Publication Date: Friday Feb 6, 1998

Leave the remodeling for the next owners

QWe have a small, 1936-vintage stucco home in a charming neighborhood in town. We've lived here 15 years, and are soon going to be relocating out of state. In order to get the house ready for the market, a realtor friend said we should paint our modernized kitchen gray, to go with the rosy granite and very dark mahogany European-style cabinets; she also suggested we tear out the original single bathroom, with arched, multi-green tiled openings to the separate tub and shower, and install white tile and a clear glass shower stall. Also, she said to remove the built-in vanity and put in a pedestal sink to make the room look larger. There is some water damage we'll have to have repaired anyway, but we're uneasy with these radical ideas. What do you think? AThank goodness your intuition kicked in, and you're asking for more ideas. Certainly you want to get the best possible price for your home, but we caution you to be conservative. We have seen so many older small houses stripped of the elements that constitute the "character" that many modern houses sorely lack, all in an effort to make the house look more modern and "show" better. Let's start with the kitchen, which from your description sounds like it is no longer "vintage" in style. So be it. Painting it gray is unlikely to be successful. In our experience, most homeowners prefer that the kitchen be a sunny spot, and unless you have a perfect, bright exposure, gray is likely to produce a gloomy or at least very subdued result.

Since you have a strong color in the granite, we recommend that you lift from it a very light tint of the rosy tone for wall paint. Make sure that the color looks good with the dark wood and whatever your floor covering is as well. Painted wood trim might be a clear white, or a creamy white would be a softer approach.

Now your bathroom is where we really differ from the advice you've received. We may be challenging conventional wisdom here, but unless you have added floor space, no one considering purchasing your house is going to expect it to offer the expansive bathrooms considered essential in a home built today. We would strongly recommend that you do not rip out the architectural features which set your house apart from a more modern house.

We have worked extensively in our practice to bring sensitive, functional and beautiful designs to our clients' older homes; sometimes that does mean tearing out the old and introducing an interpretation for current needs. But we can hardly imagine that you would want to live through a major remodel of the only bathroom in your house, just to be able to (hopefully) sell it to someone else. Chances are these days that most older homes are remodeled by their new owners anyway, especially if they want more square footage.

Instead, we would recommend you approach the project with these points in mind: materials and finishes, color, lighting, and storage.

Since you have to replace some tile anyway due to water damage, try to match the tile as closely as possible. There are many distributors of ceramic tile now that feature "vintage" colors. If the exact shade of green isn't available, you could retile the floor with white four-by-four inch tiles, bordered in a darker green tile. You probably have vintage white porcelain fixtures anyway, so this scheme would look great. Or perhaps you would like the look of unglazed porcelain hexagonal tiles. These contribute a very warm and friendly look in a tiny bathroom, and are very appropriate for use on shower floors; they also have the most minimal of grout joints.

As for the vanity, if the basin and tile are in decent shape, we'd recommend keeping it. While a pedestal sink would make the room look a little bit larger, the style lacks any counter space and storage. In our opinion, this would be a serious detraction to your bathroom. However, if the tile is not great, this could be replaced with white or other colored tile. Further, if the faucet is old and cruddy, replace it with a new one in a style appropriate for a 60-year-old house. Many products are available now at various price levels. Stay away from brass-colored finishes if possible.

As far as colors, keeping the walls and ceiling light-reflective is the way to go. Choose a light off-white that either matches the white fixtures, or is slightly warmer, offsetting the predominance of green. Unless the green is a near-perfect shade to pull from, most light tints of green will make you look awful in a small room. If your bathroom has not been wallpapered, we would not recommend starting that now. Paint is much cheaper and more valuable in sprucing up a room.

Which brings us to lighting: here's where a couple of hundred bucks can really improve a tired old bathroom, especially once it sports a new coat of bright paint. We're willing to bet the alcove for the tub is dark and unlit, and probably the shower stall, too.

Have a qualified electrician come in and install lighting fixtures rated for wet or damp locations. This may mean either a recessed "can" with a lens over the opening (which is not historically "accurate") or, over the tub anyway, a small surface-mounted fixture, controlled by a dimmer switch if possible.

Then, hang a mirror from yesteryear on the wall over the tub to reflect the light and animate the space. At the vanity, improve the lighting by installing either a new over-mirror fixture, or period-appropriate side lights, about 68 inches to 72 inches from the floor, and a few inches to either side of the mirror/medicine cabinet. If the room has a ceiling fixture, match it to the new one in the tub alcove.

You might be tempted to yank out the medicine cabinet and replace it with a wall of sheet glass. While this would definitely visually enlarge the space, it is also a pretty modern touch. It also would diminish the storage space. If the medicine cabinet is retained, make sure it is clean and even freshly painted. Perhaps glass shelves and a new cabinet knob would freshen it up. New hardware on the vanity cabinet would also be in order. If the shower stall has a door, make sure that the frame is clean and polished. To remain in period, the glass would probably have some kind of design etched onto it, or be a ribbed glass panel. While clear glass is obviously the most transparent, it also is the most difficult to keep spotless and pristine, both of which are characteristics that improve the salability of a house.

So, while you do have some repairs to do, you don't have to undertake a full remodeling just to sell the house. Let the next owners do it. Marcia Miller, ASID, and Steven Stein, ASID, own MILLER/STEIN, a Mid-Peninsula interior design firm. Their column appears the first Friday of the month. Send questions to MILLER/STEIN care of Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.



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