Our editors pick their favorite bathroom restorations. Old-House Journal October/November 2010
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Editor’s Note
I’ve recently spent some time looking at houses with a friend who’s in the market to move. Her criteria: An older home, with mostly original features (she reads OHJ, after all). While I suspected she’d have a hard time finding both “old” and “original” in the neighborhoods she likes, I’ve been surprised by how much personal taste, influenced by contemporary fashion, I find seeping into even the most carefully maintained gems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One notable example we toured was a Folk Victorian farmhouse whose clawfoot tub had been replaced with a black drop-in Jacuzzi punctuated by shiny brass fixtures and a black-and-white checkerboard patterned 2′-tile marble floor that would have been right at home in an Italian Renaissance museum. We also visited a gorgeous, slate-roofed Tudor left almost original (down to its red oak floors), save for the entry-hall closet that had been transformed into a dark Pergo-floored powder room sporting a glass vessel sink and multi-colored Venetian pendant light.
These jarring juxtapositions reminded me that even conscientious and well-funded homeowners can get the details wrong, which is why we’ve devoted this issue to the subject of bathroom projects. Insider looks at three bath restorations from the same period, suitable for a range of houses from Arts & Crafts to Tudor. Floors are clearly high on the list of problem areas, so we did some digging on the recent history of tiled floors to offer up some different ideas from the past. Finally, we overview some great new bath products with period style—from fixtures to lights—that could be the perfect fit for your home.
Stepping out of the lavatory and into the rest of the house, we look at a topic helpful to anyone in the real estate market these days: home inspections on older buildings. The subject can be a scary one—especially when an inspector forks over a three-page list of “concerns.” But our story, by longtime contributor Jane Powell, will put you at ease. It outlines important questions to ask, problems that sound worse than they are, and when you should run away screaming. Whether you’re in the market to buy your first (or fifth) old house, or looking to find missing features for one of its most-used rooms, you won’t be disappointed with our offerings this issue.
Demetra Aposporos, Editor-in-Chief of Old-House Journal
