Our 1920s Tudor Bath - Phase 1 Redesign

In my previous post, Our Original Mess, we left off with my husband and I wondering what we should do to make our 1920s Tudor bath functional for the time being. (Ahem, which means, until we had some extra cash to do it properly!)

 

One night, we were watching tv. We were still living in the New Englander, (we were waiting to close on the Tudor), and I was fairly stressed out. I needed to decompress and turned on HGTV. It just so happened that one of my favorite shows, Designed to Sell, was on.

We watched this show a lot when we were selling our New Englander; we not only wanted to know what WE should look for when buying a new home, but we also wanted to know what OTHERS wanted in  a new home. Amazingly enough, they were redoing a bathroom and it was in even worse shape than our minty-green Tudor one.

 

The host, Lisa Laporta, decided to re-glaze the tub and I just knew that this was our answer! We contacted Porcelain Industries in West Islip, NY and they came out to see if they could help us. Luckily for us, our bathroom tile was still well adhered to the wall and they could re-glaze everything!

Imagine our surprise when we were finally able to turn our minty-green mess into a classic Tudor design. It wasn't going to replace our vision for a brand spanking new Tudor-style bathroom, but for the time being, it cleaned everything up - and I wasn't afraid to put my kids in the tub!

 

In addition to re-glazing, we bought new fixtures for the tub, a new light for above the sink, a new bathroom cabinet for storage, and painted the ceiling and half-walls. We really paid attention to the cost of the replacements as we knew that this was a temporary fix and didn't want to waste any money.

Four years later, it's finally time for the Tudor-style bathroom that we envisioned when we first walked into this house. Stay tuned to see the Demolition Phase next!

 

Materials / Sources:

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Historical Collection, Kittery Point, HC-119
Ceiling color: Benjamin Moore Ceiling White
Bathroom Cabinet: Fieldcrest for Target
Faucets: Kohler
Lighting: Lowes
Valance (not shown): Country Curtains
Shower Curtain: Simply Shabby Chic®

 

A few words about the re-glazing process:

1.) An honest company will only re-glaze your tile if they are still firmly adhered to the wall. If your tile are falling off, the process will not work. I know this because we asked Porcelain Industries to look at my grandparent's bathroom and they told us they couldn't do the job right, so they wouldn't do it at all. I highly recommend these guys!

2.) The process is messy and smelly. The guy that did our job wore a jumpsuit and a face mask the entire time. Prepare to be out of the house while they are spraying. I hid at my sister's house for three days.

3.) The process takes a 3-4 days. First they clean the tile and grout. Then they tape your walls, floor, sink, etc. After that, then spray paint the glaze onto the tile. Then it has to dry for 24-48 hours. Once it's dry, the tape has to come off. If you rush it, it will not look good.

4.) If you re-glaze your tub, ask them to put the non-slip grit down. We didn't the first time around and our kids were slipping all over the place. The grit solved that problem right away.

5.) When you peel off the tape, do it S-L-O-W-L-Y. The glazing material is spray painted onto your surface. So if you peel it off fast, and accidentally peel too much, it's off for good. Plus, when they blow out the grout, the protective anti-fungal sealant comes off - so now you just have exposed raw grout - which is a breeding place for mold!

6.) Only use the right cleaners on your tub. Seriously, don't ever use anything else. And don't ever use any sort of abrasive sponge. Just damp cloths and scrubbing bubbles. The surface is easily scratched!!

7.) This is a good short-term fix. We treated our surfaces properly and got almost 4 years out of it. The glaze in the tub is just now starting to look aged.

8.) Curious about the cost? Our bathroom is 6x8 and we re-glazed the entire tub, and all four walls minus some of the accent pieces. It cost us approximately $2,000 when all was said and done. However, this was done in 2008, so prices may have changed.

Thanks for reading, Denine