An Unused Bedroom Becomes a Functional Bath

Generally, it's good to avoid stairs in the black of night. But for Jill Becker and Drew Phelps, descending the steps in darkness was tough to avoid. The master bedroom in their 1853 rowhouse was the only room on the three-story home's second floor, thanks to a rental apartment that had been carved out in the 1950s. That two-bedroom unit made reaching their only bath, on the first floor, a literal nightmare. "To get to it," says Drew, "we had to navigate 13 steps, walk through the dining room, the kitchen, and a downstairs hallway."

Shown: Marble mosaic and white subway tile are among the finishes that help the new room look at home in the 19th-century house. Here, 3-year-old Jackson Phelps tries out the console sink's cross-handled chrome faucet.