Two Old-House Quirks We Didn’t Keep: A Benton Park Bathroom Renovation

Two Old-House Quirks We Didn’t Keep: A Benton Park Bathroom Renovation

Some quirks stay. Some go.

I love an old-house quirk, and this Benton Park bathroom renovation came with plenty. Crooked brick, wavy floors, trim nobody makes anymore. Keep them all.

But a dark, dungeon-like shower and a bathroom with no door? Those had to go.

This bathroom is in a historic home in St. Louis’s Benton Park neighborhood. We didn’t move a single wall. Instead, we made the room lighter, more functional, and more connected to the house around it, without sanding off the character that made it special.

Keeping the good parts of a Benton Park bathroom

The room already had the things you can’t buy new: exposed brick, original wood floors, and big, substantial baseboards. Everything else was designed around them.

I didn’t want any of it to look brand new. Old surfaces are supposed to look lived-in, so we picked new materials that could sit comfortably next to them.

The glossy aqua tile is my favorite example. Each piece varies a little in color, surface, and edge, and that imperfection echoes the texture of the brick. The glaze also bounces light around the room, which mattered a lot for our next problem.

Goodbye, dungeon shower

The old shower was dark and closed in, and the room had moisture and mold problems hiding underneath. Those got fixed properly first, with mold remediation and better ventilation. Pretty finishes can’t fix a problem in the walls.

Then we swapped the heavy enclosure for frameless glass. That one change transformed the room. Daylight now reaches the shower, and it feels like part of the bathroom instead of a cave carved out of it.

We kept the shower itself quiet on purpose: large-format marble-look slabs on the walls, a marble hex mosaic floor with a linear drain, and a brass rain head and handshower. Outside the glass, the aqua tile wraps the half wall, capped in stone. The glass lets the louder, more fun materials in the rest of the room do the talking.

A bathroom with no door

Yes, really. This bathroom had no door.

My clients wanted privacy, which is fair. But a solid door would have cut off the natural light that flowed into the bedroom next door. So we designed a new pair of arched wood doors with glass panels.

The doors close off the bathroom, and the glass still lets light pass between the two rooms. The arched wood frame looks right against the weathered brick and the architecture of the house. They’re brand new, but they look like they could have been there all along. That’s always my goal when we add something to an old house.

Now for the fun part: color and pattern

Once the practical problems were solved, we got to play.

A painterly floral wallpaper covers the upper walls in every color of the garden. Below it, the glossy aqua tile runs in a vertical-stack band, finished with a thin brass edge, and the big baseboards are painted to match.

The double vanity is warm wood with soft rounded panels, tapered legs, and round brass knobs. Arched brass mirrors, fluted glass sconces, and a little brass wall vase for fresh flowers bring warmth to all those greens and blues.

At the other end of the room, a sculptural freestanding tub with a brass floor-mounted filler sits against the exposed brick. We didn’t clean up or cover the brick. We made it the focal point.

Above the tub is a cluster of tiny framed pieces: portraits, a red sacred heart, an eye miniature, a little mirror. It feels collected over time, not decorated in one weekend. A pink patterned Roman shade softens the window.

That was the balance throughout: finished, but not overly polished. Colorful, but still connected to the house. New, but not obviously new.

What this Benton Park bathroom renovation changed

You don’t always need an addition or a new layout to completely change an old bathroom. In this Benton Park bathroom renovation, the footprint never moved:

• The dark shower is now open and full of light.
• The bathroom has doors without blocking light to the bedroom.
• The moisture problems were fixed for good.
• The original floors, baseboards, and brick are still part of the story.

This Benton Park bathroom renovation doesn’t try to recreate the past, and it doesn’t erase it either. It just adds the next layer to a house that’s already lived many lives. In an old St. Louis home, that’s exactly how I think a renovation should feel.

Want to see another one? Read about our historic bathroom renovation in Lafayette Square, or see more bathroom projects.

Thinking about a bathroom renovation in a historic St. Louis home? Let’s talk.

Frequently asked questions

Can you keep exposed brick in a bathroom?

Yes. Brick does fine in a bathroom with good ventilation. We made the brick wall behind the tub the room’s focal point instead of covering it.

How do you brighten a dark shower without moving walls?

Replace a solid or framed enclosure with frameless glass. It lets daylight reach the shower and makes the whole bathroom feel bigger.

How do you add a bathroom door without losing natural light?

Use doors with glass panels. They close off the bathroom while light still passes through to the next room. Choose frosted or obscured glass if you need more privacy.

What tile works well in an old house?

Tile with slight variation in color and edge, like handmade or glossy glazed tile, sits comfortably next to old brick, plaster, and wood.