Bathroom Addition Allowed Family To Stay In Beloved Home.

Client Needs

Despite everything this rambling older home offered -abundant space, beautiful woodwork, great location- it had only one bathroom. With house prices outpacing Portland’s growing popularity, the “Barnums” wanted to stay in their 1907 home, and convert an underused dressing room into a master bath with a fresh approach.

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Remodel Highlights:

A series of hand-carved tile panels by a local artist established the bath’s aesthetic anchor. Expanding on the theme of swimming pools and natatoriums, we incorporated restored vintage storage lockers, an authentic locker room bench, and plenty of cool-toned tile. The result, a retreat reminiscent of 1930s Art Deco, sans flamingos.

Notes for Architects:

Creative Plumbing

We were able to tuck the bathroom’s new 3” waste line entirely in the wall of the foyer just below the bathroom. It is quite invisible. From there, it travels inconspicuously across the basement ceiling where it connects to the main waste line.

Intensive Leveling

The original floor was poorly supported and dropped more than an inch from side to side. The initial solution – a floor-leveling compound- threatened to add an unacceptable amount of weight and an unacceptable step up into the bathroom. The right solution, though more involved, was to properly support the floor using a new beam and posts with a direct load path to new footings in the basement.

Meticulous Tiling

As the single biggest expenditure for the project, the tile work makes this bathroom truly unique. The custom carved divers in the shower and the swimmer over the sink each measure 1’x5’. The field tile all had to be cut to create the triangle pattern around the room. A SunTouch radiant floor heating system was installed under the floor tile.

*Client’s name changed for privacy

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