Rustic bathroom

[Rob30]

I am about to redo my bathrrom. Its not very big. A tub, toilet, sink and small closet. I am looking for ideas that would give it a rustic look. We have a 1880 log farm house, which did not have indoor pluming originally. We want the bathroom to fit. We are thinking of a claw foot tub, but the pluming is very expensive to set up the shower.

[primal1]

Having redone an entire bathroom including moving both the tub and toilet bowl, my advice is to keep everything away from the logs!
Previous owners had both the tub and bowl against the logs which caused rot over the years. Also don't have the tub too close to the wall, it looks awesome with a bench or small table to hold towels, candles... and it's way easier to clean.
Why is shower plumbiing so expensive?

[Rob30]

The fixtures are extensive and all chromed. Makes the expensive.

[thedonkeyman]

If your rain barrels were up high enough and protested from the elements then the water could be heated by the wood stove (all this is kept up high, then go the bathroom for a gravity flow shour and then to the toilet (up high again ) to flush. IN the shour you use a back of a Toilet, pull the chain and flush the soap away.
Mr clean......thedonkeyman from Oregon , have a nice Holiday Season.

[FarmboyBill]

Theres a pic inside the Cumberland General Store Catalog (thats old), had a pic of an oldtime bathroom. I cant find it now. BUT they had a tub in the middle of the room. It wasnt a enameled claw foot tub, but an older style. It was wood paneled around it, and I think it was galvanized inside tho I dont remember. It had a round folding shaveing mirror that XXXXXed out from the wall. It had wood paneled sink cabinet below it. It had wood paneling say 3ft up the wall all round, stained brown. It had a piece of moulding above and below, next to the floor on either side of the wall paneling. There was a folding drying rack. There was a rocker. Of course there was a toilet that had a raised resivour with a pull chain. By keeping the tub in the middle of a large room, and perhaps putting a closit wall AWAY from the log wall, and put the toilet up against that wall you could escape the moisture problem

[marvella]

a sears catalog or some corn cobs would look rustic too.

[texican]

If I had exposed plumbing, I'd just use large copper pipe... unless you have a sackfull of money lying around....

I've also seen folks make a shower railing out of copper pipe, that's supported at front and back, with a shower curtain suspended from it...

I plan on having some clawfoot's in my new home, and will fabricate my own plumbing... some of those fixtures costs more than my whole bath budget .

take some pics before and after... can always use ideas...

[Ken Scharabok]

I have an old catalog from The Antique Hardware Store (800-422-9982). Looks like for about $10K you could create an old timey water closet. Say $800-$1,100 for a claw footed bathtub, $500 for a wrap-around shower unit, $500 for a pedestal sink and $800-$1,000 for a high tank commode. On cabinets you are own your own on prices.

Remember on some of the original bathtubs there was not a shower per se. Rather there was a hand-held shower wand you used over you while in the tub. I have used such in a bathroom without a shower and it worked quite well.

To items add delivery and installation.

In larger cities in your area check to see if they have a salvage yard specializing in such plumbing fixtures.

[suitcase_sally]

About 25 years ago I found a copper toilet tank in a junk store. I was going to use that in my rustic bathroom - the one that never got built. I have an old horse collar with a mirror in it that I was going to use above the sink. I planned to use a horse bit for a toilet paper holder. I was designing the room to look like an old western bath. I still have the old copper tank.

[minnikin1]

After having done many many renovations, we've learned that while we try to make our renovations "look" the part, we aren't purists about it and most of our guests are thankful when we put function BEFORE form.

Rustic can be uncomfortable to use and hard to clean if you aren't very careful while making your choices.

Always keep in mind where you will hide the modern "stuff" that ruins the look, and
if there are hard to reach places or nooks and crannies that will catch dirt/moisture.

Keep it simple. Remember that the folks who lived in those rustic houses often tried to hide that fact. So a true period bath would be very simple but often had odd bits of "refinement" - like a fancy light fixture, or lace curtains...

[Cabin Fever]

Here is Wind In Her Hair's "cowgirl" bathroom:

[Ford8N]

Cabin Fever,

What kind of wall planking did you use in your bath photos? I like the look and it may work in my farmhouse. Is that standing linen closet from Mexico?

Thanks.

Paul

[Cabin Fever]

Paul, the walls are 1x10" shiplap boards and the closet is made of old Minnesota barn boards.

[Herb]

Don't put in any indoor plumbing. That's pretty rustic.

[ThreeJane]

No matter how rustic you want, make sure you sand all the splinters off the toilet seat!

[Leay]

It sounds like you are looking for ideas for the tub, but if you are wondering about wall coverings, we used old red barn board. We had a grainery that was falling down and we used those boards for wainscotting (sp?) and then put a 4" shelf on top of that. We used the old upper door with the hinges for the top of our linen closet. Free, free, free!! It looks really nice.
Leay

[patnewmex]

My mother has a log home which she built with her late husband. She bought an old 3-drawer dresser with a mirror on top, nice maple wood, etc. They cut a hole in the top of the dresser and put a corian sinktop in it. The top drawer was cut out in back to accomodate the sink and plumbing but the front half of the drawer was totally usable.

It looks utterly charming and can be done with an old antique dresser.

WIsh I had a photo for you!

Pat

[whiterock]

My DD's FIL just redid his bathroom and now her dh is adding another to their house. Used old galvanized roofing for wainscoat, put some cedar closet liner board on wall above. I haven't seen it, just heard about it. The cedar is closet liner, comes in random lengths in a box for less that $30 ea at home dept. I have seen that and it IS aromatic. Would have to seal it to stay in the bathroom long enough to do your business.

I have seen glavanized used as a shower surround on the regular metal tubs. it looked good in the pics i saw, but don't know how well it would stand up to some of the products used by many people in the bath/shower.

Ed

[Aintlifegrand]

CF...is the sink in WIHH bath actually plumbed in and hooked to drain pipes? Does the enamel hold up well to usage? I love the bath BTW ..one the prettiest projects I have seen but then so is your whole house...my style completely.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by Aintlifegrand

CF...is the sink in WIHH bath actually plumbed in and hooked to drain pipes? Does the enamel hold up well to usage? I love the bath BTW ..one the prettiest projects I have seen but then so is your whole house...my style completely.

Yes, the sink is plumbed into the drain pipes. The hardest part of making the sink was cutting the drain hole thru the porcelan glaze. I had to first grind off the glaze with a carbide stone attached to a drill. Once the porcelan was removed it was a simple matter of drilling the drain with a hole saw. The sink is still in perfect shape.