A 1960s bathroom in Altona North, made hers

A lifelong family home, a bathroom that hadn’t changed in sixty years, and a client with a clear sense of her own style. Full bathroom renovation, Altona North, around $35,000.

Suburb Altona North
Room Bathroom
House 1960s brick veneer
Time on site 4 weeks, strip-out to handover
Investment Around $35,000, all extra works included

The original 1960s bathroom in Altona North before renovation: cream tiles, patterned vinyl floor, bath with a curtained shower — **Before**The original bathroom, unchanged since the 1960s.

Finished bathroom renovation in Altona North: walk-in shower behind a single glass panel, pink square wall tiles, mint green walls and a black-and-white geometric tiled floor — **After**Walk-in shower, level floor, no hob and no step.

The brief

Our client has lived in this Altona North house her whole life. It was her parents’ home before it was hers, and the bathroom was the original 1960s room. She wanted to keep the house but finally make this room her own.

Two things bothered her most. The shower was tiny, and the only toilet was out in the extension, not inside the main part of the house.

What we found, and told her first

A house this age comes with things you have to plan for, not discover. Before we quoted, we walked her through three of them.

The house moves. Sixty-year-old timber frames shift with the seasons, so the waterproofing, sheeting and tiling had to be specified for movement rather than assuming a rigid box.

The walls contained asbestos sheeting. That meant licensed removal and disposal before any of our work began, priced in from the start.

The plumbing couldn’t cope with a modern bathroom. The supply into the house was undersized for a proper shower and an added toilet, so we upsized the pipework coming into the house.

All of this went into the clear, detailed quote agreed up front. None of it was a surprise once the walls were open.

Bathroom stripped to the original timber frame and brick, Altona North — **Strip-out**Back to the frame. The asbestos sheeting is gone; the original studs show sixty years of movement.

Floor joists exposed during the bathroom strip-out, ready for the subfloor to be dropped — **Subfloor**Joists exposed so the shower floor could be set lower than the rest of the room.

What we did

The old bath and curtained shower cubicle came out. In their place is a full-width walk-in shower behind a single fixed glass panel, with two rain heads and a hand shower. To make it work in a small room, we dropped the subfloor so the shower sits flush with the bathroom floor, with no hob and no step.

The larger shower and a toilet inside the main house both came from the same rethink of the layout.

From there it was a full strip-out and rebuild: new framework where the old walls had moved, new sheeting, waterproofing to standard, then tiling, vanity, fittings and finishes. One crew, four weeks on site, start to finish.

New wall sheeting and floor prepared for waterproofing in the Altona North bathroom — **Mid-way**New sheeting up and the floor ready for waterproofing, with the dropped shower zone visible.

The look

Our client knows what she likes, and she worked hard to explain it. Our job was to turn that into a room that felt like hers without turning the house into a retro piece that would date quickly.

We landed on mint green walls, soft pink square wall tiles, a bold black-and-white geometric floor, and a curved wall-hung vanity with a stone top and brushed tapware. It nods to the era of the house without copying it. We went back and forth on tiles, the vanity and the finishes more than on most jobs.

Part of that conversation was resale: the house is bigger than she needs and she knows one day it will sell. So we steered towards choices she loved that would also read well to a buyer, rather than picking one over the other.

The result

A walk-in shower with real room to move, a toilet inside the house for the first time, and a bathroom that finally belongs to her rather than to 1965. We’re proud of this one.

The full job, including the asbestos removal, the plumbing upgrade and the subfloor work, came in around $35,000.

Sven renovated my 1960s bathroom. I was impressed with his attention to detail and ideas, and didn’t hesitate engaging him to also renovate my kitchen and laundry. He possesses both practical expertise and a strong sense of aesthetics. Sven listened to how I wanted to use my space… On top of being very competent (and a perfectionist!), he was professional and a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend Flow Renovations.
Suzanna V., Google review

Finished Altona North bathroom: walk-in shower behind a single glass panel, pink square tiles, mint green walls, curved vanity and black-and-white geometric floor — **Finished**Curved vanity, stone top, brushed tapware and the walk-in shower beyond.

Renovating an older home?

Most of the west’s housing is 1950s to 70s, and most of it has some of what we found here. Our guides cover the questions this job raised.