Vintage-style bathroom renovation brings charm and completion to this home

THE owners of this bathroom in Canterbury in Sydney’s inner west were two years into a whole house renovation when it became obvious that something needed to be done about the bathroom.

Small bathroom renovation. This Canterbury bathroom renovation has been done on a shoestring using left over pieces of furniture and cheap finds. Photo: Bob Barker.

IT’S easy to be seduced by beautiful images of spacious bathrooms, complete with chandeliers and freestanding baths but the reality for most of us is usually very different.

The owners of this bathroom in Canterbury in Sydney’s inner west were two years into a whole house renovation when it became obvious that something needed to be done about the bathroom.

With fittings and fixtures failing and floor and wall tiles falling apart, owners Felicity and Ian Thomson set to work.

This renovation has been done on a shoestring budget using left over pieces of furniture and cheap finds. Photo: Bob Barker

Small wonder

Apart from looking unloved, there were a number of planning issues to be resolved.

In such as tight space — it is less than two metres wide — the bathroom needed to provide a shower for the adults and a bath for their teenage daughter.

The space suffered from the usual storage problems as Felicity and Ian worked on a plan to make the space feel light and open, despite the small footprint.

The main issue, however, was an almost non-existent budget.

A skilled craftsman who specialises in heritage homes, Ian often comes across furniture that is about to be discarded.

The tiles lend a vintage feel to this beautiful bathroom. Photo: Bob Barker

Both he and Felicity are also adept at reusing what they find, often making it into something beautiful again.

While they had already replaced the old basin that was dotted in cigarette burns with a compact basin from Ikea, finding the right tiles proved to be an exercise in serendipity.

On one of their regular visits to the Bower Reuse & Recycle Centre, Felicity came across several boxes of blue subway tiles going cheap.

Vintage mirrors were sourced from a skip and eBay.

Felicity laid the tiles but had them cut elsewhere.

The encaustic floor tiles were sourced from a local tile shop and to save money, Felicity did all the labour herself. “The tile shop cut all the tiles for me, which helped a lot,” she says. “I am very careful about my measurements but these ones are not an easy tile to lay.

“One of them popped up in the middle of the night. I would recommend some professional help next time.”

One of the round mirrors was fished out of a skip bin, while its almost identical twin was found on eBay.

They have been carefully placed to bounce light from the only window around the room. Even the window was found propped against a skip bin with the builders only too pleased to see it put to good use.

Chrome taps. Photo: Bob Barker

The bath was the smallest one they could find, and the last of a discontinued line.

The final piece in the puzzle was sorting out storage. Ian took an old wardrobe that was no longer wanted and sliced it down the middle to make a slim storage unit.

“It was the same age as the house which is a 1930s feel,” says Felicity. “Ian wanted to keep the legs but we decided to put it on a plinth to make cleaning easier.”

Opposite, the top of an old hall stand was wall mounted and fitted with hooks and wired up with light switches.

Pictures Bob Barker