Our 1920s Tudor Bath – The Original Mess

A few years ago, my husband and I traded in our charming, little New Englander for a bigger, cooler, 1920s Tudor. The story of how we came to call this Tudor our home is a long one, so for now, we'll just focus on our not-so-charming, minty-green bathroom.

 

I'm not quite sure where to start, but let's just say that this bathroom was almost a deal breaker for me. However, my husband knew – from the moment he stepped in the front door – that he "just had to have this house". So we decided to look past its imperfections…and there were many…including our minty-green, insanely outdated bathroom.

I'd love to be all hip and cool, and say that this bathroom was vintage – but that would be a lie. A big, fat lie. In all honesty, it was a mess…and I wasn't sure what we were going to do with it.

 

The minty-green tiles were all chipped and broken, so there were white holes all over the place. As if that wasn't bad enough, wherever a tile had broken beyond repair, it was simply replaced with a black tile instead. (Look down by the tub faucet!)

Unfortunately, a simple wallpaper removal and paint job were just not going to cut it with this bathroom. (A stick of dynamite might have been better at this point!)

 

The wallpaper was yellowing, peeling and smelly – and the vanity was smelly too. Oh wait, did you want to see a close-up of the yellowing, peeling, toile wallpaper? Here you go!

As if that wasn't enough, the tiles on the floor were loose and you could bounce up and down on them. The tub faucets were stripped – and barely turned the water on – and the cast iron tub was shot. You could actually see the gray cast iron in the bottom of the tub.

 

I remember telling my husband, "I am NOT bathing our children in that tub!" But, what were we going to do?

With a new baby and a toddler underfoot, we had to find a creative way to fix this diamond in the rough if we were going to use it. Stay tuned to see what we did in Phase 1.

 

Thanks for reading, Denine

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