This is the only picture we have of what the bathroom looked like when we bought the house. The ad for the house called the wallpaper a "bold floral pattern". We called it ass-ugly. You can also see the rounded corner of the old formica-covered vanity that ran all the way across the sink wall. Above it was a 4' x 3' hotel-like mirror, with a cheap 6-bulb fixture running across the top. At the end of the vanity on the wall where the towels hang was a cheap vinyl-covered particleboard medicine cabinet. The object of this remodel was to get rid of the wallpaper, vanity, mirror, and medicine cabinet, and to make the bathroom look more like a bathroom from the 1920s (the age of our house). The tub/toilet areas weren't touched, although new towelbars (white porcelain ends with glass rods) & TP holder would eventually be installed.

All of the walls had been covered with drywall at some point in the distant past (the original plaster is/was in bad shape). In mid construction, you can see the white line where the vanity backsplash was. The drywall was completely removed from this wall, exposing the original opening for a built-in medicine cabinet! If you look carefully, you can see that it is NOT centered on the plumbing lines. This required me to modify the design of the medicine cabinet to fill the opening and still be centered. Also exposed by the removal of the drywall was some original stenciling on the plaster (larger picture below).

At this point, the drywall has been put up, the plumbing installed, the new reproduction light fixtures installed (shades were on backorder), and the medicine cabinet has been installed (I hadn't finished the door yet, and the 1/4" thick tempered glass shelves hadn't arrived yet). The walls/trim have all been primed, and you can see the new "belly band" I put up around the room. What you also can't see is the new crown molding I put up, and the replacement 8" baseboards I installed on two of the four walls (the originals had been hacked into when the old vanity was installed).

The bathroom with painting almost complete (the baseboards are still being painted). Medicine cabinet door done and installed.

The final product, dimly lit so you can see the shades. You can almost see some of the crown molding in this picture. All of the shiny stuff (faucet, door latch, hinges, etc.) is all polished nickel, appropriate for a 1920s house. You can almost make out the freestanding green cabinet to the right of the sink where we store sundries....it now has a panel door on it.

Update: Several years later, I stripped the paint off of the bathroom door...it was the only gumwood door in the whole house that had been painted. This is what I found under the paint...absolutely gorgeous...best looking door in the house. Put some spar varnish on it, and now it hangs in the bathroom in all of its gumwood glory.