It’s tough to beat the character an older home often possesses – especially if it dates way back to the 1700s or 1800s. The history, the house, and its occupants have been a part of over the years can be almost mind boggling to contemplate. But now the house is yours to renovate and enjoy as your family adds to the structure’s history and character – where do you start?
If your house is like many old houses that were originally built without indoor plumbing, you might want to begin with the primary bathroom upstairs. Indoor plumbing is actually a fairly new innovation in the home building industry and even many houses of the early 1900s lacked this convenience that most families take for granted these days. When plumbing was finally added to an existing home, a spare bedroom was often converted into the home’s main bath. If your old house has a master bathroom as well as a hall bath, you can just about bet that there was a large remodeling project in its recent past.
So what type of fixtures does your old house’s bath contain? Unless the owner happened to be well off when the conversion took place, function rather than style was usually the order of the day – many large old bathrooms have just a wall mount sink, a toilet, and simple tub. If you’re lucky, it could be an old claw foot model that with a little refinishing might be a beautiful connection with the home’s past.
Toilet styles have changed quite a bit since the early models, but if you prefer the old look, many fixture companies offer modern water saving units that appear to have been manufactured 100 years ago. All that leaves is the sink and while a wall hung unit is definitely functional, they don’t offer much in the way of storage space if you have a big family.
Fortunately, many of those old converted bedrooms were fairly large and there’s often enough space to add a double vanity to the room. A sixty inch vanity cabinet works for a double bowl top, but 72 inches is even better. If you’re concerned about cost, consider a ready to assemble vanity cabinet from a company such as RTA Cabinets. They offer numerous styles, finishes, and sizes of vanity cabinets and feature all wood construction. Owning an old house can be great, but you might enjoy it a little more if you bring the bathroom into the future.
