Bathroom, ca. 1919
Many of our clients express their appreciation for the look and feel of century old homes. After all, that’s our speciality. We just love the architecture and craftsmanship—especially those built in the 1920’s— that old homes have to offer. Whenever we get a request from a client that already has a vision in place for a renovation that matches that old-style character, we still get just as excited as the first time an idea like this came across our desk.
Situated on Belle Avenue in Lakewood, an unassuming brick home that appears a little different than the exterior craftsman-style facade more apparent in other houses along the same street. It’s timid, but this 1919 home boasts the same interior details as many homes we see in Lakewood: original stained hardwood oak trim, floors, doors, and early 20th century details consistent throughout.
Upon our first meet, I quickly gathered that the homeowners would be one of the most humble, easy-going and caring individuals I’d have the pleasure of completing a renovation for. We quickly bonded over our mutual adoration for felines, and immediately began communicating about how we could make their vision come to life. Soon thereafter, we got busy with demo work as we took everything down to the studs as we do with most all of our projects.
The layout, fixtures, and materials were mostly selected prior to the demo so we could get started on the renovation pretty quickly. Nonetheless, the demo revealed a few typical things we see—old cast iron pipes, knob and tube wiring in need of updating, and so on. Since we were assigned with the task of removing an old, original boiler radiator and installing a new one, we needed to install new copper lines exactly where the new, smaller combo wall and floor mounted radiator would be installed. It would be a highlight of the new bathroom and was acquired through Kingston Brass. After plumbing and electrical were completed, we could install new reinforcements to level the floor, a new subfloor, re-install the existing cast-iron tub (which was incredibly heavy and took four of us to move!), and drywall. Shortly after, we got busy with the new tile floor which included matching an existing mosaic border found in the front entrance foyer of the home. Each tile that made up the black alternating design was carefully placed and set by hand over Blanke Permat using Schluter Allset.
Once the tile floor was set, it was time to wrap things up by hand placing hundreds of carefully cut tiles along the borders of the cast-iron tub which was originally made with a curved-corner radius, and the triangles needed to fill in the space all along the main floor sheet tile and the border which jogged around the perimeter of the bathroom floor. Then, the tiles for the walls, shower, and chair-rail border were set using various profiles including pencil tile and marble rail tile.
As for the rest of the project, well, it’s safe to say that the time it took to complete the renovation was well worth the outcome. We’ll let the photos speak for themselves as you travel back in time to what things might have been like over 100 years ago in a quiet, Lakewood bathroom. A very special thanks goes to Zach for his dedication to craftsmanship and quality—we feel very confident that this room will last a lifetime and add many, many years to this home. The clients deserve to have a beautiful bathroom, and we sincerely appreciate them choosing us to work on their home!
