Bungalow Bathrooms

I bought this book to get ideas on renovating my 1930 bungalow bathroom. Although the book focuses more on restoration than renovation, I still found it a wonderful source of ideas. Filled with lots of full color pictures of restored and well-preserved bathrooms, the book is worth its price for the pictures alone. The text covers both historic and current issues and is a wealth of information. Each section of the book has a chapter called "Obsessive Restoration" for those serious about historic integrity, but also offers a "Compromise Solution" for those of us who need to balance 21st century demands. We found the book extremely valuable in picking layout, hardware, fixtures, walls, and flooring. It really helped us to design a bathroom that meets the needs of a modern family, yet which blends in with the historic values of our home.

I am doing a bungalow renovation, serving as the designer and general contractor ALTHO I have no experience in either area. I was all done, so I thought, but during the process made the decision not to replace the circa 1995 vinyl squares floor because I couldnt fine anything better. Voila! The room was all done, but - the floor looked totally yuck/wrong because rest of the room was in beautiful new correct bungalow style . I turned to this book for inspiration- and studied all the pictures- evening after evening. The right answer came! light grey 4" hex tiles! I am so thrilled even tho some of the work had to be redone... the floor pulled everything together.. like a little exclamation point. "BUNGALOW BATHROOMS" saves the day!

... and that's what makes it so wonderful. If you're considering re-doing a bathroom in a 19th or early 20th century house---whether you'll be restoring an original room or destroying a 70's "renovation"---you need this book. The author has a comprehensive awareness of both the stylistic and the practical issues involved. She also has a sense of humor about it all. I was particularly impressed by the pictures. Several of the historical rooms are studied in careful detail, wth closeups of many features---not just the major plumbing fixtures. Also, all the photos were taken specifically for this book; so many bathroom-advice books feature mostly manufacturer-supplied photos that bear little relation to the text.

I read Bungalow Bathrooms twice in one evening. First, I looked at the excellent photographs and at Jane Powell's sub-heads and chapter titles -- all bad puns. Then I read the book for content.This is a smart, solidly researched and well-written book. These are rare qualities in how-to books. Bless her, Powell never writes down to her readers. She appears to be a bright, cheerful, opinionated woman who has a lot to share and has found a great way to do it. I like a writer who has passion and a recognizable voice -- that's Powell.It's hard to imagine a more useful book for any interested in bungalows, whether as a design type found throughout the Unites States, or as a how-to-rehab it right guide.I like the divisions of the book. You want sinks? Sinks have their place. You want tile? It has its place.The photographs are terrific, the line drawings are an excellent guide.Buy two, give one as a gift and keep the other.

If you are even thinking about restoring the bathroom(s) in a pre-1940 house, this book is a "must have" for you. Jane Powell put everything you would ever want to know in there. This lady knows so much about antique bathroom fixtures it's SCARY! Written with a touch of humor reflecting this most personal of rooms. Just a hint of sexual innuendo mixed in with illustrated and narrative factual detail. Everything is included from hundreds of great photographs of period fittings and fixtures, floors and walls, to detailed text describing the nuances and subtleties of such things as tile, windows and doors, lighting, Fuller-ball faucets, bathtub restoration, angle stops, plumbing code issues, wash-down, wash-out and syphon-jet toilets featuring lions and dolphins, and much, much more. There is the most complete listing of resources for everything you need for a period bathroom restoration at the back of the book as well. As in Bungalow Kitchens, the camera work was handled by Linda Svendsen and it is Super too! In summary.......GET THIS BOOK!!