Inspiration – The Family Bath Remodel

I captured the tile pattern above at the Spadina House in Toronto. This bathroom dated from around 1912, and I think the tile border pattern is especially charming. Our house was built in 1928 and for the original bathroom a more classic look seemed right, as compared to the more modern design in the kitchen. The plan for the bathroom is to do a white tile floor with the above rug pattern in black.
For the bathtub we chose not to keep the old cast iron tub. I wanted a bathtub that would be great for taking showers and would also accommodate my tall husband, so the bathroom is getting a new, six foot tub. For the tub surround I had this idea for a jewel box look, where the tile would be a gem color and would become the major accent in the room. After buying lots of sample tiles and browsing tile catalogs, I just couldn’t find the right compromise between cost and color. Instead, the tub surround is going to be similar to the photo below, from a Paris hotel, with floor to ceiling white tiles with a small black pattern. It is modern yet classic, and while not a jewel box, it at least won’t be too strange.

The overall layout of the room is staying the same. The biggest change is switching the location of the tub faucet and drain to the left side and putting in a partition wall to house the new plumbing. With the old cast iron tub, all the plumbing came up through the floor inside the room, but with a modern tub the pipes couldn’t run through an exterior wall, so a new wall was required regardless of drain location. Moving to a left-hand drain gave us the maximum remaining room for towel racks and a little linen cabinet.
Since one of my favorite features of the old bathroom was the trim shelf, I am planning to do white, flat panel, wainscoting to fifty percent up the walls, topped with a shelf. One of my next projects is to plan out the wainscoting pattern, using the golden rectangle ratio to help find a pleasing design, and then come up with a lumber order, putting my woodworking classes to good use.
I’m still not sure on paint color for the upper walls, but am thinking a deep, classic red could be fun. I created the below renderings using Lowes free room builder tool. It’s not a big room, but it can still accommodate a big tub.

