Even if you follow the advice in today’s remodeling magazines, reworking your floor plan or bumping out an addition to house a master suite complete with sauna, you will still be left with a small second bath or half-bath.
These spaces are thrifty, simple, and pleasantly old-fashioned. They may even have original fixtures. And they will be no less period-style if you inject them with some personality and color.
Old-house bathrooms come with space constraints and, as always, limitation breeds creativity. The sloping eave or oversize window may be a blessing, not a curse, if it leads to a unique space. The most delightful bathrooms are often found in houses built during the mid-Victorian period or earlier—because their bathrooms, however historic they may now seem, were installed long after the rest of the house was built. Such bathrooms can be downright quirky.