Our house has many original features: Claycraft ventilator tiles in a fireplace, built-ins, an elliptical ceiling, the adorable porch light with a witch’s hat. As with many old houses, the bathroom and kitchen had been remodeled, most recently in 1953. The bathroom was somewhat intact, though the vanity cabinet had been painted a zillion times.
We’d been on enough house tours to know that a surviving 1953 bathroom was rare. We consulted historians at old-house fairs and read Jane Powell’s book Bungalow Bathrooms from cover to cover; she said that each homeowner must decide whether to keep these newer but historic bathrooms. After 11 years, we decided to keep the Fifties bath. The cabinet, however, was water damaged—rotted and disintegrating from the inside. When a shower apparatus later was added to…
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Old House Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, May/June 2024