The bathroom is original to the house, just a little something we learned over the weekend. We’ve been a little skeptical as to whether the room was something they remodeled in the 1960’s or early ’70’s; we’ve heard that maroon tile wasn’t yet trendy, and separate standing showers were not especially common for construction in 1952.
As documented in the above invoice, the installation of all of that tile only cost the original owners $680, thousands less than it might cost a homeowner today. Without taking you on another tour, trust me in saying that there’s a lot of detail work happenin’ in those tiled walls. The tiles and paint colors themselves, we already know trace back to Romany and Hechinger; piecing together the history of this house has become one of my favorite activities, from exploring different paint colors hidden behind wall outlet covers to finding trace remnants of shag carpeting lost behind baseboard heaters. And the blueprints obviously, if you didn’t see these these blueprints, you might enjoy knowing what else we’ve learned so far about our home’s design.
Back to the bath, we’re really lucky that the majority of the tiles are still in great shape, especially in areas like the sink and around the tub. The shower stall ceiling, how should I put it, I’m afraid to poke or scrub at vigorously, and some of the floor tiles, pretty cracked, scratched, and lacking their glossy top coat, but we’ve been doing little repairs along the way that should hold us over for awhile longer while we figure out what upgrades we want to make to the space.
Anyone else find and save original construction receipts from their home?
7 Comments
And the fixtures and shower door were included too….Nowadays the fixtures would have easily cost that much alone. Really neat to have found that invoice.
What cost $680 in 1952 would cost $5900 today! Enjoy that bougie bathroom :)
No home receipts, but that reminds me of the original hospital bill from when I was born in 1963, except the 7 days we stayed in the hospital (they could do that back then…my mom gained over 60 pounds with me!) only cost about $375.00, and no, I did not leave a digit out. My parents had to pay about $6.00 as their entire portion!
Amazing! And ssshhhhhhh about the weight gain. Also, this sweet story: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2014/01/couple-marks-66th-anniversary-with-15-75-waldorf-astoria-hotel-room/
I am seriously in awe that the bathroom tile is over 60 years old!! Seriously, it is in such awesome shape, I cannot even imagine it being that old. Usually house settling will at least crack the mortar joints in that period of time. I’m a huge fan of all things old — I would take a photo of the bathroom before any renovations are done and mat it in a frame along with the original receipt…….good conversation piece. :-) I built a home from scratch in 2000 and should have kept those receipts — lumber was half the cost of what it is now. Anyway, can’t wait to see what you’re doing with your bathroom! You have such great taste!
The tile color in your bathroom looks very similar in style/color to the tile in my parent’s upstairs bathroom which may or may not be original to when the house was built in 1950. They live in Irondequoit, so maybe it’s a Rochester thing?
It’s easy to forget about inflation and think how “inexpensive” things were back in the day. But that’s just not the case. You have a $6000 bathroom and Mary’s parents had a $2900 hospital bill of which their portion was $46.30 give or take (still a good deal though :) ). Just google inflation calculator to translate historical prices into modern ones. Hope this helps ;)