Craftsman bathrooms worth keeping exactly as they are.

The Craftsman and period-revival housing around Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights and Garfield Heights has bathrooms that are original to the house — cast iron tubs, sometimes claw-foot, with hexagonal floor tile and tiled wainscot. A replacement tub from a big-box store in one of those rooms looks exactly like what it is.

Cast iron enamel is thick and hard. It wears and it chips, but the tub itself lasts effectively forever, which is why a hundred-year-old tub is usually still structurally perfect under a surface that looks past saving. Preparation is the whole job here: the surface has to be properly etched or nothing bonds to it.

Color matters more in these houses than anywhere else we work. Bright modern white can look wrong against original tile. Bone and off-whites usually sit better, and we can match to what's already in the room.