Avocado green... yeah, that’s a dealbreaker.
That “mystery pipes” comment made me laugh—been there. When we redid our 1920s bathroom, I thought we’d just be dealing with old tile and maybe some outdated plumbing. Ended up finding knob-and-tube wiring tucked behind the plaster, plus a weird little crawlspace full of ancient newspapers. We kept the original hex tile floor, but everything else was a surprise. Our costs crept up to about $18k, mostly because of all the hidden stuff. Did you end up keeping any original fixtures, or was it all too far gone?
Ended up finding knob-and-tube wiring tucked behind the plaster, plus a weird little crawlspace full of ancient newspapers.
That sounds way too familiar. We started our last remodel thinking it was just going to be a “paint and fixtures” kind of job, but every layer we peeled back added another thousand or two. The old wiring is always a curveball—ours was wrapped in what looked like cloth and crumbled if you even breathed on it. We did manage to salvage the cast iron tub (after a lot of elbow grease and some eco-friendly refinishing products), but the original sink was a lost cause.
Curious—did you run into any asbestos in your demo? We had to pause everything for a week while we waited for test results on some mystery tiles. Not fun, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. If you kept the hex tile, did you have to do much to restore it, or was it in decent shape under all the grime?
The old wiring is always a curveball—ours was wrapped in what looked like cloth and crumbled if you even breathed on it.
That’s wild—ours looked like it was held together with dust and hope. We didn’t find asbestos, but I was paranoid about it the whole time, especially with the old linoleum under the vanity. The hex tile was actually in better shape than I expected, just needed a ton of scrubbing and some regrouting. Did you end up going with period fixtures, or did you mix in some modern stuff? I keep second-guessing my choices.
ours looked like it was held together with dust and hope
That’s the most accurate description I’ve ever heard for pre-1960s wiring. I’m still convinced half of my reno budget went to just “discovering” what was lurking behind the walls.
- Went for a mix on the fixtures—vintage-inspired faucet but modern shower controls because I like my water pressure to actually exist. The old stuff looks great, but I’d rather not wrestle with a leaky valve at 7am.
- Totally get the second-guessing. I spent a week agonizing over whether the new sconce was “period enough” or just looked like it belonged in a diner. In the end, I figured: it’s my bathroom, not a museum.
- Hex tile is such a win if you can save it! Mine was mostly salvageable except for one corner where someone in the 80s decided to glue down carpet (why??). Had to patch that with some repro tile and grout-matching wizardry.
I actually found asbestos in the window caulk—never even crossed my mind until the test came back positive. Ended up adding a few hundred bucks for abatement, which was annoying but worth sleeping at night.
Curious—did you keep your original tub or swap it? My cast iron beast weighed as much as a small car and took four people to budge, but nothing beats that vintage look.
We ended up keeping our original tub too—cast iron, clawfoot, and about as heavy as a small moon. Took three of us and a furniture dolly to get it out for refinishing, which left some pretty epic gouges in the hallway (battle scars, right?). I hear you on the wiring; ours was that scary old cloth-wrapped stuff, and I swear every outlet was a surprise. Funny thing, we also found a patch of carpet glued over tile in a corner—what was it with 80s folks and bathroom carpet?