The Toilet Was Sitting on a Raised Platform Until This Bathroom Was Reconfigured Around a Salvaged 1920s Tub
Renovating this third-floor bathroom meant dealing with more than dated finishes. According to Reddit user u/Mysterious_Rise_432, the bathroom had not been functional for decades, the water had been off for an estimated 20 to 30 years, and the toilet occupied a raised platform that took up much of an already cramped room.
New pipes, a wall extension, and a complete change to the bathroom layout were part of the renovation, yet one fixture was kept rather than sent out with the demolition debris. The home’s 1920s bathtub was salvaged, restored, and brought into the new room, where its pink exterior now sets the direction for a bathroom that draws from the age of the house rather than erasing it.
Raised Toilet Took Up Valuable Floor Space
The original toilet sat on a raised platform, with exposed plumbing running beside it and a step separating it from the rest of the bathroom floor. The platform also pushed the fixture into a tight corner of an already narrow space.
Removing it required more than taking out the toilet and leveling the floor. The homeowner says the remodel included new pipes and a complete bathroom reconfiguration, allowing the toilet and other fixtures to be repositioned as part of the new layout.
Sloped Ceiling Made the Existing Footprint Feel Even Tighter
The third-floor location introduced another constraint: a steep ceiling slope cuts into the room from one side, while the old bathroom entrance occupied a narrow opening beyond it. From the adjoining space, the bathroom appears tucked into a small section of the upper floor rather than planned as a comfortable full bathroom.
Expanding into adjacent space gave the remodel more floor area without removing the roofline that defines the upper story. The finished design still works beneath that slope, but the fixtures no longer compete for the same narrow strip of floor.
New Plumbing Required Opening the Floor
Once demolition began, sections of the floor were removed to expose the joists and old plumbing below. Supply and drain lines run between and across the framing, showing why changing this layout involved far more than moving a vanity or replacing a toilet.
The original bathtub remained in the room during part of the work, sitting beside the opened floor while the plumbing was rebuilt around the new plan. Keeping a fixture from the 1920s gave the project a fixed historic element even as much of the room around it was stripped back to framing.
Salvaged Tub Became the Piece Worth Restoring
Instead of replacing the old tub with a new built-in model, the existing freestanding bathtub was prepared for another round of use. The photo shows its exterior being worked on while inverted, with a muted pink finish covering most of the body and sections still in progress.
Its rolled rim and freestanding form already suited the Victorian direction chosen for the renovated room. Keeping the tub also preserved a physical piece of the home’s 1920s history in a bathroom where the plumbing, floor, walls, storage, and fixtures needed major intervention.
Pink Tub Now Sits Under the Window
The finished layout places the restored bathtub beneath the window, where the pink exterior stands against white beadboard and pale hexagonal floor tile. Brass-toned claw feet, an exposed floor-mounted tub filler, and a wooden bath tray reinforce the older profile without surrounding the tub with heavy finishes.
A white vanity sits across from it, leaving a clear passage through the center of the bathroom. Moving away from the former compressed arrangement also gives the tub enough open space for its shape and feet to remain visible rather than wedging it between walls.
Roofline Became Part of the New Bathroom
Viewed from the doorway, the sloped ceiling now frames the bathtub instead of making the bathroom appear confined. The window creates a visual center at the far wall, with the tub positioned below it and a glass-front storage cabinet occupying the opposite side.
White walls and beadboard keep the irregular ceiling geometry visible without dividing it into more competing surfaces. A small crystal-style ceiling fixture draws attention upward, turning an architectural constraint into part of the finished room’s period-inspired design.
Original Tub Anchors the Far End of the Room
Placing the bathtub across the end wall gives the long room a destination when viewed from the entrance. Pink appears on the tub body while white dominates the rim, walls, floor, and window treatment, preventing the color from spreading across every surface.
Brass fixtures and feet connect the tub to the bathroom’s other metal details, while the dark vase and metal wall shelf add enough contrast to separate the pale surfaces. The result does not depend on reproducing a 1920s bathroom detail for detail; instead, the salvaged fixture supplies the historic starting point.
Vanity Brings Storage Into the Reconfigured Plan
A freestanding-style white vanity now provides drawers and enclosed storage beside the tub, topped with a pale stone-look counter and rectangular undermount sink. Dark cabinet hardware contrasts with the brass-toned faucet, while two glass wall sconces flank a large shaped mirror.
Beadboard continues behind the vanity at the same height used around the room, linking the sink area to the tub wall. The vanity also gives the expanded bathroom a full-size wash area that would have been difficult to fit into the former cramped footprint.
Toilet Moved Off Its Platform and Onto the Main Floor
The new toilet sits at the same floor level as the rest of the bathroom, with no raised box beneath it. Its position beside the glass-front cabinet leaves more open floor around the fixture and removes the step that once interrupted circulation through the old room.
Large white hexagonal tiles now run across the entire floor, which makes the change in level even more apparent when compared with the original setup. Storage occupies the wall beside the toilet, while towels, baskets, and bathroom supplies remain visible behind the cabinet’s arched glass doors.
Expanded Bathroom Has Room Around Every Fixture
The final wide view shows what the reconfiguration accomplished beyond replacing old finishes. The bathtub, vanity, toilet, and storage cabinet each occupy a separate section of the room, with an open path through the center and no fixture forced onto a platform.
Much of the old bathroom had to disappear for that layout to work, including outdated plumbing and part of the existing enclosure. The decision to salvage the 1920s tub gives the finished space a direct connection to what was there before, while the pink exterior makes the oldest fixture in the room the feature most likely to draw attention.
Would you have kept the 1920s bathtub for the new bathroom, or replaced it while the room was already stripped down?
Image credits go to Reddit u/Mysterious_Rise_432.