’s OK to add a few inches if you want a more imposing presence, but don’t deviate on the low side, or your wainscot may look skimpy. For a room with 8′ to 9′ ceilings, for example, the wainscot should be at least 32″ and up to 42″. Go proportionately higher for a room with a taller ceiling. Taller wainscots finished with a plate rail—in an Arts & Crafts dining room, for instance—should be at least 60″ to 72″ high. Never install wainscoting or a chair rail exactly halfway up a wall, or you’ll visually cut the room in two.

For sources, please see the Products & Services Directory.

Port and Starboard

The Nautical Onion lantern light in red or green mouth-blown glass is perfect alone or as a set: one for port, one for starboard. The lanterns measure 10½” wide x 12″ deep x 19″ high. Available in five finishes, they’re $375 each.

From Cape Cod Weathervane Company

Shadows in Plein Air

“Sweeping Shadow” is a plein-air painting in oil by California artist Paul Kratter. The 27½” x 23½” quarter-sawn oak frame is built with flush-through mortise-and-tenon joinery, and finished with a 22-karat gold leaf slip. The framed painting is $3,030; the frame alone, $800.

From Holton Studio Framemakers

Loop by Loop

Margaret Arraj designs rugs inspired by period and ethnic textiles and hand-hooks them in wool on linen. ‘Hopwood’s Birds’ is based on an Art Nouveau design by E.A. Hopwood. The rug measures 26″ by 57″. It’s priced at $1,800.

From Mill River Rugs, (413) 586-4847, millriverrugs.com

Frosty and Floral

These antiqued mercury glass hurricanes are an interesting (and historical) choice for gift-giving or holiday display. The largest hurricane is 5” wide x 8” tall. The smallest is 3” x 3”. The display-only trio sells for $58.

From Farmhouse Wares

Mates for Life

Handmade in Quimper, France, the decorative rooster and hen have a hand-painted crackle finish. The rooster measures 9″ long, while the hen is 8″. Both retail for $221.

Catalog online from HB-Henriot; sold through Pierre Deux, (888) 743-7732, pierredeux.com

Gleaming Beauty

The hammered copper coal hod is perfect for coal, pellets, or kindling. Since it has a double bottom, you can also use it as an ash container. The hod measures 15″ wide x 14″ tall. It’s $119.

From the Victorian Fireplace Shop

Grueby and Burgundy

The Ring of Roses cabinet vase reflects the spirit and simplicity of early 20th-century Arts & Crafts pottery designs. In an antique green reminiscent of Grueby glaze with burgundy flowers, it’s seasonally appropriate, too. The vase measures 3¾” tall x 4¾” wide. It’s $118.

From Ephraim Faience

Racy Lines

The Tsuba Morris bow-arm chair reimagines the William Morris classic along Greene & Greene lines. Details include incised carving, a distinctive side panel cutout edged with ebonized hardwood, and reverse-tapered splayed legs. Prices for the chair and ottoman begin at $3,983.

From Stickley

Candied Glass

Dean Wolf hand-blows glass in an environmentally conscious manner using renewable energy. In a kaleidoscope of colors, his glass ornaments are about 3½” in diameter. They’re $20 to $30 each and come with a silver ornament hanger.

From Wolf Art Glass, (512) 553-6245, wolfartglass.com ]]> http://www.oldhouseonline.com/gifts-for-old-house-lovers/feed/ 0 http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-new-products-for-old-house-baths/ http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-new-products-for-old-house-baths/#comments Mon, 09 May 2011 18:31:06 +0000 Lori http://www.oldhouseonline.com/?p=36599

Mackintosh Bath

The Glasgow Rose set is a tribute to the ca. 1900 designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Companion tiles include field tile in colonial white, palm-green half tiles, and Sigma and Skirting tiles in jet black. The three-tile set is priced from $47.95.

From Original Style’s Artworks Collection

Floral Glory

Glory Vine is a 3″ x 3″ decorative tile with an interlocking floral pattern reminiscent of the 19th-century English designer William Morris. The tiles come in 16 lustrous glazes as well as custom colors. They sell for $10 per piece.

From Derby Pottery

Porcelain and Chrome

The 1930 Collection is a full line of bath fixtures inspired by the porcelain baths of the Art Deco era. The 15¾”-wide bath handle in porcelain and chrome is the perfect size for a hand towel or washcloth. It retails for $355.

From Duravit, (770) 931-3575, duravit.com

Paint Ready

Customize the cast-iron, roll-top, clawfoot tub with a finish color of your choosing. With a porcelain interior, the 60½” cast-iron tub comes primed in black. The tub is 17½” deep and holds 50 gallons. The price of $1,300 includes shipping.

From Renovator’s Supply

Bright Swimmers

These whimsical majolica fish knobs will brighten up the simplest cabinets. Available in left- or right-facing versions, they measure 4¾” wide x 2¾” tall. Each knob sells for $24. Coordinating handmade fish sinks are $550.

From Mackenzie-Childs, (888) 665-1999, mackenzie-childs.com

Deco Yellow

The Standard Towerlyn pedestal sink in “ivoire de Medici” is a 1932 rarity in colored porcelain. This rebuilt antique measures 26¾” wide x 22″ deep and stands 30½” tall. Complete with yellow porcelain-trimmed chrome fittings, this one-of-a-kind piece is $2,175.25.

From Bathroom Machineries

Apothecary Shelves

These made-to-order medicine cabinets come in a choice of woods and finishes, with period details including beveled glass, glass shelving, and fine hardware. As shown in cherry, they measure 22″ wide x 32″ tall. They’re priced at $730 plus $33 shipping.

From Wood Essentials

Vermont Green

These green slate countertops with a beautiful hue come from a Vermont supplier. They’ve been given a honed (matte) finish and are available in six edge profiles. Counters cost about $70 per square foot. Tiles up to 12″ x 12″ are $4 per square foot.

From Sheldon Slate Products

Treasure of the Heart

An onyx heart, a nautilus shell, and a silver turtle are just three of 65 unexpected designs for ornamental stopper covers for bath sinks. Prices for the covers range from $150 to $195. The heart in carved honey onyx (shown) measures 3¾” at the widest point.

From Linkasink ]]> http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-new-products-for-old-house-baths/feed/ 0 http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-reproduction-lights-for-old-houses/ http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-reproduction-lights-for-old-houses/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:25:53 +0000 Clare http://www.oldhouseonline.com/?p=30675

Flirty Fluting

The George is an industrial-style single-pole pendant based on designs from about 1910. The scalloped opal glass shade is hand-molded in a multi-step process that revives century-old techniques. Including the shade, the 36″ long fixture sells for $193.

From Rejuvenation

Built From the Past

A modern take on early American wire-arm chandeliers, the heart of the Moon chandelier is a hand-turned hardwood ball with 22-karat gold leaf; its five arms are painted antique red. It’s 18½” wide x 19″ tall. The fixture is $1,150.

From Hudson River Design, (518) 392-9218

Poppies in the Square

The Mission ceiling light has an unusual rectangular art-glass shade. It’s 33″ long and 5″ in diameter. Choose from 12 finishes, plus custom shades. In the verde patina and wax, it’s about $574, shade included.

From Turn of the Century Lighting

Art of Alabaster

The Cheuret is inspired by a 1925 sconce designed by French sculptor Albert Cheuret. Cast from recycled brass and offered in 11 different finishes, the sconce features a shade of scalloped alabaster petals. It’s $2,200 in polished brass.

From Urban Archaeology

Arms Encircling

Based on a French original from the early 1800s, the Golden Orb chandelier is finished with 22-karat gold on the wood turning. The six-arm light with beeswax candle sleeves is 24″ wide x 13″ high. An electric version retails for $1,750.

From Richard Scofield Historic Lighting

Deco in Chrome

Designed to coordinate with matching bath fittings, the Solace double light in chrome bears more than a passing resemblance to 1930s Art Deco tube light fixtures. Quick-connect wiring provides ease of installation. The fixture sells for $228.10.

From From Showhouse Lighting, (800) 289-6636, moen.com

Crystal by Gaslight

The Chelsea is made with exquisite Victorian detailing of solid hand-polished brass and European crystal. It measures 20″ x 23″ and is available with either candles or gas shades. As shown, the North Carolina-made fixture is $995.

From King’s Chandelier

Upright Candle Light

This unusual four-light fixture in a special pewter finish offers realistic wax candle sleeves. It measures 17½” high x 14″ in diameter. All lights are built one at a time. As shown, the chandelier is $392.78.

From Authentic Designs Colonial Lighting

Lighting for a Lifetime

These Arts & Crafts-style lamps combine Amish craftsmanship with long-life LED technology. Available in both table and floor models, the lights come with a choice of shades and can be customized with dimmers. A table lamp retails for about $695.

From Talisman Lighting, (704) 780-4434, talismanlighting.com ]]> http://www.oldhouseonline.com/9-reproduction-lights-for-old-houses/feed/ 3 http://www.oldhouseonline.com/a-miracle-of-old-new-york/ http://www.oldhouseonline.com/a-miracle-of-old-new-york/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:11:37 +0000 Old-House Online http://www.oldhouseonline.com/?p=7658

Comfortably furnished with Mission-style chairs and hand-built bookcases, the library in Maryanne Ruggerio's Brooklyn Greek Revival retains its original fireplace and mantel.

Set back from the street, as though retreating behind tiers of lace, the Bennet–Farrell house is astounding, an antebellum anomaly amid the clutter of 1930s-era apartment houses. Here in Bay Ridge, the neighborhood best known as the setting for the film Saturday Night Fever, the 1847 house once stood as the crowning triumph of a 200-acre estate on nearby Shore Drive, where it enjoyed a commanding view of the Verrazano Narrows and the approach to New York Harbor.

It was the kind of house where a reigning member of the merchant class would take a position on the broad front porch and literally watch his or her wealth sail into port, says Anita Bartholin Brandt, AIA, the architect who worked on the house’s restoration. “This really captures that well-to-do era of successful merchants who lived high up on the hill,” she says.

The house had already been moved once (in 1913) because of land use pressures. Like so many landmark New York houses without protected status, it was threatened by demolition, most recently in the late 1990s. In that instance, a compromise was struck: the owner–developer received permission to build condominiums on part of the lot, while the house was landmarked on the remainder. Maryanne Ruggiero, a radiologist and Brooklyn native, saw the property soon after it went on the market. “I bought the house from the contractor who was [initially] going to knock it down,” says Maryanne, who has three children and acquired the place with her former husband. “It was basically a disaster on the inside. I saw the potential when I walked in.”

The house was structurally sound, though, and after closing the deal, the couple hired an architect and restoration contractor to guide its restoration, with help from a $200,000 loan from the New York Landmarks Conservancy Historic Properties Fund. (In 2005, the project won the Conservancy’s prestigious Lucy G. Moses Award.)

The deeply paneled front doors feature a rosette motif. Restoring the porch required re-creating missing columns and other details.

The exterior got a full makeover, including new roof, skylight, and drainage systems, and the restoration of the front and rear porches. “The house found the right client,” says Brandt, the architect. “She was willing to put her money where it mattered, and did it right.”

The skin of the house was in remarkably good condition, thanks to its original coat of lead paint (lead is an excellent preserver, Brandt notes). In spite of that, much of the house was suffering from serious dry rot, requiring extensive wood restoration with consolidants and epoxies (often proprietary brands made by Abatron).

Remarkably, the windows were also in excellent shape, with old glass and thin, graceful muntins. “They’re beautiful, they’re original, and they’re very delicate,” Brandt says. To make them weather tight, each window was carefully removed, and weatherstripping was cut into it, a technique that immediately improved Ruggiero’s heating bill.

Inside, Ruggiero has brought an eclectic, Mediterranean sensibility to the house, which is still sparsely furnished in places. In the library, the original, plantation-style windows, draped in lace panels, reach from the floor to near the ceiling. Maryanne’s Italian uncle, Angelo R. Arborea, built the bookcases, using Greek Revival profiles that appear elsewhere in the house. Ruggiero is still mulling paint and wallpaper choices and in some cases furnishings for this and other rooms.

If the interior is still a work in progress, the same can’t be said of the outdoors, where a succession of bowery spaces have exploded under the influence of Maryanne’s green thumb. There are apple, pear, and cherry trees; dogwoods, a Peegee hydrangea, golden chain tree, smokebush, and a lavender bed. Maryanne laid the narrow brick walk that runs along one side of the house herself: a series of bricks laid to create squares within squares. “I wanted to create a pattern where I didn’t have to cut the bricks,” she says. Instead of grass, the small front yard is perpetually green and low to the ground, thanks to a ground cover of Reiter (or weeping) thyme.

White Italian tiles set off the marble counter in the bath. On the floor is a nostalgic “daisy” tile pattern in white and green hex tile with brick-red dots.

A historic photograph of the house revealed that it had once had decorative parapets over the front porch and along the roof line. Both were enriched with acanthus and scroll rnament—authentic Greek Revival touches that are often lost to time on homes of the period, Brant notes.

Despite a tight budget, the owners opted to re-create the parapets complete with applied ornament. Rather than use wood, Brandt found the detail she was looking for in stamped metal, from pressed metal ceiling specialist W.F. Norman. “That’s how we got the detail without the cost,” she says.

As a final touch, Brandt also designed replacements for the missing staircase that leads up to the porch and the cast-iron fence and gate. “When we finished,” she says, “it really looked like a Martha Stewart wedding cake.”

Changes to the roofline are subtle; the cottage looks much as it did in the early 1900s.

Recently engaged, Richard and Pamela Mahan weren’t thinking of buying real estate when they stumbled upon an old stone farmhouse in their Pasadena neighborhood, almost literally under the Colorado Street Bridge. With a low, sloping roof that seemed to rise from the stone foundation, the cottage looked as though it had grown in place—an impression the Mahans (who have since married) took pains to preserve after they bought the house in 2003. Enhancing the effect are huge boulders encircling the site, looking as though the river god of the nearby Arroyo had dropped stony pilgrims in and around the grassy plot.

Needless to say, the attraction was instant. They bought the place because of its age, character, and “great promise,” as Pamela puts it. “We wanted the house to be part Craftsman, part hunting lodge, part Ralph Lauren—and very comfortable.”

Fittingly, the house had a long and romantic history. The boulder foundation is almost mythically old for Southern California—the Mahans believe it may date as far back as the 1820s. It was certainly built in the 19th century, probably as the foundation for a stone barn on a large rancho. It may have been a tollhouse at some point. Eventually it became a carriage house where fine Duesenbergs were parked.

The Mahans sought furnishings specifically for their stone-walled cottage. Removing drywall to expose the river-stone wall uncovered an old light well that brings sunlight to the ground floor.

Sometime in the 20th century, the old barn was converted to residential use. The last makeover had occurred in the 1960s; when Pamela and Richard walked in, they were greeted by a freestanding metal fireplace, an open staircase, and a sea of orange laminate in the kitchen. Upstairs, things were just as groovy. “There was a baby-blue soaking tub, suede wallcovering, and shag carpeting in the master bath. It was very Barry White,” says Richard, referring to the steamy 1970s soul singer.

Initially, the couple wanted to keep renovation work to a minimum. When one builder suggested gutting the place, Richard practically threw him out the door. Ultimately, though, the Mahans came to the conclusion that a major overall was inevitable. Out for a run one day, Pamela noticed that the guest cottage at the Blacker House was under renovation. She immediately began asking neighbors and passers-by about the builder. That led the couple to Scott Lightfoot, who is known for his restoration work on houses designed by Charles and Henry Greene. Soon after, architect Rob Tyler was hired.

The kitchen, in white and stainless steel, captures the look and spirit of “sanitary” kitchens of the early 20th century.

The house is just shy of 2,000 square feet. Because of lot size restrictions, it wasn’t possible to expand the footprint. Instead, the Mahans rearranged interior space, moving the staircase, adding a fireplace along one wall, and relocating the kitchen from just off the living room to the small sunroom. The idea, Pamela says, was to create “a beautiful view from the kitchen window looking at the bridge.”

They also wanted to keep the kitchen small and utilitarian, says Pamela. “In modern homes, the kitchen sometimes becomes too overpowering. It wasn’t proper for a small cottage to have a large kitchen.” Richard designed the cabinets himself. “I probably should have been an architect, but I can’t do math,” he says.

The baths are in the style of the early 20th century: all white, with hex tile on the floor and high beadboard walls.

Demolishing drywall on the back wall of the living room opened up an old a light well from the upper story, crowned by an old triple window in the Craftsman style. “That window, the only original one left in the house, was too good to lose,” says Richard. The old window is the focal point for an open loft upstairs, which does double duty as office space and a guest room.

Another clever use of space is the galley bar that links the dining and living rooms, making it easy to serve guests in either room. Done in mahogany from top to bottom and equipped with a wine cooler, humidor, and liquor bar, it looks as though it’s been there for a century. “The intent and purpose was to make it look like an old butler’s pantry,” says Richard. “Most of the time, they are made of darkened beadboard, and that was the inspiration.”

Artistic and adventurous by nature—Richard says that Pamela “has exquisite taste,” and he is a creative director at a major advertising agency—the couple began acquiring furnishings and collections specifically for the house almost as soon as they bought it. “Pamela and I could probably walk through antiques stores six days a week and be quite happy,” Richard says.