Projects › Lower Manhattan › 55 East 9th Street
Completed project · Greenwich Village, New York, NY
A guest bathroom in a Greenwich Village co-op, rebuilt inside its own four walls. The footprint did not move and the tub stayed where it was, but the hot and cold lines were replaced back to the risers, a pedestal sink became a floating wood vanity, and the whole room came back in blush pink over white tile with a terracotta hexagon floor and unlacquered brass. Every fixture below is the one that was specified and installed.
Job record
- Project
- Guest bathroom renovation, tub and shower combination
- Location
- 55 East 9th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, NY 10003
- Layout
- Unchanged — the tub, toilet and sink stayed in their existing positions
- Completed
- Early 2026
- Scope
- Bathroom renovation · Plumbing branch replacement · Waterproofing · Floor and wall tile · Vanity and storage · Electrical · Painting
- Behind the tile
- New hot and cold branch lines back to the risers, with new ball shut-off valves, water hammer arrestors and check valves
- Design
- Drawings dated 21 June 2023 · Designer Rejla
The starting point: a pedestal sink and a curtain rod
The bathroom worked, but it gave nothing back. A pedestal sink meant no storage at all, so everything lived on a chrome wall shelf and a glass shelf above the tile. White subway tile ran to a chair rail with painted wall above it, the tub sat behind a curtain on a rod, and a surface-mounted medicine cabinet and a two-globe vanity light finished the room. The homeowners wanted storage and personality without moving a single fixture.
What the crew did, in order
Protect the building first
Hallways and common areas were prepared as the building required, vents, the exhaust system access and the radiator connections were taped off, and the hallways were cleaned at the end of every day. Rubbish left the site the way the building allows, not the way that is quickest.
Strip out
Every finish came out: wall and floor tile, the tub and shower, the toilet, the pedestal sink and faucets, the vanity and medicine cabinets, the light fixtures, the wall hamper and all the accessories.
Replace the branch lines
New hot and cold lines were run back to the risers — a full branch replacement, not a tie-in — with new ball shut-off valves, water hammer arrestors and check valves. This is the part of a bathroom that decides whether the room is still trouble-free in fifteen years, and it is the part no photograph will ever show.
Waterproof, then tile the floor
The existing subfloor was prepared, Laticrete waterproofing was applied and turned up the walls 6 inches under the tub and shower, and the hexagon floor tile went down with its saddle, then grout and sealer.
Tile the walls
New cement board went up around the tub and shower, then the wall tile. The optional half-height tile around the rest of the room was taken, which is why the white runs all the way round and the pink starts above it.
Set the fixtures
The new alcove bath went back in the old tub position with its brass overflow drain, followed by the toilet, the floating vanity and its widespread faucet, and the shower body with its tub spout, rain head and handshower on a transfer valve.
Finish
The vanity light was centred over the mirror, the switch and outlet were replaced, the sliding tub door went in, then the mirror, the brass shelves and the accessories. Walls and ceiling were painted, and everything was caulked and cleaned.
Materials and finishes
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Bath | Kohler Underscore 60 by 30 in alcove bath, left drain, K-20201-LA |
| Bath drain | Kohler Clearflo brass slotted overflow bath drain, K-7271 |
| Toilet | Kohler one-piece elongated toilet with skirted trapway and dual flush, K-1381 |
| Lavatory faucet | Kohler widespread bathroom sink faucet with lever handles, 1.2 gpm, K-14406-4 |
| Shower valve | Kohler Rite-Temp valve body and cartridge kit, K-8304-KSL |
| Transfer valve | Kohler MasterShower three quarter inch two or three-way transfer valve, K-728-K, with K-737-K trim |
| Handshower | Kohler Awaken G90 24 in four-function handshower kit, 1.75 gpm, K-98361-G |
| Supply elbow | Kohler Purist Stillness wall-mount supply elbow with check valve, K-22172 |
| Bath spout | Kohler Tone wall-mount bath spout, K-27423 |
| Angle supplies | Kohler half inch angle supply with stop, K-7653 |
| Accessories | Kohler Elate 18 in towel bar K-27286, with the Elate vertical toilet paper holder K-27293 |
| Wall tile | Roca Blanco 2 by 10, stacked vertically, run half height around the room |
| Tub surround feature tile | Terracotta and white geometric tile on the tub wall — product not recorded in the binder |
| Floor tile | 8 by 8 hexagon in matte pink and white |
| Tub enclosure | Vigo sliding tub door in brass |
| Vanity | West Elm 24 in wall-hung wood vanity with an integrated basin |
| Mirror | West Elm seamless medicine cabinet, brass framed |
| Shelving | West Elm brass wall shelves |
| Vanity light | Lumens two-globe brass vanity light |
| Waterproofing | Laticrete membrane, turned up the walls 6 in under the tub and shower, over a prepared subfloor, with cement board around the enclosure |
The part of this bathroom nobody will ever see
Most of what was paid for on this job is behind tile. New hot and cold branch lines were run all the way back to the risers, with new ball shut-off valves, water hammer arrestors and check valves on them. Under the floor there is Laticrete waterproofing turned 6 inches up the walls; around the tub there is cement board.
None of it is visible in a single photograph on this page. It is also the only part that decides whether the room below ever sees a stain. A bathroom that is re-tiled over the original branch lines looks identical on the day it is finished and is a different building ten years later.
The result
The room is the same size it always was. What changed is that everything now has somewhere to live, the tub sits behind glass instead of a curtain, and the colour does the work that a bigger footprint would have. Keeping every fixture in place is also what kept the job inside a co-op alteration agreement without moving a waste line.
More MyHome projects in Lower Manhattan
Questions people ask about renovating a small co-op bathroom
Can you renovate a bathroom without moving any plumbing?
Yes, and this job is the clearest example of it. The tub went back in exactly the position the old one came out of, and the toilet and sink kept their locations too. What did change is everything feeding them: new hot and cold branch lines back to the risers, with new ball shut-off valves, water hammer arrestors and check valves. Keeping the fixtures put is usually what keeps a co-op alteration agreement simple; replacing the branch lines is what makes the room actually new.
What does “branch replacement” mean, and is it worth paying for?
It means the new fixtures are not tied into the old pipework. The lines are run back to the building risers and everything between the riser and the tap is new. On this bathroom that included new ball shut-off valves, water hammer arrestors and check valves. It is invisible, it is not cheap, and it is the single thing most likely to matter in ten years, because the alternative is new tile sitting on top of the original problem.
Can you fit a real vanity where there is only a pedestal sink?
This bathroom had a pedestal sink and no storage at all — everything lived on a chrome shelf bolted to the wall. It now has a 24 inch wall-hung wood vanity with an integrated basin, a brass-framed medicine cabinet above it and open brass shelving beside it. The vanity is wall-hung, so the floor runs underneath it, which is what stops a small room from reading as smaller.
How much of a building does a bathroom renovation actually touch?
More than the bathroom. On this job the hallways and common areas were prepared as the building required, the vents, the exhaust access and the radiator connections were taped off before anything came out, and the hallways were cleaned at the end of every working day. Rubbish left the site on the building’s terms. In a co-op that part is not a courtesy, it is usually written into the alteration agreement.
Is strong colour a risk in a small bathroom?
Here the colour is doing the work the square footage cannot. Blush pink sits above white 2 by 10 tile that is stacked vertically and run half height all the way round, the floor is an 8 by 8 hexagon in matte pink and white, and every metal in the room — faucet, shower fittings, shelves, mirror frame, light, door frame — is brass. The discipline is in the repetition: one colour, one tile, one metal, no exceptions.
