Fixing up fixtures

It's incredible how long a tiny room can take to finish. The upstairs bathroom is about 6.5' by 7' and it's still not quite done.


We're close though, so close. Especially when you consider where we started.

When thinking about modifying a bathroom, there are a few things to consider. Ventilation, light, color - and water. Water's probably the most important of these items. Where is it coming from and where is it going?

A few weeks back, I talked about the rough in plumbing that had to be one of the first things we touched when walls and the floor were open.

Of course, we passed that inspection (pull permits - they protect you) and went on to waterproof, tile, and install my shiny new (hahaha, new) vanity with its shiny new soapstone top.

Still to go was the remainder of the finished plumbing, things like the tub and a toilet. You know, where the water comes from and where it goes...

Let's start with the tub. It was perfect.

This is a really small bathroom that I've made every centimeter as large as I could by moving a wall as much as possible into the adjacent bedroom, which wasn't much. To meet code for the spacing around the toilet, I needed a really small tub. In Madison, code requires 30 inches of space from side to side and 24 inches of space from the front lip of the toilet to any item. In our case, that's the vanity.

Originally, I'd considered putting in a stand-up shower but ended up moving to adding another clawfoot because it was surprisingly more cost-effective and more historically accurate. Add that eventual parents living in Isthmus House might want a tub upstairs for kiddos and my decision was made.

I found a tub in Eau Claire (about three hours northwest of here) that was 48 inches (a comparatively rare size to the usual 60-66 inch tubs of the era) and met the seller part way between our respective cities. Yes, Mom, I took a friend and met in a public area.

When I first saw the inside of the clawfoot, I thought it had already been refinished. It was in beautiful shape on the inside with only a few coats of paint on the outside. It was way better than I'd hoped, however - original inside that gleamed, only a few chips and had all its original feet - having been taken from the third story of a Madison home slated for demolition.

As usual, I would have preferred it survive in its own survivor home but I'm grateful I could at least bring it back to Madison and to an old home that could appreciate its beauty.

After giving a quick wire brushing to the outside and taping off any holes and the lip, I gave it lots of high gloss white spray paint (rust inhibiting is best) and spray painted the feet silver. Generally, a can of spray paint will give a patchy single coat to a clawfoot.

The tub sat in my front sunroom for about a month before my soapstone installers and electrician gracefully "offered" to take it up the stairs for me. It took all three to get it up the stairs without damage to it or my stairwell but it made it!

And then it sat in a room again. This time, it was its forever home, just not its forever spot.

Once my plumber made it out, we finally got the tub to its home and hooked up the water and drain.

I happened to be a little fussy on this plumbing and definitely splurged on the polished chrome set complete with pretty taps and waterlines, a sunflower showerhead and a hand shower.

The same day the tub went in, my custom ordered toilet also went in. I saw the toilet at a local business and thought it would look good in my bathroom so I took a picture and went to my handy dandy local plumbing supply store, Howe Brothers, and hunted it down with the owner, Regan (pronounced Ree-gaan).

Funny enough, I made a bit of a mistake with the special toilet. I forgot to order a toilet seat. Naturally, the seats are backordered 6-8 weeks so we'll be waiting a while before that comes in. In the meantime, I put a $20 Target toilet seat on my fancy, expensive toilet. You know, after I tried three others to see if a different one might work - they didn't.

So now we have water and place for it to go. What do you think of our beautiful fixtures?