Yes — we are all dedicated to Save The Pink Bathrooms — but that quest is just emblematic, of course. We love midcentury bathrooms of all colors – blue, yellow, pinky-beige, grey, green, salt n pepper… I recently spotted some great images from Tiki Lisa’s blue bathroom (after the jump), and it got me to thinking… Let’s pull together all our blue bathrooms for a comprehensive look at this classic midcentury color. 22 bathroom inspirations in all.
Above is Tiki Lisa’s bathroom faucet. I have not seen one quite like it, until now. I love her tile-in sink. And notice the tile, it appears to be the gold granite salt and pepper style. You can still get this today, folks.
Here’s another angle on Lisa’s wonderful blue sink and faucet. I’m all for crystal faucets if they have a nice solid hand feel, as the old ones often do.
And here’s Lisa’s coordinating toilet, set against vintage blue wallpaper. See more of Tiki Lisa’s photos on flickr, and on her blog Atomic Tea Party. Thanks, Lisa! 🙂
Meanwhile, here’s another new-to-the-blog vintage blue bathroom, 1963, in this home for sale by Uncle Jack. Notice that cute daisy wallpaper. I love the look of the vanity. And darn, I want to see the floor and toilet better. You can still get mirror-cabinet combo’s like these from Nutone. See the listing via the lefthand column of VeryVintageVegas.com.
In another news update, one of our readers just wrote to say that she is buying this wonderful 1959-era American Standard sink and vanity, one of our favorite styles ever ever, and featured in a recent Retro Radar. See the complete 1959 suite here, in green. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the deal works out! Now… for some previously featured posts…
Above: One of the coolest blue bathrooms ever in this 1964 time capsule, so well designed and featuring all the latest gizmos. Click on the first image to start the slide show.
Luminous blue tub, toilet and sink from deabath.com.
Vintage blue fixtures in a grey bathroom…includes a great vintage American Olean tile set of fishes.
We love Cinderella bathtubs.
50s and 60s bathrooms used to have laminate countertops in styles like this. Swoon.
Feeling groovy in this mid mod bathroom from Chile. Red punches up blue so beautifully.
One of our favorite longtime readers, Palm Springs Stephan, gutted his condo bathroom and replaced it with this wonderful retro renovation.
Alice’s blue bathroom floor tile. (Stephan copied the design for his tile floor from Alice’s original.)
A Las Vegas time capsule bathroom. Be sure to see this post for the great Moe lighting in the dining room.
Michael’s very cool bathroom, Worthington, Ohio. Great tile and a wall-mount toilet — we haven’t seen many of these toilets yet, except in literature from the period. Very, very cool.
How much do we love Alice’s bathroom (and kitchen and whole house) in Richmond, Va. Let us count the ways, it’s nearly Perfect!
Are blue bathrooms getting your attention yet? Scantily clad genies may help: 1956 Eljer ad.
More advertising inspiration: 1953 Kohler bathroom with two tones of blue tile.
Here’s tile that would look great with the sinks. Again, very Romany Spartan-inspired.
Did I mention that when I renovated my three 1951 bathrooms I made one of them blue? It’s probably the favorite one in the family – very cheery, classic, too. My field tile came from Olympia – who have now discontinued this Maple Leaf tiles. But this color, essentially a ‘heron blue’ or ‘robin’s egg blue’, is available now by other large brands. Good news – there’s almost nothing more affordable than thsi 4×4″ field tile… and the look is spot-on for retro renovations. Update you interiors to be sympathetic to the original styling and period of your home — and the results will surely have a more timeless appeal.
Do you want to renovate or create a vintage-style blue bathroom of your very own? Check out all the resources researched in my Bathroom Category.
Shari D. says
Here’s a color that got missed out on completely in the “Blue Bathroom Fixtures” category! And it just has to be seen to be appreciated! It’s currently available, as of the date of this post anyway, at DEABath.com under the vintage fixtures – colored fixtures section, and it’s a gorgeous 1935 vintage Standard Cobalt Blue toilet! (Reminds me of the color of a similarly aged advertisement for a cobalt blue, wallhung, double drainboard kitchen sink I’ve seen in the vintage kitchen images from the antiquehome.com website.)
Quite pricey, and of course you’ll have to come up with the tank and a seat for it too, but if it’s just one of those things you simply cannot live without, well…I think you’ll find a way! It’s listed here –
https://deabath.com/product/1935-vintage-cobalt-blue-standard-modernus-toilet-bowl/
Gotta love all the blue bathroom fixtures! I’m a weird one – I’m just as devoted to blue bathrooms, and other things blue as well, like kitchen decor, as others are to their pink bathrooms.
I always have been attracted to blue. Ever since I was a small child, and definitely since I was 7 or 8, when my mom and stepdad were in the process of having their first new home built in the summer of 1965, and my mom let me pick the paint color for the walls, and help pick out the curtains, bedspread, carpeting, etc., for my bedroom. Blue, but almost a purplish blue. No “babyish” baby blue, or even navy blue – but a real deep toned, rich blue which was the only kind of blue which made me happy!
Being a college educated artist and elementary education major, she knew how to make colors work together, and offered several choices which she knew would work well. I got to pick which ones I wanted though, and my bedroom was gorgeous when it was all done!
(Something else I’ve noticed, too. The linoleum/vinyl flooring that was installed in our large eat-in kitchen was that dark red color flooring that was created to look like the brick pattern flooring that was so very popular for the time! It’s been discussed on here, and I had no idea just how very popular it was!)