This is the bathroom I’d put in my own home.

I’ve said that out loud more than once since this project wrapped, and I mean it. Not because it’s the most dramatic renovation I’ve ever done, but because of what it took to get there — and because of how completely it changed a room that had almost nothing going for it.

Almost.

The footprint is 6 feet by 6 feet. The walls had mold. The plaster was cracked. A soffit above the sink was eating into the headroom, making the space feel even more closed-in than it already was. Storage was nearly nonexistent.

But there was a large window, and morning light came through it like the room was asking for something better. And there was a cast iron tub with 1913 stamped on the bottom.

We built around both.

What We Were Working With

This is a full gut renovation — down to the studs — in a Victorian-era home in Richmond, Virginia. We didn’t move any plumbing. Because we were already opening up the space downstairs, moving things around was on the table — we even looked at pulling the tub in front of the window. In the end we left everything where it was. A freestanding tub in front of a window looks beautiful in photos and is a pain to keep clean in real life. The tub, toilet, and sink stayed put.

What the room needed wasn’t a different layout. It needed storage, light, and a design that could hold its own in a house with this much history — without overwhelming a space the size of a generous closet.

The brass shower surround and the original faucet were worth keeping. We cleaned them up and brought them back.

The Client Brief: Pattern, Contrast, and a Nod to France

The black and white palette wasn’t a mood board decision — it came from the floor. The original hex tile was already there, already black and white, already saying something. That’s where the direction started.

The client had also spent time living in France and wanted something of that feeling brought forward — not as a literal reference, but as a sensibility. Classic contrast. Pattern with intention. A bathroom that felt personal rather than just renovated.

Both things pointed the same way. Victorian interiors layered pattern; they committed to it. They weren’t afraid of a small room with a strong opinion. The original hex tile was already making that argument. We listened to it.

What Changed

The tub was refinished — grey on the exterior, white inside — and we enlarged the original surround. A cast iron tub from 1913 has a weight and depth that a new one can’t touch.

The vanity was custom designed and built to fit the room exactly. It quadrupled the storage the bathroom had before. By wall-mounting the faucet, we freed up enough counter space for an artist-edition sink — the kind of piece that changes the feeling of a room the moment you walk in.

The walls are black and white diamond-patterned tile — graphic and committed, the kind of move that only works if you go all the way with it. The original hex floor anchors everything below, the thread that ties the old room to the new one.

The soffit above the sink came out, and the room exhaled.

Thirty-six square feet. It doesn’t sound like much. But a room this considered doesn’t need to be large.

Before

After

BEFORE

After

On Renovating Victorian Bathrooms in Denver

Denver has a lot of houses built between 1880 and 1920, and their bathrooms share a few things: small footprints, original plumbing that wasn’t designed to be moved, walls that have absorbed a century of moisture, and details worth keeping if you know what you’re looking at.

The instinct in a bathroom like this is often to gut everything and start fresh. Sometimes that’s right. But a 1913 tub in good structural condition isn’t a liability — it’s the best thing in the room. The work is figuring out what the house is trying to be, and building around that rather than over it.

That’s what historic home renovation in Denver actually looks like in practice.

The build — the custom vanity construction, the mold remediation, and what it actually takes to work inside a footprint this size — is covered in Part 2, coming soon.

Working on a Victorian bathroom in Denver? Let’s talk. – Send us a message here.