Bathroom renovation suggestions?

If it’s a vacation not a work pied a terre, I’d just keep the tub and not add a shower. We used our bathrooms with tub only for nine months, and it was pleasant and beautiful. I miss it, in fact. The bath takes the same amount of time as the shower (not counting drawing the water) but requires a lot of contortions to wash long hair. That’s the one drawback. Otherwise it’s lovely.

If you need little parts, try Alfano Plumbing in Queens. Vintage Tub and other online stores have beautiful supply lines with built in shut off valves, if your tub doesn’t already have them.

Oops, another post! I was just in one of our bathrooms, and it is so small you actually cannot put a shower into either of the short ends. Even the original clawfoot tub sticks out quite a bit into the room, but it’s ok because it’s open underneath, if you know what I mean.

You might be able to find a tiny, narrow and short modern tub to put into one corner flush against two walls, but you are going to have the wet window problem, and I think design wise and use wise it will not be an improvement over what was there originally.

I think with these old, tiny bathrooms it is best just to stick with the original design. You could consult with an architect or designer, see what they say.

I have friends who were able to push one wall of their bathroom out three feet or so into the adjoining bedroom and make a tiled-in shower in addition to keeping the rest of the bathroom completely as it was originally. But if yours is like ours, there’s no where to go (only kitchen or top of stair). Their contractor was able to re-do the parquet and molding in the bedroom and you can’t even tell they expanded the bathroom. It’s great.

Beware also of closing up the window for any reason. In such a small room, you need a lot of ventilation to prevent heat and mold buildup.

P.S. Our shower extensions are not from Strom, though I think they are the best, and they certainly would fit our tubs the best. We got one from Springhouse and one from Randolph Morris, and they are both fine. You will need an extension to 96 inches, and the one from Randolph Morris has to be cut down and threaded, which generally only a licensed plumber will have the equipment to do.

Since you say the bathroom is 5×7, I’m going to assume it’s an original 1890s bathroom like ours. Most likely it has a beadboard surround, wooden floors, a wall-hung sink, a clawfoot tub, exposed nickel-plated plumbing, and a window open to an air shaft and the main stack.

Do you have specific issues you want to address, or are the fixtures in good condition? If they’re in good condition, you don’t necessarily need to change anything, unless you want to. We put in a clawfoot shower extension and polished nickel faucets from Strom/Sign of the Crab that look very similar to the originals (which could not be fixed). We also put in a simple two-light fixture from Rejuvination over the mirror and sink. The shower works fine, although it’s not as nice as taking a bath, but it’s more convenient. We got an extension with a 96-inch long riser and we use an extra long and wide curtain and we overlap it three holes in the front so there is no way the water will splash out. The riser covers the window, so the air shaft can not be accessed without disassembling the shower.

The beadboard had already been painted, so we painted the main part a darker beige, the wall is a lighter beige, and the trim is off white — it looks really nice. The floor is vinyl, which I’m sure sounds appalling, but it’s fine. You might be able to refinish part of the wood floor without removing the tub, but I am not sure.

If you have the original marble or slate under the toilet, do not remove it. It provides a stable surface for the toilet so you get a seal — the wood floor moves.

Alternatively, if you want to completely re-do everything, you will have to go in under the floor from the ceiling below to replace the plumbing. You will have to remove the tub, which might require chopping it up if it won’t fit through the door. I have seen a lot of these bathrooms redone in Bushwick, but none were attractive. Your choices of tubs/showers are limited. I wonder if you could build your own tiled shower into the short end of the bathroom opposite the window, then put a pedestal sink and toilet under the window. Naturally, the look will be fairly modern. For great examples, see Katy Elliott’s blog and search under bathrooms. See also Door Sixteen’s bathroom with penny tile, salvaged fixtures, and the like. If you’re going to re-do the bath completely, don’t forget to build some storage into the wall. And watch out for the toilet slab issue — you can get something new cut from a tile person if you want to change it slightly. Also, my understanding is there are issues with putting a tile floor over the wood floor because the wood floor is not stable, but I don’t know too much about it.

Good luck and have fun.