GREENHITHE, NORTH SHORE — AUCKLAND
Vintage Character Bathroom Renovation
in Greenhithe, North Shore
A small bathroom reworked around a freestanding bath, in black matte and brushed platinum.
Completed April 2021
RENOVATION
Project Managed By
Kevin Yang
Managing Director / Project Management
kevin@superiorrenovations.co.nz
0800 199 888
Quick answer: We renovated a small bathroom in a 1920s Greenhithe bungalow, reworking the layout to fit a freestanding bath, a tiled double shower, toilet and basin into a tight footprint. The finished room is a vintage character bathroom renovation in Greenhithe, done in black matte and brushed platinum to match the home’s older character.
| Location | Greenhithe, North Shore |
| Completed | April 2021 |
| Scope | Full bathroom renovation — layout reconfiguration, freestanding bath, tiled double shower, custom barn door |
| Project lead | Kevin Yang, Managing Director / Project Management |
| Project type | Owner-occupier |
Before the Renovation: One Missing Bathtub
This Greenhithe home is a 1920s bungalow, and it had already been restored beautifully before our client bought it — high ceilings, casement windows, white walls and black matte detailing throughout. She loved almost everything about it. The one thing it didn’t have was a bath.
For her that mattered on two fronts. She missed a proper soak at the end of a long day. She was also thinking ahead: a house with no bath narrows your pool of buyers down the track, because families with young children usually want one. Sound familiar? Plenty of older homes were reworked over the years and quietly lost their bathtub along the way.
So the brief was specific. Put a bath back in — without it looking bolted on, and without losing the room’s vintage feel.
A 1920s bungalow’s bathroom is never a blank canvas, though. The room was small, and it opened off a narrow corridor. Both of those facts shaped every decision that followed.
“The room was tight, so we didn’t try to make it bigger — we re-planned it. Move the basin, find the one spot a freestanding bath actually fits, then work the shower, toilet and storage in around it. Get that order right and a small bathroom stops feeling small.”
— Kevin Yang, Managing Director, Superior Renovations
Designing a Vintage Character Bathroom in Greenhithe
The brief from our client was continuity. The new bathroom had to read like it belonged in the rest of the house, not like a modern room someone had dropped in.
That ruled out most off-the-shelf tapware. Standard contemporary fittings would have fought the home’s older character, so we went looking for ranges with genuine period detailing. We landed on Astra Walker for the brassware and Burlington for the basin and accessories — both known for vintage-styled pieces — and held the palette to brushed platinum, chrome and black matte to match the black features already running through the home.
This is the kind of call our in-house design studio makes early, because the fittings decide the feel of the whole room. Get the tapware wrong in a character home and no amount of tiling saves it.
The Freestanding Bath That Started It All
The bath had to be the centrepiece — it was the whole reason for the job. To make it fit, we switched the layout: the basin moved to the right, and the bath went in where the basin used to stand.
It’s a freestanding piece paired with a brushed platinum mixer and hand shower, so the vintage look carries right through to the brassware.
Bath specifications:
- Admiral freestanding two-piece bath, 1650mm
- Astra Walker ‘Olde English’ bath mixer and hand shower, brushed platinum finish
- Bath supplied by Bath and Co
- Brassware from the Astra Walker range
Basin, Towel Rail and the Vintage Details
With the bath set, the rest of the fittings had to keep the same period thread running. Every accessory was chosen to look like it had always been there — chrome and black framing, nothing glossy or modern.
Fittings and accessories:
- Burlington Edwardian rectangle basin on a chrome wash stand, 560mm
- Black-framed round mirror, 600mm
- Burlington shelf and towel rail
- Burlington robe hook
- Burlington toilet roll holder
The Tiled Double Shower
The shower is one of the more unusual parts of the room. It runs two shower heads at either end, behind custom glass with matte black trim. The tiling does the rest of the work: black hexagonal tiles underfoot, white subway tiles with a black smoke pattern on the walls.
That contrast is what keeps the shower feeling vintage rather than clinical, and the rustic tapware stops it tipping too modern.
Solving a Narrow Corridor with a Custom Barn Door
Once the bath went in, a standard door became a problem. There was no room for a door to swing — not into the bathroom, and not out into the narrow corridor. A sliding door was the only option left.
A plain slider would have looked wrong against everything else, so we built a custom barn door with black matte trim, picking up the black detailing used through the rest of the house.
“The corridor decided the door for us. A swing door was never going to work, so the question became how to make a slider feel like part of a 1920s home rather than a hardware-store fix. A black matte barn door answered both.”
— Kevin Yang, Managing Director, Superior Renovations
What a Bathroom Renovation Like This Costs in Auckland
Every bathroom is priced to its own scope. The size of the room matters less than what happens inside it — a layout change, a freestanding bath, a tiled double shower and custom fittings all move the number more than the square metres do. Rather than quote a figure that won’t match your home, run your project through our bathroom renovation cost calculator for a realistic Auckland estimate.
💡 Quick tip: In a job like this, the cost drivers are the custom work — the barn door, the custom shower glass, the period brassware and reworking the plumbing for a new layout — not the floor area. A small bathroom can cost more than a large one once you start moving fixtures.
In the Owner’s Words
“Kevin really had a can-do attitude. I wanted a bathtub and he said he could customise the layout to fit a bathtub, sink, toilet and shower within the given space.”
— The homeowner, Greenhithe
A Period Bathroom That Belongs in the House
The room she ended up with does what she asked: a proper bath to come home to, in a space that looks like it was always part of a 1920s bungalow. Small footprint, narrow corridor, vintage palette — none of it stopped the bath going back in.
If you’ve got an older home on the North Shore and a bathroom that’s working against you, that’s exactly the kind of problem we like.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you fit a bath, shower, toilet and basin into a small bathroom?
In this Greenhithe bungalow the room was tight, so we reworked the layout rather than the footprint. The basin shifted to the right, and the freestanding bath went in where the basin used to sit. The double shower, toilet and basin all found a place around it. The trick is not a bigger room — it is mapping the plumbing and the door swing first, then placing each fixture so nothing crowds the next.
What tapware and fittings were used in this vintage bathroom?
The brassware came from the Astra Walker 'Olde English' range in a brushed platinum finish, with the basin and accessories from Burlington — both chosen for their period detailing. The bath mixer and hand shower match the freestanding bath, and the basin sits on a chrome wash stand with a black-framed round mirror above. Standard contemporary tapware would have looked out of place against the home's older character, so every piece was picked to read as period-correct.
Why install a sliding barn door instead of a standard door?
The bathroom opened off a narrow corridor, and once the bath went in there was no room for a door to swing — into the bathroom or out into the hall. A sliding door was the only workable option. A plain slider would have looked out of place, so we built a custom barn door with black matte trim to match the black detailing through the rest of the house.
Can new fixtures be matched to a 1920s bungalow's character?
Yes — that was the brief here. The house already had high ceilings, casement windows and black matte detailing, so the bathroom had to feel like it belonged. We used vintage-styled ranges from Astra Walker and Burlington, held the finishes to brushed platinum and chrome, and used black trims rather than anything obviously modern. The result reads as though it could have always been there, which is the point in a character home.
What tiles were used in the double shower?
Black hexagonal tiles on the floor, paired with white subway tiles carrying a black smoke pattern on the walls. The contrast does the heavy lifting — it keeps the shower feeling vintage rather than clinical. The custom shower glass uses matte black trim to tie back to the barn door and the rest of the home's black features.
How much does a vintage character bathroom renovation in Greenhithe cost?
It depends on the work, not the suburb. A layout change, a freestanding bath, a tiled double shower and custom fittings like the ones here move the price more than the size of the room does. Rather than quote a figure that will not match your place, run your numbers through our bathroom renovation cost calculator for a realistic Auckland estimate.
Does adding a bathtub help when you sell?
For this owner it was part of the reason to renovate. A home with no bath can narrow your pool of buyers — families with young children often want one — so putting a bath back in protects resale as much as it adds daily comfort. In a character home it also restores something buyers expect to find. It was the single feature that started this whole project.
Further Resources
- More completed Auckland renovation projects
- Real client stories from across Auckland
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