renovation

We remodeled the main guest bathroom off the family room. By far, the toughest interior space we have tackled. As with many bathroom remodels, this project was plagued by surprises and difficult challenges. Let’s get into it.

Table Of Contents

Background & Before Photos
Subfloor Replacement
Renovation
Vanity
Clawfoot Tub
Summary

Here’s a quick snapshot at the before and progress:

Background & Before Photos

This is one of the two first-floor bathrooms. It’s part of the 1980s addition, which, when the house was a B&B, was used by the inkeeper. Today, the bathroom and connected bedroom are part of our primary family living area, right off the family room we remodeled a few years back. Prior to the remodel, definitely the most used bathroom in the entire house.

Of all the spaces in the house, this was in the worst shape. The floor was spent, the vanity was literally falling apart, the veneer on the lighting was peeling off, and there was a hole in the door for some unknown reason. The condition of the bathroom is consistent with how it was when we bought the house, and as it goes, took a back seat to much larger projects.

I’m sure there’s a story here from the previous owner. In a single photo, the motivation for the bathroom reno.

Subfloor Replacement

A closer look at the flooring revealed nothing was sealed. The baseboards, toilet, and beneath the pipe escutcheons were not caulked, allowing water to reach the subfloor.

So, first surprise, the subfloor needs to be replaced. Down to the floor joists we go!

Working through the layers, not liking what we’re finding

With the subfloor construction behind us, it’s time to rebuild this bathroom. Since this is not a historic space and is part of the 1980s addition, we decided on a design fusion of historic and modern elements. The casing, bullseyes, and plinths are already Victorian-inspired. The clawfoot tub was manufactured somewhere in the 1920s. We chose a new vanity that is a nod to the home.

The twins chose the paint color. They wanted their “Pink Barbie” bathroom, and Alexandria designed around it. The new flooring is porcelain tile in a black and white pattern.

Three very excited little ones to see the paint!

Vanity

We chose a Victorian-inspired vanity. Above is a quick mockup of the vanity and porcelain tile.

From an install standpoint, the vanity was tricky. It has claw feet, which, when placed against the baseboard, would create a 1/2 inch gap. We labored over how to solve this.

We did a lot of research, and everything pointed to removing the baseboard behind the vanity, which we did not want to do for various reasons, including: 1) A continuous look, 2) Sealing. Our argument is that the vanity represents “furniture”; why would you disrupt the baseboard to install furniture?

The final decision was to retrofit the clawfeet to provide enough clearance to allow the baseboard to run continuously around the vanity. We accomplished this by carefully removing a 1/2 inch of the back of the clawfoot.

The result is a flush and seamless install. It helps that we bought a baseboard that fits right under the clawfoot’s curve. Planning for the win! By the way, not that anybody is going to be looking at the backside of the feet, but look at that perfect paint match!

Clawfoot Tub

One of the few items to return to the remodeled bathroom was this gorgeous Victorian clawfoot tub. We have seven clawfoot tubs throughout the house, and it’s our understanding that we have the Birk’s to thank for them.

It’s hard to beat the beauty of an original clawfoot tub. The challenge in this space was the configuration. It was set up as a shower, and the curtain dominated the space (blocked a lovely window, too). We decided to do away with the shower curtain, which opens up the space. We replaced the fixture with a beautiful Victorian telephone faucet.

Alexandria took on the project of restoring the tub. The blue was out! We decided to go back to a classic white. We also cleaned up the clawfeet and copper drain pipe.

Summary

Nearly every facet of this bathroom was touched. It’s easier to list what wasn’t replaced: the casing, Victorian bullseye, and plinths, sheetrock, and tub. Everything else was replaced or refreshed, including the subfloor, new flooring, vanity, lighting, faucets, a TOTO toilet, light switches, outlets, etc. A new bathroom!

A common question we get is how many of these projects we do ourselves versus how many we contract out. There are several areas/domains we feel pretty confident in these days: finish carpentry, painting, restoration, plaster work, and electrical. When it was all said and done, the two areas we hired out were: plumbing and tile installation; we did the rest.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this bathroom remodel for all of the final touches! We also have a number of other projects coming to an end that we’re excited to share.

Until next time, The Morgan Family.

We are excited about the momentum we have after our first year of working on the home. It has been a big year for our family. We moved from Florida to Missouri and soon welcomed our son into the world. With all of this change, we were able to kick off important projects for this house.

Table Of Contents

Victorian Porch
Library Restoration
Cast Iron Fence
Landscaping
Lamp Post
Basement
Conclusion

Victorian Porch

We chose to tackle painting the porch this year because it represents most of the house’s external wood. It was over 20 years ago since the entire porch was painted; the paint was chipping and had faded.

We were surprised when we first moved in; it turns out we had a major water feature built directly into our porch! The flat roof covering the gazebo had a major leak that had supposedly been fixed.

This leak turned out to be a larger problem than expected, and the entire portion of the roof had to be replaced. After replacing the roof, we turned to the ceiling that was ruined.

Here are progress photos:

Library Restoration

Having been a B&B for several decades, it only makes sense that there would be a second kitchen. We came across an old photo of this room and discovered it originally was the library. Being one of the smaller first floor rooms, it is one of the more complex. The library originally had a marble fireplace, one of the largest windows in the house, built-in wood cabinets with glass doors, and a doorway into the men’s parlor. We’re putting it back to how it was as close as we can. Be sure to checkout Part 1 and Part 2 of the library restoration on the blog for more detail.

Cast Iron Fence

One of the home’s most beautiful exterior features is the original cast iron fence with large limestone footers. Unfortunately, it has been playing a game of tug of war with the Missouri winters. The expansion and contraction have slowly pushed the left side of the fence, almost tipping over at one point. In February, it made a big move and jumped to the top of our list.

I lost track of the number of contractors and specialists that looked at this fence. I have to admit, in the end, I overthought my entire approach to rescuing this fence. We did find help, and it took a degree of finesse. Trenches were dug on the backside of both sides of the fence, and wood was used to move the footers back into place carefully. I had thought deadmen were the way to go, but after careful assessment, the engineering needed to protect the 133-year-old footers was overkill for the length of the fence. To help protect against the fence listing in the future, we’re using drainage on the backside to help during the winters.

Landscaping

One very large sick tree towered over the five-story house. We knew it was one bad storm away from a terrible consequence. We also took out two overgrown bushes that were eyesores.

Lamp Post

After trying multiple bulbs and flipping every switch we could find on the first level, the post would not light up. It wasn’t until removing an unpermitted room in the basement that I discovered electricity to the poll had been cut. We restored the electricity, and now the light post shines bright. Looking down from the third floor, it had started to rust. With a bit of prep, it only took a couple of hours to paint the lamp a fresh gloss black oil paint (refreshing quick win after countless hours of acrylic paints on the porch).

The Herzog Mansion front porch and lamp post shine again!

Basement

We love the basement; it’s the entire footprint of the historic home. It has an original coal room, cellar, and multiple large rooms. There was a nearly finished room that turned out not to be permitted. I ordered a construction container and demoed the room in a day. Fortunate to do so, discovered where electricity had been cut to the ladies parlor above. The entire basement had plaster ceilings originally, which had been largely removed. First time removing plaster, and I have to say, wow, that’s a messy job!

Conclusion

We are excited about the momentum going into 2021. Alexandria and I were reflecting recently on our first year in Hermann, and the main theme that surfaced was gratitude. We feel truly blessed to have been so warmly welcomed into the community.

What’s next? Wrap up the porch and library restoration. From there, we’re going to start painting exterior windows. There is still much to do!

Thank you for reading, The Morgan Family.