St. Louis Shelly has a gorgeous gray bathroom in her 1956 house. The drain of her sink has rusted out, and she needs an all-new sink. Good news: The sink appears to be a Kohler Tahoe with hudee ring, and this model is still available today in a light gray. Bad news: It will take 42 days to get the sink via special order. I referred Shelly to this post — and asked to see more photos so that we could all ogle the gray bathroom – a color I haven’t featured yet. Oh my goodness, this is so beautiful – the vanity…THE FLOOR…the shower door…THE GRAY! The only thing you could need: Some wallpaper (of course!) or some print for your walls to bring in color. Once either of those are in place, you can spec your towels.
Shelly writes:
Pam,
This bathroom is probably my favorite part of my house right now. It originally had stick on vinyl tile which I removed to reveal the beautiful gray mosaic in near perfect condition. Problem is I bought a new faucet for the sink and when the old one was removed we found that the drain had corroded to the point of no return. I quickly ordered the Kohler Tahoe in grey to fit the current cutout and sink. Now they say it will take 42 days to get the order. My pink bathroom has no vanity, toilet or usable shower. So… we are reduced to brushing teeth and washing hands in the kitchen sink. I could try and hurry up the pink bath but it’s at least 2 weeks away from use. Do you think we should wait for the grey sink? [Pam: yes, but call deabath and see if they might have a vintage one in stock, you never know.] Do you know of another grey sink that would fit. [Pam: Crane makes a square sink with hudee ring, you can also check there, but I think they have even fewer colors than Kohler.] New vanity not an option, I love this one….The befores: Vinyl stick-on tile. Jackpot! But a nasty job getting that adhesive off. And oh my, the odors… there are open seams in this stuff and liquids seep onto the adhesive, quite disgusting. After with paint splatters and such still to be removed…
St. Louis Shelly
scathingjane says
Very classy and restrained for the era.
Sputnik Sandi says
I love the fish on the shower door; my mom has the same pattern in one of her bathrooms!
bsmet94 – I have a gray tiled bathroom with pink tile accents (well, at least I used to before HGTV’s Designed to Sell came into my future home and painted over the pink tiles!). Perhaps that’s an idea you could both live with?!?
bsmet94 says
Very nice! We need to re-do two bathrooms in our 1950 house, and my wife is dead set against pink. Gray may be the winner for one of the bathrooms, the other may end up some kind of beigey affair. I love the tile pattern on the floor! Too bad no liner tile on the walls.
maddy123 says
Gorgeous!
I love all the gray. I love gray and (certain shades) of blue together, and also yellow and gray.
Maureen says
We had our rusty (original 1949) laundry sink refinished. The drain-hole was enlarged, a new drain installed and it was refinished the colour I wanted (which was white but I could have chosen any colour). You can see the state of the original laundry sink by checking the “reno” link on posts referring to my ongoing basement reno.
This may also be an option to check out!
Rikki says
Your bathroom is exquisite. My 1948 Minimal Traditional house has been completely redone, including the roof profile and vinyl windows, so I can only envy your floor. Gorgeous.
Jeanne says
Finally featuring grey! I love it! I just moved into a 1952 bungalow and the only bathroom is done in grey tile (walls and floor). My sink is also rusting at the drain/hole. I’ll have to take pictures! I have wallpaper to remove (walls AND ceiling) and was thinking of just painting it white.
Love this blog! I’m so glad I found it.
Mid Mod Pam says
Jeanne – Wait! Don’t remove the wallpaper – yet! Let’s see it! Send pics to: pam at retrorenovation dot com.
Elizabeth Mary says
Lucky Shelly — The bathroom in my 1946 house was also gray but when the linoleum floor was taken up all that was there was mildew covered sub-flooring from an improperly intalled toilet’s years of leaking. The walls also were tiled with grey, but they were plastic tiles. It was pretty bad, so I re-did it entirely and love what I now have. But, I do have one serene gray room, my kitchen. The gray was not original, but was here when I moved in and I have come to really appreciate the calmness it brings.
sumacsue says
Beautiful bathroom! The gray is so serene. Over the holidays, I was talking with my mom about the 40s-era house we lived in during my teen years. I was remembering the cool tile floor in the first-floor bath. My mom said, Yes, I covered it with stick-on carpet squares.
I choked out an “oh really, I don’t remember — must have been after I left for college.” I don’t doubt it, since she also put in carpeting in the kitchen, of all places.
I just hope the later owners of that house were as thrilled to find their bathroom tile flooring as Shelly is with hers!
Glamorlux Nancy says
So pretty!!! What a nice surprise to find that flooring! Our master bathroom is gray (same floor and Hall-Mack hardware), so it is great to see this… The vanity and medicine cabinet are amazing! Is that new Rejuvenation hardware on the vanity?