We moved into our 1860s house on Thanksgiving of 2019. One of the first projects we put on our list was the first-floor bathroom. Ever since I was a child, I’ve had an obsession with bathrooms. They are my favorite rooms and no matter where I’ve lived, it’s the room I spend the most time in — I’ll prop up against a bathtub to do homework, to check emails. I take daily baths. Sometimes I’ll even nap in the bathroom. All this oversharing to say: I wanted our bathroom to feel like a space I loved.
Unfortunately, the bathroom we inherited was not my dream sanctuary. It had water damage, soft spots hiding under the kind of gross linoleum floor covering, and hard water stains in the tub I could not get out. Plus, we were trying to find a way to bring the laundry up from our very old-house basement to the main floor. Last: This is the bathroom that’s part of our Airbnb guest suite, so I wanted it to feel nice, clean, bright, like the bedroom itself.
Given the scope of this renovation — gutting an unknown number of prior renovations and layers, likely some asbestos exposure, new electrical and plumbing, a full rebuild — we needed to call in the pros. And save up for several years to do so! We worked with Schmidt Construction in Northfield on this project, and we’re so happy with how it turned out. While the footprint didn’t really change, it feels like a brand new space. I can’t wait for all of the bathroom hangs to come!
We chose a beautiful, even if not the most practical, sink. What it lacks in counter space it makes up for in a feeling of luxury. We also kept the wainscoting, but raised the height.
While most of the bathroom is white, we splurged on a gallon of Farrow & Ball India Yellow for the top portion.
Olde Brick Lighting is one of my favorite sources for quality, elegant, and timeless light fixtures
